First the lot emptied, then one day a crane appeared and lowered the huge sign. Next day it was being boxed up and day following, gone. All that remains in the large capital H that is built into the building and now I’m guessing will stand from Hewlett. I remember when they built that Hummer dealership and all those years of driving by when its lot was filled with the different models and colors, and especially the ones parked at precarious angles in the drainage ditch. "Over at Don Hewlett Hummer," writes Autoblog.com, "customers can test-drive the full-sized SUVs on an obstacle course." The obstacle they didn't test drive was the changing world.
It’s a contrast to the abandoned Movies Plus store over in Taylor. This store joins Blockbuster, that announced Chapter 11 today and may soon go the way of VHS, Circuit City, Linens 'n Things, and Sharper Image.
Five years ago, who could imagine that any of these great companies would be history? For some it was a change in the marketplace or economy; factors outside their control. For others, it was an unfortunate decision or series of that either bet the company and lost, or failed to adapt when the world changed. Their marketplace and competitors still exists—people still need cool gadgets, appliances, electronics, DVDs, kitchen and bathroom soft items, only their company ability to sell them doesn't.
Each morning I dry by that big H, I think about God’s Church. According to the Wall Street Journal,
“Recent statistics have shown an increasing exodus of young people from churches, especially after they leave home and live on their own. In a 2007 study, Lifeway Research determined that 70% of young Protestant adults between 18-22 stop attending church regularly.” [WSJ]
I wonder if these now empty storefronts are just the first wave, a wave that will eventually empty our pews, reduce our once great churches. Years from now, we in the local church may realize the signs we missed or ignored. The larger governing bodies of the United Methodist Church understand problem, and are doing their best to educate the rest of us through studies, briefings, webinars, and called sessions of the Annual Conference.
But faith is an intensely personal experience and despite evidence to the contrary, most of us still think the way we experienced Christ need not change, even though most everything else about our Western world has. We act like all we have to do is rebrand it, or ReThink it, or jump on the latest technology or social network. I believe that unless we change from the inside seeking an almost fanatical dedication to our core purpose, these efforts will fail.
I mean consider the difference between Amazon.com and Cokesbury.com. Amazon and later adapter BN.com changed the whole way we buy, research, and experience books. Cokesbury also has an online presence, but it is an online catalog. No rethinking of the way they do business.
Because the denomination has asked that we support our Methodist Publishing House, I go to cokesbury.com. Twenty minutes later and still trying to login (first trying to find my account number, and password, finally giving up and trying to create for a new account). Click [Next], nothing happens. Finally I give up and call Cokesbury’s 800 number.
They find my account information immediately:
“Now what is the ISDN?” I tell her the title of the book.
“What I need is the item number?” I don’t know it, I say.
“Can you look it up on-line?” Sure, I say, and I go back to my laptop, go to cokesbury.com, find the item, and read off the numbers. Like I said its an online catalog, but a prime example of how we have embraced technology without adapting to it, how we use it. Its just an electronic form of a paper catalog.
Its like the old blond joke, of seeing Liquid Paper on the CRT. (if you don’t know what either are, here are the wikis Liquid Paper, CRT).
I guess my point is that I believe the church has more in common with Circuit City than with HUMMER. With HUMMER, the economy changed and suddenly people realized that they didn’t or never needed these huge SUVs, they still need personal transportation, just not this kind. Where as with Circuit City, the market still exists, people are still buying exactly what Circuit City used to sell.
I believe the “market” still exists for the Church too. It is not the case that the world will wake up one day and realize they don’t need what the Church has to offer. However if we don’t wake up and change the way we offer it, the world may decide it just doesn't need it way we like to offer it.
Adapting to change is only change when we allow it to go both ways; that is allow the adaption to change us and how we use it.
PS: For an interesting read on the demise of Circuit City, read How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins, available at Cokesbury: http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=819624
