Blockbuster Church?

Blockbuster, the video rental store, is thinking about filing for bankruptcy. I read this article from WIRED yesterday titled Video Killed the Video Store. It’s talking about how the local Blockbuster stores we all know and loved from our days spent in the 1990’s are dying off. People want videos sent to them right away. Why spend gas to drive to the store to rent a small amount of data stored on a disc that might be scratched or even out of stock?

Is the local church the next victim of content “OnDemand”?! I believe there is a “Yes” and a “No” to this question.

Yes

People’s lives are constantly busy. We’re traveling all over the place all the time. We’re being bombarded by kid’s soccer games, dance practice, little league, schoolwork, peer pressure and just simply everything that is not the church. The way it stands right now people have to physically get in their cars and spend the gas money to get to the church’s local building. Then then have to worry about whether or not the sermon has been scratched (not thought out well enough) or even in stock (listening to the preacher they want to hear). If we could get Jesus OnDemand would we give up our Sunday morning commute?

No

Now don’t get me wrong… I’m not saying that what we’re doing here at the local church is bad by any means. The local church is doing great things for a lot of people. Churches across the country are still packed by actual people on Sunday mornings! God’s word is shared… people are happy!

The local church will not go away like your corner Blockbuster stores. However… should the local church take a que from this store closing epidemic? Yes. A sign in the picture above says “Rent Online”. Should we have a sign in our window that says “Jesus Online”? Yes. It is my personal belief that the majority of church-goers will keep coming to a physical facility because they like the community and actually seeing their preacher in real life. But what about those other 6 days of the week? Stuff keeps happening at the church… even if you only attend on Sundays. By utilizing social media and in some cases even having an internet campus the church can have a far greater impact on community.

So you won’t see Our Saviour’s closing its doors anytime soon (unless you count the new locked door schedule we just put in place) but you will see us opening our doors to the online community. You see… we’re all about growing participation, strengthening missions and fostering learning here at Our Saviour’s. We’re doing it everyday here on campus… but now we’re going to be doing it online!