Christian Co-Ops
As the buy local movement seems to have last some steam in the last year as people look for the cheapest and most convenient as they face the realities of a recession and high unemployment that does not look to ease. Local business will have to go the offensive even more to survive and hope that their message gets out.
Through marketing, word of mouth, and customer service independent local businesses can take on the larger retails even if they have higher prices. A strategy needs to be set and implemented on a regular basis to keep customers coming and new avenue need to be pursued.
Today we will be looking at Christian bookstores which I estimate half of which have disappeared in the last ten years. These stores have been a victim to Amazon, EBay, CBD, and other online stores. They have also faced competition from large brick and mortar stores such as Walmart, Target, Books a Million, Borders, and Barnes and Noble. To have proof of the shrinking market share of the independent Christian bookstore one has to look no farther than their trade organizations (CBA) trade show. The number of attendees and vendors has declined significantly over the last ten years. The largest Christian publisher Thomas Nelson, even choose not to attend the show for the past two years. CBA (Christian Book Association) just let its president of many years go after many years on the job because of the performance of the organization. The organization had upward of 50 employees ten years ago compared to an estimated six today.
The way for these independent stores to survive and prosper is to market to their customers on a regular basis and pursue other avenues of business. I have seen Christian stores add new revenue streams such as gifts, mail stores, thrift stores, office supplies, floral shops, coffee shops, and more. The idea is to create traffic and diversify their potential income. Other stores are having Bible studies and meeting space in their stores to bring in Christian consumers. Others are joining local buy local groups to minister as well as to get the word out about their store.
What most Christian consumers do not realize is that by shopping online or at large secular stores, they are doing a large disservice to a ministry in their local community. Will a sales associate at a large store tell them about Christ? Pray with them? Tell them the differences between Bible translations? No to all of these questions. At some point the Christian community will need to realize independent Christian stores are a vital part of their community.
This leads to the Christian Co-op and what it can do for the stores. Wikepedia defines a Co-p as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. It is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit. A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned and controlled equally by the people who use its services or who work at it.
As I Google Christian Co-Op the only thing that comes up are home school co-ops that help with teaching. A few others show some basic websites lacking substance. There are options out there though. Such as Christian marketing groups that help bring down the cost of printing by printing for many bookstores at a time. These groups are Parable, Munce Group, and Covenant. All have the mission to help independent Christian bookstores in their marketing needs. There is also the website www.MTLBookstore.com which helps stores have an ecommerce site with very little investment. This site gets to the heart of the Co-op idea. For a small fee they become a member of the site and when a customer checks out, and chooses their local Christian bookstore that store gets credit for the sale. Other companies such as Bookstore Manager and Signature Websites provide more customizable websites, but with significant cost involved. MTL Bookstore could provide a significant help to smaller stores by providing a national brand that goes along with its MTL Magazine brand.
In the end independent Christian stores like the church will need to work on relationships in the store, with churches, online through social media and email, and in the community at book tables when the occasion arises. I hope they make it both for their communities, their mission, and to provide an income for store owners and their families.
By Graham Livingston
www.MTLBookstore.com
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Church Foreclosure
Church Foreclosure
In the last year churches have been hit hard with budget short falls as members have cut back on giving due to their financial situations. If unemployment is averaging 10.4% and others are underemployed and equity has been lost this can affect the donations a church receives significantly. Sadly churches have taken the American view that borrowing money is ok.
So much emphasis has been put on building beyond the means and needs of a congregation, how many churches will fall into foreclosure in the next five to ten years will probably be significant and could be a black eye on the church. On the positive side it will hopefully get Christians and the church back into the business of The Great Commission. It could be a time to reinvent the church in a way that is more flexible more agile and more suited to work and deal with the community around them. Hopefully the church will no longer be many separate lighthouses in a city, but a bright light encompassing the whole community.
Churches in the last 15 years have started moving away from the traditional church building with a big front door and a steeple. Churches have started occupying community centers, strip malls, old office buildings, old retail stores, movie theaters, restaurants, bars, the beach, ski slope, and anything in between. The church of yesterday will probably only survive in small communities or in buildings that have been long paid for and who’s members do not mortgage the property to pay for today’s bills or what they think they will get tomorrow.
As I hear lay leaders say if we only had this much money we could do this. Very few people want to start at the bottom of the ministry ladder of face to face contact and work their church up to more integrated programs. The church will need to get more relational to convert people to Christ and to grow the Kingdom of God. Small groups do this, but sadly some churches cannot even get these going do to inter congregational conflicts or lack of interest. Small groups are where church relations start and where community starts. A church with a building full of strangers is bound to die with its preacher or just dissolve over time.
Small groups really get back to the early foundations of the church; there is very little hierarchy, a sense of sharing as group leaders share their home, coffee, and more. It does what some do not want to be done it takes the church out of the building and puts it out in the world.
The most interesting thing to observe will be the way members of a church respond to seeing their church building go into foreclosure. Will they run from it, will they fight for the building, will they downsize and start over, we they lose their faith over the whole experience. Seeing a building go into foreclosure after a lifetime of attending and tithing could be devastating to a member. I see most churches hanging on until the bank comes and keep hoping for a miracle. While miracles can and do happen and I do not want to discount them, I feel most churches in financial problems will be banked owned.
I think most churches need to start reacting today that are currently in financial trouble or see it looming in the future. The best thing would be to sell their property and pay off the debt if they are in the position. Hopefully at this point the money would be available to buy a smaller building or rent a comparable space, or to find a space near were most of their congregation lives or a place in the community that has a real need for a church. The main issue seen with selling a church to a non church is building use. Most churches lack a good layout to be converted to offices or stores. Leaving the value mostly in the land, and I think most churches will be faced with the realization that their property is worth only half of what they think it is worth.
In the end a building is dust to dust and not where our treasures lye and hopefully the church body will keep that in mind when making choices about budgets, loans, building, and more.
In the last year churches have been hit hard with budget short falls as members have cut back on giving due to their financial situations. If unemployment is averaging 10.4% and others are underemployed and equity has been lost this can affect the donations a church receives significantly. Sadly churches have taken the American view that borrowing money is ok.
So much emphasis has been put on building beyond the means and needs of a congregation, how many churches will fall into foreclosure in the next five to ten years will probably be significant and could be a black eye on the church. On the positive side it will hopefully get Christians and the church back into the business of The Great Commission. It could be a time to reinvent the church in a way that is more flexible more agile and more suited to work and deal with the community around them. Hopefully the church will no longer be many separate lighthouses in a city, but a bright light encompassing the whole community.
Churches in the last 15 years have started moving away from the traditional church building with a big front door and a steeple. Churches have started occupying community centers, strip malls, old office buildings, old retail stores, movie theaters, restaurants, bars, the beach, ski slope, and anything in between. The church of yesterday will probably only survive in small communities or in buildings that have been long paid for and who’s members do not mortgage the property to pay for today’s bills or what they think they will get tomorrow.
As I hear lay leaders say if we only had this much money we could do this. Very few people want to start at the bottom of the ministry ladder of face to face contact and work their church up to more integrated programs. The church will need to get more relational to convert people to Christ and to grow the Kingdom of God. Small groups do this, but sadly some churches cannot even get these going do to inter congregational conflicts or lack of interest. Small groups are where church relations start and where community starts. A church with a building full of strangers is bound to die with its preacher or just dissolve over time.
Small groups really get back to the early foundations of the church; there is very little hierarchy, a sense of sharing as group leaders share their home, coffee, and more. It does what some do not want to be done it takes the church out of the building and puts it out in the world.
The most interesting thing to observe will be the way members of a church respond to seeing their church building go into foreclosure. Will they run from it, will they fight for the building, will they downsize and start over, we they lose their faith over the whole experience. Seeing a building go into foreclosure after a lifetime of attending and tithing could be devastating to a member. I see most churches hanging on until the bank comes and keep hoping for a miracle. While miracles can and do happen and I do not want to discount them, I feel most churches in financial problems will be banked owned.
I think most churches need to start reacting today that are currently in financial trouble or see it looming in the future. The best thing would be to sell their property and pay off the debt if they are in the position. Hopefully at this point the money would be available to buy a smaller building or rent a comparable space, or to find a space near were most of their congregation lives or a place in the community that has a real need for a church. The main issue seen with selling a church to a non church is building use. Most churches lack a good layout to be converted to offices or stores. Leaving the value mostly in the land, and I think most churches will be faced with the realization that their property is worth only half of what they think it is worth.
In the end a building is dust to dust and not where our treasures lye and hopefully the church body will keep that in mind when making choices about budgets, loans, building, and more.
Heaven: What is it Like?
Let me start with what Heaven won't be: boring. It is not a place where we will be ghosts or angels endlessly floating around on clouds, strumming harps, and wishing we'd brought a magazine.
Usually when we refer to Heaven, we mean the present Heaven where followers of Jesus go when we die. Though the present Heaven is a wonderful place, it's not the place we're made for—the place where God promises we can live forever. The Bible calls that future Heaven the New Earth. Sometime after Jesus returns, he will bring us to live on that New Earth—a place beautiful beyond our wildest imagination.
By Randy Alcorn
Usually when we refer to Heaven, we mean the present Heaven where followers of Jesus go when we die. Though the present Heaven is a wonderful place, it's not the place we're made for—the place where God promises we can live forever. The Bible calls that future Heaven the New Earth. Sometime after Jesus returns, he will bring us to live on that New Earth—a place beautiful beyond our wildest imagination.
By Randy Alcorn
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