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| Blind leading the Blind |
Her article started by speaking of a magazine cover on American Family Association Journey March Edition for 2011. WELL the first thing I wanted to do was look at the article before I continued to read what she had to say. I wanted to be sure I knew what she was talking about first by looking at her reference!
In my last post to everyone I pointed out that double standards cause confusion within the church. When I clicked the article in question that Waneta Dawn was speaking about? Something just stuck me right over the head, and I wondered is the blind leading the blind here? Let me quote from the article:
The Billy Graham Association conducted a survey recently and the results should be disheartening to Christians. Of people in the Builder Generation, also known as the Greatest Generation, 65% profess to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But the slide is steep from there. About 35% of Baby Boomers profess faith in Christ, 15% of Generation X, and only 4% of Generation Y.Let me place my business hat on here for a moment, and tell me if you DON'T see what I see!
Why the dramatic drop? According to the 2000 census, the majority of children at that time came from single or blended families. Jim Weidmann, executive director of Heritage Builders, said this causes a society in which people don’t have good faith mentors in their lives, so they don’t know how to model faith to their children. “A statistic quoted by a pastor in Texas was that only 10% of parents talk to their kids about spiritual things,” said Weidmann. “That means 90% don’t!”
Weidmann said one surefire way to stop the hemorrhage of faith in Christ in this nation is for men to take on their God-given duty and become spiritual leaders in their homes. He shared the following thoughts with AFA Journal.
Keep in mind I realize the church isn't a business - I'm going to talk about business principals that most churches SHOULD be aware of already.
We have a fall in numbers for people that are claiming to be followers of Jesus Christ. It fell from what would seem 90% during days past to 65% then to:
35% of Baby Boomers
15% generation X
4% generation Y
NOW as a business person if those were percentages for profits, number of customers, or what have you? That is a SERIOUS drop! You are bankrupt already if your company's margins went to 4%. You were in REAL trouble prior to that, and good luck EVEN keeping your doors open with 35%! That's the reality here, because most churches do have overhead like electricity, mortgage/rent, etc.
Now you can see also from above as well the cause they have identified or hemorrhage is also a good term. It was due to single parent homes, or blended families numbers that are growing in our society. That's their claim okay? According to the 2000 census, the majority of children at that time came from single or blended families.
NOW from a business point of view YOUR lucky you found your bottleneck. Your business isn't reaching the single parent homes, or the blended families homes. They are not doing business with you for what reasons?
You need to identify that bottleneck by going to the source if you can, and start asking some questions. Heck if you have any resources left you need to figure out what your competition is offering that you DON'T! Stating you have the best GIFT of all just isn't doing it if they aren't coming! Common sense right?
Keep in mind that a good business person isn't going to wait until their customer base fell to 35% before they take action. Doing the same marketing plan, using the same advertising, offering the same old same old service - basically doing nothing is NOT an option. SOMETHING is missing, and you are going to lose your shirt if you don't act FAST!
I'm generalizing here, but I hope I'm making sense to everyone!
Where does the blind leading the blind come in?
Again lets keep my business hat on, and look at the above set of paragraphs for the cause of this drop:
- Its because families are are either blended families, or single parent families
- These types of families are not good examples of spiritual mentors.
- If the adults aren't good spiritual mentors then the children will not be either.
Fine. Now what? Their solution? Make husbands the spiritual leader of the home. The product they have sold for centuries.
Could it be their product doesn't appeal to the portion of society they speak about! If it doesn't - why not?
Those are the questions to start with as a business, and as you open your can of worms. Chances are good more items will be identified as you go though this process.
With a huge drop in numbers that like? Its not just one MAJOR problem but many. We need to drop the spiritual pixie dust here, and get real ...SERIOUSLY!
Just selling the same product line that people aren't buying? Sorry. You need to find out WHY they aren't buying.
For example, is your product attractive to blended families, or single parent families? The buying signals say NO its not. Your job is to find out WHY it isn't!
The speeches about how they aren't being spiritual mentors, and quoting preachers saying 90% of parents don't speak about spiritual things with their kids...SERIOUSLY?
Since when is the scolding approach a good way of getting people's attention enough to buy your product? In the church's case - getting people to live life as Christ Followers.
Did Jesus SCOLD people in order to have them follow him? lol was that his main use to get people's attention? You think the tax collectors, hookers, etc would have looked at him differently than anyone else if he did?
The blind leading the blind group doesn't look to themselves as part of the problem, or that their product is faulty. Could our first problem be arrogance?
They assume it appeals to everyone, and the world needs to get their poop together to see that! THAT is what you read above!
Does arrogance, pride come into the picture here at all to them? I don't think it entered their minds to be honest.
What about humbling themselves to see things from their (blended families or single parent families) prospective? NOPE! They will tell you the solution, because they don't need to hear from them! Can I say YIKES and WOW, and that a Holy Hush there Batman?
They are basically saying the families (customers) are the problem - not our business.
They are not good examples to society by not buying our product, and that is why our numbers fell from 90% to 65% to 35% to 4%.
We need to scream at our sales staff to tell them they aren't being stellar anymore, and to get out in the world to SHOW your selling skills!
The problem is it seems they are trying to sell ice to Eskimos, because they aren't buying it! Ding Ding - check your numbers! Find the problem - don't ignore it!
Can you imagine someone that is BIG in business like Donald Trump blaming his customer base for not cooperating with his product?
Can we say that would go over like a lead balloon!
I shall summarize their conclusions - and honestly its the same ones you have heard for years ... there is another bottleneck though!
YES they had a list of solutions in their article - lets unpack WHY their 'solutions' aren't addressing the problem.
Their article offered one example of a partial solution for a single parent family. They identified nothing for the blended family.
Remember THOSE are the groups of people that are your bottlenecks. They are the ones causing your numbers to crash and burn! YOU admitted it!
The majority of their advice? Its targeted towards the group of families that already sits in their pews!
BLIND leading the BLIND!
- The father is to start to establish himself as spiritual leader of the home
- The father is find ways to move his wife into a deeper relationship with God
- Find what wives can do to support their husbands
- Give resources to fathers that are struggling either for how to do this, or new ideas for their families
- Another helpful hint? Their NEW product called Fathers of Vision!
It could be that single parents or blended families don't feel they can connect with the church for some reason. Their new 'product' isn't targeted towards them, but CHURCHES suggest you buy it anyway.
Can we say no wonder the church is going bankrupt?! You don't tell them to buy it anyway for goodness sakes.
The Christian thing to do is to identify that bottleneck within the church that is hurting, because after all one part of our mission is to serve God's people. How are we NOT showing our love towards the bottleneck group, and how to we show them that Jesus wants to be part of their life?
The product in question SHOULD be.....................you ready for this?
CHURCHES WITH VISION!
We aren't just here for the traditional nucleus family, but we want to share the message of Christ with EVERYONE!
NOT
Single parent families and blended families are poor spiritual mentors, and the reason this world is going to pot. Get your life together and buy our product!
I guess they think that works - another problem.
Do they ever stop to think that maybe the product that is pitched is the reason they left? Its a possibility! Could it be received like being handed a dog training manual, and you own a cat? Could they be questioning WHY are you asking me to buy it anyway?
YES the message is confusing. We are humble, faithful group of people - and you are problem don't you see?!
Use the humility that Jesus calls us to use, and take the log out of your eye. There is a reason people are leaving in droves, and why not look closer instead of just BLAMING them!
Can you see the blind leading the blind here?
Well now I need to go over and read Waneta's blog.........until next time!
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1 comments:
I tried to leave a comment on the site, but when I clicked to post it, I got an error message about some xml problem...what I wanted to post:
"one surefire way to stop the hemorrhage of faith in Christ in this nation is for men to take on their God-given duty and become spiritual leaders in their homes"
How about the church coming alongside single Christian mothers and helping them? Churches have a unique opportunity to minister to these women who have challenges not faced by intact families; they struggle to make ends meet, many have been abused and need healing. It's the same way with singles in general - I wish the church would stop separating the body into groups; we are all members of the same body.
"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." 1Cor. 12-27
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