I've been wondering for some time now how it is possible for convenience stores to survive next door to supermarkets.

In fact they are not simply surviving but thriving. More and more seem to be spawned within shouting distance of supermarkets.

The reason I’m interested in this question is not just because I have have weird questions going around in my mind. Rather I think we can learn much about how we should minister today by observing what is happening in the commercial world. After all the Proverbs commend us observing the ant to learn the value of industry.

In the 1970s we watched the demise of the corner store with the advent of he supermarket. This signalled a change in the way suburbs were functioning.

The same trend changed our local churches. With the loss of the corner store suburbs lost their village feel and became less important to our identity.

The rise of the convenience supermarket

Recently I been watching the supermarket and corner store converge across Sydney as the supermarket-owned petrol station has risen to dominate our main roads. Now we can go to for the convenience of the small local shop, knowing that it carries the main lines of the supermarket.

But what does this mean for churches?

Over the last 30 years churches have either tried to maintain their local suburb feel, struggling against the decline in suburb identity of the locals. Or churches have sought to become the ‘supermarket’ drawing from a regional pool of people either through targeting a particular group or by offering a top-shelf experience which draws people from a wider area.

So I am now wonder how, like the petrol stations, we can get the benefits of the supermarket with the accessibility and convenience of the petrol station?

Here are some initial thoughts.

1. The supermarket owned petrol station is driven by a desire for greater market share, and, under God, that is also our desire.

2. The breadth of supermarket product offered at the local petrol station level has to do with needs of the purchaser. Having the same products on offer and the same specials at the same price in all stores increases the willingness to shop in the store. For us - the offerings I am thinking of come from extolling the consistency of truth being offered in our churches.

3. The purchaser buys bread and milk at the petrol station even though they have actually come to engage in another transaction: the buying of fuel. For us - there may be a ministry tactic in this piggy-back provision of services. I wonder whether we need to be where another transaction is naturally taking place.

4. There is clearly a place for the supermarket church and the local store church. Too often we think it has to be one or the other.

Of course, what you can learn from observing the productive ant only has value when observed through eyes enlightened by God's revelation. The same is true of petrol stations.