5. People will pay for something they don’t use until, one day, they won’t.
I realize I pay almost $100 a month for something I almost never use—network TV. I rarely watch it anymore.
I hold out and pay the monthly bill because I might watch the World Series or the Superbowl. I don’t like the illegal options (I don’t do illegal downloads) and watching live sports in Canada legally without subscription TV is more difficult than in the U.S.
But seriously … $1,200 a year in case I might watch something? I could almost fly to the World Series for that.
For the first time in the U.S., traditional television subscriptions declined year over year as people cut the cord.
This is only going to accelerate.
If your entire church model is built on people coming together at set times to ‘consume’ content, how long will it be until people eventually wake up and realize they are paying for something they rarely ‘use’?
This is a bit of hyperbole, of course, when it comes to the church. Because the church is SO much more than a common gathering around content. Except that sometimes it’s not. It should be, but it’s not.
If you are simply trying to attract people to a one-hour event that people increasingly don’t attend, you will always struggle financially. People will support something they don’t attend until, one day, they won’t.
The good news? Mission-centered, mission-focused churches will not be impacted by this. A church that has a white-hot sense of mission will almost always have the resources it needs to do what the church is called to do. But churches who want to prop up what used to sort of work, won’t.
So focus on your mission. Focus on your purpose.
Call people to something greater than themselves.
Personally, I’m fascinated by these cultural shifts and would love to hear your take on what you see happening and how you are responding or think the church should respond.
And if you want more on cultural shifts, my friend Rich Birch of Unseminary.com has a great post on eight demographic shifts happening in the U.S. that also have huge implications for church leaders.
Also, if you’re leading change and worried about backlash to changes, I wrote this short book to help you and your team navigate the opposition you’ll face. (You can get the Kindle version here, or hard copies for your team here.)
