6 SIGNS YOUR CHURCH IS STUCK IN "WALMART THINKING"

From the archives of THE CLARITY EVANGELIST, a site that has often helped me in my own leadership.

March 17th, 2010

6 Signs that Your Church is Stuck in “Walmart Thinking”

It happens every week. I talk to church leaders who think the answer to reaching more people with the gospel and growing more people toward Christ-like maturity  is adding more ministry stuff.  You name it: more staff, more programs, more events, more buildings, more, more, more. I call it “Walmart thinking” because the basic strategy is to put more stuff on the shelf in hoping to attract more people. 

The good news is that when the “7-day-a-week-church” strategy that worked in the 80s rolls around again, your church will be ready!

Here are the six signs that your church is suffering from this “more is more” deception:
#1 The church is stuck thinking that more programs translates to more life change
#2 The church is deceived by the myth that people want more choices
#3  The church inadvertently thinks that time at church equals spiritual maturity
#4 The church can’t say no to their peoples’ ideas even when the ideas are ineffective
#5 The church allows immature, knowledge-centered spirituality to dictate program offerings
#6 The church contains more religious consumers than growing followers of Jesus

Never forget the cardinal rule of being the church on mission: Programs don’t attract people, people attract people. Most likely your church doesn’t need more things to do. It needs a few things it must do, defined by a clear, simple strategy. This post is adapted from page 150 of Church Unique.