Churches That Follow FADS

Change costs more than change. It is often expensive in terms of finances and personnel. The cost in personnel often results from persons feeling uncomfortable with the change and looking for something with which they are comfortable.

Churches in recent years have become big agents of change. Chasing after every new trend causes instability. The cost to churches, as with businesses, is significant. The philosophy of ministry on which a church is started and developed will work regardless of what form it is. However, changing any form to another is demanding on a church body.

Perhaps churches can learn form Disney World of all places. Many industries have observed their model and are being influenced by it.

Disney’s Tomorrowland has been a major challenge for them. By the time they design and develop a new version it is obsolete. The time, effort, and money spent has proven to be too much of a drain. Initially the Disney designers asked, “How do we produce a world of the future that isn’t outdated before it opens?” Disney found that the cost of staying on the cutting age was depleting. Disney, like the world view around it, was operating on the concept that any new idea is better than an old one. They often are but not always. Life on the cusp of culture is risky.

Dizzied by the draining demands Disney dared to ask the unthinkable. They postulated as to whether all the solutions were ahead of them or were some of them potentially behind them. Their query was must we keep pace with all avant guard trends?

When Disney concluded constant change was expensive, unsettling for personnel, and often dramatically inefficient they opted to build a retro-future based on the past.

Many churches are awakening to the same reality. Our unstable world, the failures of many trendy concepts, and a desire for stability has resulted in a new interest in the traditional. Coupled with this is a reaction by a younger generation to the boomer philosophy of change for the sake of change.

Time magazine has noted a developing retro style trend in decor, fashion, and car designs. They concluded people are looking for stability, permanence, and endurance. Having observe people are looking for proven virtues and values Time stated, “…these backward glances aren’t merely escapism. They help to ground us, to sort through the clutter that surrounds us.” A recent Internet survey involving over 2,000 people showed a trend in music. 12% said they preferred contemporary music, 31% preferred blended, and 49% traditional.

All of this means churches are in an ideal position to reevaluate their rich history, customs, and traditions and glean from the past those anchors for souls on the Old Ship of Zion who are sea sick from ever changing tides. A blend of trends and traditions has much to offer. Firms have found what churches need to realize. Neither be married to the past nor totally disregard it. Classified as the biggest commercial goof of the late 20th century was Coke’s discard of its traditional taste. They learned and honored their traditional beverage by not discontinuing it while offering new ones. The technique works in commerce as well as churches.