Search This Blog

Pages

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

What Subway Can Teach the Church

http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/dr-james-emery-white/what-subway-can-teach-the-church.html


What Subway Can Teach the Church

Dr. James Emery White, Pastor, Ranked Adjunctive Professor of Theology and Culture Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary


The Subway sandwich chain has surpassed McDonald’s Corporation as the world’s largest restaurant chain in terms of units. At the end of 2010, Subway had 33,749 restaurants worldwide to McDonald’s 32,737.

What is even more impressive is that Subway didn’t open its first international restaurant, where growth has been most explosive for chains such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, until 1984. But by 2020, Subway expects its number of international restaurants to exceed its domestic ones.

How did they do it?

Subway has opened outlets in non-traditional locations such as an automobile showroom in California, an appliance store in Brazil, a ferry terminal in Seattle, a riverboat in Germany, a zoo in Taiwan, a Goodwill store in South Carolina, a high school in Detroit and a church in Buffalo, New York.

“We’re continually looking at just about any opportunity for someone to buy a sandwich, wherever that might be,” says Don Fertman, Subway’s Chief Development Officer. ”The closer we can get to the customer, the better.”

Consider that a lesson, church.

And before you start in on the bigger isn’t always better, and quality trumps quantity, and numbers aren’t everything, and that the church isn’t in the sandwich business, re-read Fertman’s words, and substitute the gospel:

“We’re continually looking at just about any opportunity for someone to be introduced to Christ, wherever that might be. The closer we can get to an unchurched person, the better.”

Kind of sounds like Paul in I Corinthians 9 writing about becoming all things to all people in order to reach them, doesn’t it?

So how might the church take a cue from Subway and expand its reach?

It’s very common for churches to offer multiple services at varying times.

It’s becoming increasingly common to offer those multiple services over multiple days.

Now, the frontier that needs to be explored is offering multiple services over multiple days through multiple locations.

Meck has become a multi-site church, which simply means one church with multiple locations. We currently have five campuses with a total of seventeen services each week. Three of these campuses are physical locations in our immediate area; one is an internet “campus,” and one is international serving expatriates in the United Arab Emirates. The Charlotte Observer ran a front-page story this past weekend featuring our efforts.

We have plans to launch two more Charlotte campuses by February of 2012, and are open to additional international opportunities (Our staff has already prayed and are convinced that it’s God’s will to start one in the U.K.; they’ve also all volunteered to be on the launch team.).

Why is this a worthwhile strategy? It’s simple. If someone has to drive more than 15 or 20 minutes as a first-time guest, chances are, they won’t. You might say, “Well, if that’s their attitude, they should just be more committed!” Quick reminder: these people aren’t even Christians yet. Rumor has it that it’s our job to go to them. Same to those who say, “You’re just trying to make it easy on folks to attend.” Yes, that’s kind of the point.

When you go to multiple sites you go to where the people are, tearing down any and all geographic barriers to attend, and opening up the ability to offer vast numbers of services at optimal times. And most importantly of all, you are making it easy for anyone and everyone, no matter where they live, to invite their friends.

Due to breakthroughs in technology, including video and simulcast, in ten years, this will probably be the new normal. It will be as common for churches to be multi-site as it is now for churches to have multiple service times. It’s already exploding: In 2008, 37% of all churches averaging 2,000 or more people per week were multi-site. In 2009, over five million people attended a multi-site church in the United States and Canada.

Geoff Surratt draws an analogy from World War II in regard to the multi-site approach to reaching a city:

Some 300,000 troops were pinned by Hitler at Dunkirk with their backs to the sea. The only way out was to retreat across the water. But how do you move 300,000 people by water? There isn’t a single boat big enough to carry that many people. So the call went out to anyone with a boat to rescue them. One thousand boats arrived, and over the course of ten days, all of the troops were evacuated.

They couldn’t build a boat big enough to move 300,000 people, but 1,000 little boats could do the job. No single church with a single location can fully reach your city. But a single church in multiple locations can.

Hear my heart: partner with other churches where and when you can; plant new churches wherever it makes sense; but also multiply your current church wherever possible.

At the very least, think about it the next time you eat at Subway.

James Emery White

Sources

“Subway Runs Past McDonald’s Chain,” Julie Jargon, Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2011. Read online.

“Satellite sanctuaries a hot trend,” Tim Funk, The Charlotte Observer, Sunday, March 27, 2011, p. 1A and 4A. Read online.

Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon and Warren Bird, The Multi-Site Church Revolution (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006).

Editor’s Note

To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, log-on to www.churchandculture.org, where you can post your comments on this blog, view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world. Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.

Page Source (url): http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/dr-james-emery-white/what-subway-can-teach-the-church.html

Monday, March 21, 2011

The road to 911 Movie

Hicham Chehab
Dear All,
The movie presentation was put off to 4/9/11...same time...same place.
This movie will answer a lot of questions on hot Middle East issues. I will comment on it.
Everyone is Welcome: 7 pm, 04/9/11, at Jefferson Park Lutheran Church 5009 North Northwest HighwayChicago, IL 60630, (773) 545-5109
http://www.amazon.com/Road-9-11-Sab...
See More

Amazon.com: The Road to 9/11: Sabin Streeter, Michael Weingrad, Bill Siegel, Peter W. Kunhardt: Movi
www.amazon.com
Amazon.com: The Road to 9/11: Sabin Streeter, Michael Weingrad, Bill Siegel, Peter W. Kunhardt: Movies & TV

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Appeal for Lebanon

http://www.lutheranchurchcharities.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=904&catid=34:media&Itemid=117

Monday, March 14, 2011

Isn't God Faithful


Isn’t God faithful!

Have you ever felt that you are alone, and you have to do God's work by yourself?! This is how I felt last Friday. Although I had a few volunteer worship leaders, none of them were available for the service at Salam on Saturday. I felt as though I would have to do the entire service on my own. But, by the grace of God, a phone call came out of the blue. It was Vicar Rennie Kaufmann (“My twin” brother in Christ) who is a professional musician and a close friend. Rennie was planning on coming out to Chicago that very day, all the way from Detroit, MI. He was able to come to Salam, sing in Farsi and lead worship! Isn’t God faithful!

God is taking care of us even in the times when we don’t see it, and even in the times when we don’t ask. When we are down, God is there to lift us up. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” God is always trying to find a way to bless us – especially when we’re doing His work.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

The road to 911 Movie

Friends,
I will be showing an excellent movie (50 min) on the rise of Islamic extremism; "The Road to 911." It is an objective work that would answer a lot of questions on the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt..etc ...Followed by Q & A.
Place: Jefferson Park Lutheran Church
5009 North Northwest Highway
Chicago, IL 60630
Time: 7 pm on March 26, 2011
RSVP, Please call Rev. Mark Zuehsow, Pastor, (773) 545-5109
All are welcome
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3572798208/tt0482585