Your Church Has Competition...

...and it's not the church down the street.


Like it or not, we live in a consumer-driven society, and the people who come to our church - you and me - and the people we are trying to reach are consumers.


With consumers comes competition.


If your church is going to be effective in its mission, you must beat the competition.


Pretty strong words by Mark Waltz, author of "First Impressions."


But dead on accurate.


The good news is that our "competition" is not the other churches in your town. As a matter of fact, they're on your team.


So who is your competition? Here is how Waltz sees it:

Your competition, the rival that will keep people away from your church, is any business, services, or experience your guests have encountered in the past few weeks.

That competition includes restaurants, malls, golf courses, amusement parks, movie theaters, sporting events, and so on.


Bottom line: the competition for your guests began when they were wowed in another environment. Your guests have high expectations that are formed every day from new encounters with excellence and conscientious care.


Although too much of their world is merely adequate, they know excellence, and they return to place where they experience it.


Bottom bottom line: Will your guests' experience in your church be worth getting out of bed?


Thanks, Mark, for a challenging word on the critical importance of understanding who our competition is.


Now it's time to do something about it.