"Customer Disservice"

Several years ago, a parishioner who had worked in the business world sent me an email in which he tried to convince me that the best way forward for the Church as a whole and our parish in particular was to view it as a business. 

He posited that reaching out to the community meant having compelling advertising that enticed people to find out more about us. The people who came through the red doors of the church building were our customers. It was our job to provide them with a top-notch experience that had them coming back for more. If, for some reason, they were unsatisfied with our product, then it was up to us to make changes and adapt. Satisfied customers generated word of mouth that brought others to discover what makes us special. 

I read his email several times and decided that the best way to share my thoughts would be in person so that I wouldn’t be misunderstood. I appreciated his advice and experience, but I also knew the danger of the Church and our parish adopting that viewpoint. As we sat down to chat, I thanked him for the thought and care with which he had described how his insights in the world of business might translate to the Church, but I told him that there were glaring differences between the Body of Christ and the local store. 

We don’t advertise, we evangelize. Advertising is about filling a need that people may not be aware of, prompting them to purchase something they may not need. Evangelizing is about sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and eternal life with people who are dead in their sins. We don’t provide a product. We make an introduction to the Son of God. We aren’t salespeople, we are ambassadors, people who were hungry before they discovered the bread of life. The people who come through the door are not our customers. They are like us, lost souls, who have come to find their way home to the God who loves them. 

"We aren’t salespeople, we are ambassadors, people who were hungry before they discovered the bread of life. The people who come through the door are not our customers. They are like us, lost souls, who have come to find their way home to the God who loves them." 

Our goal in opening our parish home to people is not their satisfaction. Worship is not a product that we rate or return if we don’t like it. Worship is giving ourselves to the full experience of God’s presence in word, song, and sacrament. It should be done well and in a way that points to God and not to our own pride. The people sent out from the service leave full of the Holy Spirit and go to proclaim to others. 

All of this is to emphasize that the Church is not a business. The Church has business to attend to, but it is not a business. It has property, bank accounts, endowments (hopefully), and a vestry that assumes the fiduciary responsibilities of the Church, but it is not a business entity. Even before I attended seminary, I observed many clergy and lay leaders adopting practices from the business world. Business jargon began to leak into vestry meetings and seminary classrooms as we discussed mission and vision statements. Borrowing ideas about how to manage staff and resolve conflict from the business world became more pronounced. 

The problem I have with those developments is that I have had numerous negative experiences with local and large businesses, which have led me to never want my parish or the larger Church to adopt those practices. I recently visited a big-box electronics retailer to initiate a return or replacement for my son’s laptop. I had made an appointment, but sat waiting for almost 20 minutes for someone to acknowledge my presence and check me in. What bothered me most, and would continue to bother me throughout my visit, was watching people wait to be acknowledged. Other customer service representatives would walk by, but because it wasn’t their department, they never stopped and greeted the person waiting. Not a hello, not a please be patient, nothing. And all this to learn that the expensive guarantee I had purchased might not cover the repair that they now stated could take up to 4 to 6 weeks. Needless to say, while I left the computer there to be shipped out to a repair facility, I left with a bitter taste in my mouth. 

"As the Church, we fall short of the glory of God every day. But we also have a standard by which we are judged and will be judged that is greater than any corporate document. The standard to which we hold ourselves is none other than Jesus Christ."

As the Church, we fall short of the glory of God every day. But we also have a standard by which we are judged and will be judged that is greater than any corporate document. The standard to which we hold ourselves is none other than Jesus Christ. It is why we stress again and again that hospitality and service begin with seeing every person we meet as Jesus himself. We remember when Jesus preached to his disciples:

34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’  (Matthew 25:34-40) NRSVUE).

What binds the Church is not a product or a common shopping experience. It is through our baptism, our sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we are family. We share a family history and story. We partake in the family meal in the Eucharist. What affects one of us affects us all. 

The Church can learn a few things from the world of business. But in learning those lessons, we cannot forget our true identity as the Body of Christ, the open door to believers and non-believers alike who come hungry looking for bread and solace. My sincere hope is that the Church can renew its identity in Christ each day so that it can truly live out its mission, but not the kind you find in a corporate document, the kind written in our hearts by the hand of God.