It's amazing how people look at this promotional event that is happening until November 28th. I will be taking full advantage of said coffee, and enjoying it to it's fullest. But then I look at the amount of people going through the drive-through, and in the store, lining up for this free gift from McDonald's, and I start to think.
Why are people in Tim Horton's sitting down, and just drinking coffee, when McDonald's has free coffee??
I'm all for the free ... but why? Some people may not like the coffee, but I doubt it. I think it has something to do about habit, and about being in comfortable surroundings. Tim Horton's has become an adult drop-in center, and it is a meeting place. There's donuts, and coffee, yea, but its where people can relax.
Have you ever really felt relaxed in McDonald's? Do you ever have real long conversations in a burger joint at all, versus a coffee place?
In our Churches we offer something free as well, the knowledge of salvation. A free gift. Much more precious than coffee (though quite a few churches offer both). We seek out people to bring into the kingdom, but we have a problem much like McDonald's does in getting people to change their coffee habits from Tim Hortons to their stores.
1) Pre-conceived notions - Church has had a bad rap throughout history. Justified or not, the label of 'Church' can be a hindrance
2) The atmosphere, the warm of many Churches are lacking. I'm not talking about color schemes, and promotional posters. I'm not even talking about how LOUD your hymns are. How do we greet people? Are we genuinely interested in the people that come through our doors ... or do we act more like a fast-food restaurant .... 'Here is you meal, chew on the message, then move on so we can get to the next person"
3) Community. Tim Horton's does alot for the community, more than supporting their own camps, but they offer free ice skating every year at our local arena. This make them at least have an appearance of being interested in our community. The Church needs to do one-up, and be GENUINELY interested in their communities, and find way's to bring the relevance of the gospel to everyday people.
The early Church did a way better job than we ever did. I think one of the problems is that we continue to associate Church with a building, instead of building up the people in our community.
Anyway, these were just my random meanderings of thought, but maybe we can talk more about it ... over coffee :)
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