Why churches should be more like Kodak

Kodak, who introduced their first camera in 1888, filed for bankruptcy last week. Reading CNN's article reminded of my first Kodak an Instamatic with the spinning cube flash on top. No one under the age of 45 has any idea what I'm talking about, but in a way that's the point of this post. To everything there is a season, that goes for Kodak, Pan Am, and Woolworth as well as your local church.

Leaders are always shocked, SHOCKED when a church begins to decline in attendance. The interesting thing is that every church eventually stops growing, if not then we would see churches with millions of members that are hundreds of years old. And if its God's will that churches should grow forever then every church Paul planted was out of God's will because none of them are around today. Just like businesses churches have a life cycle. Most newer churches grow for 15 years and then level off. Some exceptional churches grow for 20 years. There are very few examples of churches that actually grow for more than 25 years. 

But there is hope in Kodak's legacy. From the CNN article "...there are the people: Even though the company has cut thousands of jobs, much of its generally well-educated workforce has stayed in the area, many starting tech-related businesses." Though their core business is gone (have you bought a Kodak camera lately) the pioneering legacy of founder George Eastman lives on in the entreprenural spirit of Kodak's final generation of employees. In a way Kodak will never really die.

And that is the hope for every church. We can vow to break the mold and pour all of our resources and energy into sustaining a growth curve for 15, 20, 25 years. Or we can begin now sowing substantial time and talent in discipling and training a new generation of church planters who will take the seeds of our oak tree and plant an orchard (via @johnworcester). If you want to see your church live forever invest in young leaders and send them out into the field well-prepared and richly resourced. Be like Kodak. 

Comments

[joshhunt]

Are you saying we should just let a church die? Not fight to keep it alive?

Josh Hunt

[Mike Andrews]

Josh, I can't speak for Geoff, but could it be that congregations reach a point where they're no longer really alive and the only path to resurrection & new life is the 'death' of that congregation? Of course, as the post asserts, "In a way, Kodak will never really die." And neither will the church.

What if we intentionally planned 'expiration dates' (if not for a congregation at least for our standard procedures/practices)? Could that help us make disciples with a more healthy sense of urgency instead of expending all our energies to maintain the status quo?

[Geoff Surratt]

Great comments Mike, I agree completely.

In a way that is what I am saying Josh. Not that we give up early or easily, but I see a lot of Kingdom resources expended keeping churches on life support that could be better invested in new expressions of church. I have seen friends like Mark Jobe in Chicago birth new congregations in old buildings where churches have decided to end their struggle and give way to new life.

Even more I would love to see churches turn their attention very early on to figuring how they can invest in young leaders that will outlive the effective ministry of their own church. Rather than new marketing campaigns and more expensive equipment, what if churches sewed the money into new church plants? What would be the Kingdom impact?

[Nathaniel]

"The interesting thing is that every church eventually stops growing, if not then we would see churches with millions of members that are hundreds of years old. And if its God's will that churches should grow forever then every church Paul planted was out of God's will because none of them are around today. " isn't quite right.

While there are many churches that come and go since the reformation, there are still two churches that have existed, one for over 1000 years (Catholic), the second for about 2000 (Orthodox). Each has millions of members.

[David Bartosik]

yeah, because those are two examples of people with vibrant passionate faith....I shouldn't generalize but I was just in greece and I stood in awe of some pretty incredible building but it was a hollow shell with icons and empty chairs. There were more tourists than worshipers. I live in eastern Europe where I see converted churches to mosques. My intent isn't to slam the orthodox church, but to validate the point of a church planting strategy of being ready to continually send out young leaders and keep the church fresh rather than like geoff said spending all our resources on the marketing and equipment today. There is a balance it seems, but the big idea makes sense to me and does so because it is rooted in church planting.