There is a battle for the clichés going on in the circles in which I move. Some people argue "if it ain't broke don't fix it", while others push for "change for changes sake".
These clichés occur in all aspects of life, but the encounter I want to consider is what we do with church gatherings.
It's easy to see the problems with outright acceptance of either position. "If it ain't broke" assumes that the product is as good as it can be. There is no room to make changes unless obvious failure occurs. "Change for changes sake" runs the danger of discarding what must not be discarded, even sometimes the thing that is the purpose for existence.
A watch analogy
As I was thinking about this I also became engrossed in reading the history of Swiss watch manufacture. I know you can make an anecdote prove anything you wish, but bear with me as I tell the story.
For 150 years Swiss mechanical watches led the world in style and accuracy. Over the years they became more and more sophisticated, reliable and accurate. Then the quartz watch from Japan swamped the market. All of a sudden, more accurate, more reliable and good looking watches were available at a fraction of the price of Swiss watches. After all the consumer did not know how the internals worked. They were concerned with the look, the price and the quality.
What saved the Swiss industry was 'Swatch' - Swiss quartz watches. It meant the Swiss companies could survive and still be viable in the watch game.
It only took a few years for wealthy, discerning buyers to return to the Swiss brands, and in fact even to the Swiss mechanical models. This happened because the Swiss watch companies did not attempt to compete on price; in fact they elevated the prices for their mechanical watches. They recaptured a market by capturing hearts - hearts of people who wanted something different, that made a statement about them. The Swiss companies identified what they did well in their core business, and how to connect with people who wanted what they offered.
What about church?
So what is the relevance of this story to our churches?
Lots of parallels can be made (and I am sure many will in responses to this blog) but here are a few.
1. Purchasers of watches don't look what is under the watchface. The Swiss probably argued no one made movements like them, but the mass market did not care. In our churches, people need to be reminded of how they are right with God only by the death of Jesus, and called to respond obediently to his demands. We must beware our sophistication does not shroud this.
2. While guarding the gospel with all the resources God gives us, we must also look at how the people we declare the gospel to are responding. We must be on guard to observe early the false and inferior gospel and then unashamedly proclaim why the true gospel is not only better, but in fact is the only one.
3. Fads come and go. Thirty years ago no one wanted to buy into mechanical watch companies as quartz was everything. But things change. Beware of chasing fads at the expense of core business. As time passes people really do appreciate and want to know what 'makes this thing tick'.
One final lesson for me from the Swiss watches. The Swatch rebrand worked. That is, retain the glorious thing you have, but begin marketing to an audience that thinks it wants something else. What buyers wanted was what was on the outside, and the Swiss realised they could do that as well as anyone, and so sold good timepieces, not mechanical movements. But they also continued in what they were good at, beautiful mechanical movements, as they knew their product would win hearts.
