Of GM, F&S, D&D and the UMC

Sally pointed me to Adam Hamilton's blog post from yesterday in which he compared GM (huge company that once had a major market share in the industry) to the United Methodist Church (huge denomination that once had a major share of Americans as members - can I say "market share" in church?)

The hope at GM is that the current moves will help the company emerge stronger and more viable, able to make great cars that people want to drive at a price that represents great value. The hope in whatever changes we might make in the UMC is that our denomination would emerge stronger, healthier and making a better use of our resources to further the work of Christ. But both GM and the UMC will have to work at ensuring that the “products” we offer are excellent and connect with the “consumer” we hope to reach. The alternative for GM, and for the UMC, is to keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing and to hope for different results.

One of the problems that GM had was that they were doing the same thing for years, generations even, and expecting different results. It USED to work, so it should now, right?

I read this on the heels of a staff mini-retreat where we talked about numbers here at Christ church.

I read this and then I read this review of Field and Stream Magazine (I'm talking trends here):

Field and Stream is the granddaddy of all outdoor magazines. ...

All of this praise being said, F&S has taken a new, albeit undesirable direction. Their format has changed to more "how-to" articles than the glorification of our sports. Hunting and fishing is a lifetime pursuit, not a task. By its nature our sports are poetic, emotional and traditional. To me, a good hunting and fishing magazine is not an instruction manual. ...

I read this on the heels of reading a forum post on gaming (specifically, this post, Dungeons and Dragons) and how gaming as a whole has changed and how role-playing games for example aren't what they used to be (okay this probably won't mean anything to some readers...but again, I'm dealing with trends here):

I suppose what bothers me most about the whole 4th ed fiasco [of Dungeons and Dragons - released last year] is that after some 30+ years of this hobbybeing around, the game has finally changed so much that the next generation of tabletop gamers will nothave a current commercial release of D&D / AD&D that remotely resembles the original game I grew up with.D&D 3.x was a major departure, but even it still kept most of the main tropes of the original. 4th ed is so completely different that it should have been released under another name.

Do you read that the problem isn't that the market changed, but this stupid company changed the product and now it isn't what I like? Interesting that this 4th edition is selling pretty well... And if I read the information correctly, Field and Stream has 1.5 million subscribers, 1.3 million of whom actually go fishing (and, for the record, 1.2 million go hunting). Ah, but not like the old days, right? Sigh...

So, there's tons of stuff I could have put in here. The point that I'm trying to get at - and it's very related to exactly what Hamilton is talking about in his post (really, if you haven't read it yet, you should) is that the world has changed.

There's always going to be people holding on to the way things used to be. Somehow, 30 years ago was better and what goes on today is somehow wrong.

No kidding, Bill. Tell us something new.

But it must be new, at least to some people. 'Cause there are folks who are holding on to the "old ways" as "how it is supposed to be" and this new stuff just isn't right. So, Field and Stream is more how-to - guess what? I bet they're trying to meet the needs of the hobbyist fisherman... um, fisherperson? um... hunter rather than the "hard-core" hunter. I bet most every recreational area has these people.

In the gaming world they're called Grognards.

You might call them the "old guard" of hunters...

In the auto industry they're a dying breed...

And in the church we call them...um...us.

The culture is working against the "old" ideas of what hunting and fishing should be. The culture is working against GM and what they are producing. The culture is working against the church. The challenge for the church is to continue to tell the eternal and enduring truth in a way that makes sense to people who are living in a radically different culture than existed in 1974. Or even 1994. And that's probably the scariest thing for the church (I'm not sure I can wrap my head around it, to be honest with you) - worldview changes so rapidly - trends from five years ago may not be true anymore. We're on the steep part of exponential curve that is changing culture...

But both GM and the UMC will have to work at ensuring that the “products” we offer are excellent and connect with the “consumer” we hope to reach. The alternative for GM, and for the UMC, is to keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing and to hope for different results.

Emphasis mine. But that's the bottom line, isn't it? Do what we do very well and make sure it connects with - resonates, relates, is meaningful for - the people we want to come through those doors...