OK, that was just the warm-up.
Whose mission statement is this: “To provide outstanding products and services” and “to deliver profitable growth for all…” (Ford)
Whose mission statement is this: “To achieve consumer satisfaction through engineering excellence, innovative products, high quality and superior service…” (Chrysler)
And, whose mission statement is this: “To provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stockholders will receive a sustained superior return on their investment…” (General Motors)
How successfully have Ford, Chrysler, and GM fulfilled their mission in these times?
Whose mission statement is this: “to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind; to let the oppressed go free; and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…” (God’s prophet in Isaiah 61/Jesus)
Whose mission statement is this: “to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (the disciples/the church)
And, whose mission statement is this: “to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God...” (BKCC)
You know where I’m going with this, don’t you?
There are certainly a number of reasons why the U.S. automakers are having a difficult time these days. Granted, everyone is having a hard time these days, but U.S. automakers seem to be having a particularly hard time. I know very little about the business world, and when I tried to research some of the causes for the current difficulties faced by the U.S. automakers, I found that different people have different opinions.
What a surprise.
I did discover, though, that the problems they face are not new. While the current economic situation certainly isn’t helping, the problems these automakers are facing have been decades in the making.
I know that, back in the 1950s, the U.S. automakers dominated the market. It just happens to be a coincidence that that is also the time period many look back to when they consider the “good ol’ days” in the church, when the pews were packed.
In the 1970s, we faced an energy crisis. Smaller, more fuel-efficient cars became more attractive, and it was foreign carmakers who dominated in this segment of the industry. U.S. automakers adapted… but not very well.
In the 80s and 90s, it was the age of the SUV. Once again, U.S. automakers did well. But then gas prices began to skyrocket. Foreign automakers, which remained more innovative than U.S. automakers, were able to produce fuel-efficient cars and introduced hybrids. U.S. automakers couldn’t adapt fast enough to the changing culture. And because they couldn’t adapt, they couldn’t successfully fulfill their mission.
In my office I have a book on church transformation by Alan Roxburgh. He begins his book by describing a scene from the movie Seabiscuit:
A man, wearing a shop apron and gaiters to protect his shirtsleeves,
loiters outside a new business: C.S. Howard’s Bicycles—a modest storefront
where bicycles are sold and repaired. There’s just one problem—Charles
Howard has no customers. In fact, viewers soon see Charles dozing on a
bench, waiting for business that never materializes. People wander by, and
carriages fill the streets, but no one, it seems, is interested in the expertise
this aspiring entrepreneur has to offer.
Then, suddenly, Charles’ fortunes change. A man pulls up driving
a Stanley automobile with steam billowing from under its hood. “The boiler
blew on me,” says the driver. “Can you fix it?” Charles thinks for a
moment and then responds with a confident, “Sure.” In true movie fashion,
an inspired Charles not only manages to fix the strange new machine, but
dramatically improves its performance as well. As a result, he abandons
the bicycle business to become a highly successful automotive dealer.
And so, Charles stays in business, by adapting to changing needs of culture.
For the U.S. automakers, it’s obvious that, to deliver “profitable growth,” to “achieve consumer satisfaction,” and to ensure that their “stockholders receive a sustained superior return on their investment,” they need to adapt. To be true to their mission, they need to change in order to be culturally relevant. Their mission doesn’t need to change; the mission remains the same. But the ways in which that mission is carried out does need to change.
Dennis Sanders, a Disciples of Christ pastor in Minneapolis, writes a blog, and he recently wrote about the possible similarities between the challenges U.S. automakers are facing, and the challenges facing the mainline church. Is the church, also, out-of-date? Has the church failed to adapt to changing times? And most importantly, has this failure kept the church from carrying out its mission?
I was recently told by another pastor that it’s important for pastors to keep up with technology; in particular, social networking tools like facebook and twitter. Most of you, I’m sure, have heard of facebook and twitter, although some of you probably have no idea how they work.
I’ve been on facebook for awhile, but I’ve never been on twitter … until last week. I had no idea how using twitter could help me and my ministry, and so I resisted signing up, but finally, I gave in.
For those of you who don’t know, the way it works is this: You sign up online for a twitter account. (It’s free.) Then, you send in little one sentence updates about what you’re doing; and anybody who wants to can follow you.
I signed up for twitter; then I discovered that you can send in your updates to your twitter using your cell phone. I figured out how to do that.
Which reminds me: I need to update my status right now…
That’s how it works.
The day after I signed up with twitter, I went to Disneyland. Having been told that this is what you are supposed to do with twitter, I twittered all day long. I’d send in messages like, “Am in line for Big Thunder. Wait time 15 minutes.” Five minutes later I’d twitter in: “The line splits in two; I chose the left side.”
Apparently this is big news to my followers, who, I’m sure, were just dying in suspense to know whether I took the left side or the right side.
Meanwhile, I was receiving twitter messages on my cell phone from someone who I’d never met, who was also at Disneyland that day. It seemed that this person was at Disneyland by themself that day, and when they twittered that they were also in line for Big Thunder, I started looking around me. The only person I saw who appeared to be alone was this older woman with long grey hair that was uncombed; she looked somewhat like a typical bag lady, or maybe an ex-hippie. I looked at her for a moment, then decided that it couldn’t be her. Then I got on the ride.
Well, I have yet to fully understand how twitter can help me and my ministry. So far, I have found it somewhat amusing, but at the same time, I wonder if I’m missing something—like, the point of it all.
However, I refuse to join the fellowship of curmudgeons; I insist that I’m still too young to be a cantankerous old fart. And who knows? Maybe twitter will help me connect with someone who, because of that connection, also feels a connection to the church. If things like twitter and facebook can be effective tools for ministry, then I’m willing to give them a try, because I want us to have a ministry that is relevant to the culture in which we live. I want us to reach new generations. I want us to remain true to our mission statement. I want us to bear fruit.
That is, after all, the commandment Jesus gave his disciples in the reading we heard this morning. He said, “I appointed you to go and bear fruit.” The U.S. automakers aren’t bearing much fruit these days; the stockholders aren’t receiving many benefits. And the mainline church is also not bearing much fruit. Not many new disciples are being made these days.
The psalmist says to sing to the Lord a new song. The psalmist says to make a joyful noise to the Lord; or, as the Message Bible puts it, to strike up the band. We have a rich, rich heritage, and some truly good news to share. But let’s face it, we are having a very difficult time making the connection with younger generations. We are having a difficult time adapting to a changing culture.
Something else about Disneyland: one of the things that makes Disneyland special, more so than any of the other Disney parks, is its history. It was the first. It was the only one to have been built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney himself, over half a century ago. And for many people, that history, that legacy, is one of the best things about the original Magic Kingdom.
Disneyland honors that heritage by drawing on its history. The past is honored at Disneyland in a very special way. The past is not forgotten. You can see it on display throughout the park, especially if you know where to look.
But at the same time, Disneyland is constantly changing and evolving in response to a changing and evolving culture. So many people have fond memories of the way Disneyland used to be in its early years, back in the day when Walt himself would stroll through the park. But if Disneyland remained the same and never changed, it would no longer be in business.
That is our challenge: to honor our past in a way that doesn’t hinder us from moving into the future. Only then can we be true to our mission.
God has entrusted this task to us. What a blessing and honor that is! God knows that we won’t do it perfectly. But with open hearts and minds, and with God guiding us on this journey, we’ll figure it out.
Next week we will strike up the band for a praise service, and that’s part of the journey, but that’s not all the journey is. For some time now we’ve been using screen projection technology in worship, and that’s part of the journey, but that’s not all the journey is. Our congregation has its own group on facebook, and we have a pastor who is trying to figure out the point of twittering, and that’s part of the journey, but that’s not all the journey is. We are a congregation that is growing in diversity as we try to represent the demographics of the community around us, and that’s part of the journey, but that’s not all the journey is.
But if we are true to the journey, we will find ourselves a changed church, a transformed church, a church that looks a lot different from what it looked like in the past. We will be a church that successfully carries out its mission; a church that is faithful to the God it serves.
