Content vs. Packaging

This is another thought that's been bouncing around in my head recently... hopefully this will make some sense. Anyways, off we go!

A few weeks ago I watched the movie Employee Of The Month with some friends. It was a pretty funny movie about a loser guy who works at a warehouse club and ends up turning his life around, actually working hard, and winning (drumroll please) the Employee Of The Month award. (Bet you didn't see that coming!) However, en route to getting said award (and, since this is a movie after all, "the girl". you know what i mean) he ended up almost completely alienating himself from his close friends. He realized his mistakes, reconciled himself to said friends, and still got the award. Great story (CONTENT... I'll tie this in later) about turning around a life and becoming a better person, right? In a word, yes... but the PACKAGING (again, stay with me) wasn't very impressive. There was a good bit of unnecessary bathroom humor and innuendo throughout the movie... it felt like it was originally written for adults but then the producer wanted to include the 10-to-13-year-old segment too. I did enjoy watching the movie since it was a time to hang out with friends, but the movie when viewed on its own merits was frankly a disappointment. Good content + bad packaging = not a good experience.

Now, take yourself to First Baptist Church in (your town), (your state). It's been there for longer than anybody can remember (rumor has it that Abraham was a founding member). About half the people there look like they just lost their best friend, the other two thirds are asleep (new math. don't hate!), and their services always follow the exact same order: organ music for prelude, 1 hymn, welcome, 2 announcements (maximum 30 seconds each), 1 more hymn, awkward pause, sermon lasting between 30 mintes & 19 seconds and 31 minutes & 28 seconds (no more, no less), offeratory lasting exactly 4 minutes (the pianist always finishes about 10 seconds early so insert another awkard silence at the end), 1 hymn, 2 more announcements (again, no more than 30 seconds each) plus quick mention of first announcements, then dismiss to potluck dinner in the cafeteria downstairs. Yes, that was a bit of an overstatement.... but I'm sure you get the point. The sad part is this church has the best message ever: God sent his only Son, Jesus, to save us from the eternal consequences of our sin (aka "death & spending eternity in hell where there is weeping & gnashing of teeth") so that we could spend eternity in Heaven instead. I mean how awesome is that? Talk about some amazing content! The problem is, again, the packaging: talk about drab and uninteresting to the outsiders that the church needs to be reaching. The "old-skool" church (like the fictional First Baptist Church above) should consider how they are viewed by others not in the body and be willing to change the packaging to better reach their audience. However, for now it's still... Good content + bad packaging = not a good experience.

Now, hop in your car and drive over to 2335 Presidential Drive, Durham, NC 27703. Probably best to get there at about 8:50am or 10:45am on a Sunday morning. That address and time might be familiar to some readers of this blog... it's the Brier Creek Campus of The Summit Church. Now I'm not saying that they do everything absolutely right there by any stretch... they still have the same message as our friends at First Baptist Church in (your town), (your state). However, everybody looks happy to be there, you (almost) always are greeting by a smiling and caffeinated person at the door, and they have FREE COFFEE. I mean, how awesome is that?!? Feeling welcome and comfortable is one of the biggest challenges that the church today faces as we minister to the world around us. And even though there are 50+ people on stage and around 1,000 seats in the audience there's a feeling of everyone generally being glad to be at Summit, from opening song to final dismissal (and they don't have awkward pauses either! ...at least most of the time :P). Great content + great packaging = great experience.

And finally (last stop), go back to your home neighborhood. Lots of kids, funny costumes, and most importantly: candy. Lots and lots of candy.

Now I love chocolate (and most candy in general) as much as the next guy. However, no matter how enticing the packaging might be, it's basically junk food. This one is obvious: good packaging + bad content = bad experience (in this case, eating too much candy and getting a stomach ache).

So to bring this all together... content and packaging, while both relevant to and dependent on each other, are independent at their roots. You can have one without the other, but when that's the case it's not going to leave the consumers (which, ultimately, is how church attendees must be regarded by the pastoral staff & people who make stuff happen at any given church) "satisfied", or in this case walking away from . As the church we must keep this in mind and constantly be evaluating ourselves on this standard of having great content and great packaging. Without it, "How can they believe if they have not heard?"