While I'm grateful to Starbucks for raising the bar where gourmet coffee is concerned, I'm always baffled by people who seem to fawn over Starbucks like it's a small, cuddly animal instead of a sprawling global conglomerate. I'm also baffled by people who say "Oh, Starbucks is my faaaavorite!" as if this is tantamount to making a strong statement about personal identity. Come to think of it, I'm also baffled when people walk into a Starbucks and--but I digress.
There's a fascinating article up at Our of Ur called Burned by Branding; what churches can learn from the anti-Starbucks movement. At least, it's fascinating to me, but [honest disclaimer] I've always been a local coffee shop guy myself. Anyway:
Believe it or not, not everyone loves Starbucks. The Wall Street Journal’s Janet Adamy has written about the growing resistance the Seattle-based coffee cartel is facing in many communities. The issue—Starbucks ignores local culture in favor of maintaining its brand-identity...
New Starbucks stores are opening that do not reflect its well-established corporate identity. They are trying to personalize their stores to resemble local cafés that fit in with the community. One Starbucks in Denver has even abandoned the green mermaid logo of the brand.
The lesson—people don’t necessarily want to be connected to a massive corporate identity. An increasing number want to identify with local, accessible, and human-scaled institutions. My own experience affirms this. I am writing this post in a local coffee shop. At 8am there is not an empty table in the house. This is where community happens in my town. Directly across the street is a Starbucks. That store sees a steady stream of people pass through to get their morning fix. But the tables are empty. It isn’t a place people gather, converse, or write blog posts.
Fascinating stuff. And the implications for church, which you may be able to guess at, are fascinating too...feel free to discuss.
3 comments:
Can you say "contextualization?...."
It appears that Starbucks is beginning to catch wind of, and apply principles of contextualization to its business practices, and in many ways the church would be wise to do the same.
Now, I am in no way advocating or suggesting that the church sell its proverbial soul anymore to the business world than it already has, but principles of being indigenous and community focused should serve to inform how a church should relate to the community it is attempting to reach.
The "one size fits all" approach to doing church has in many ways been weighed, measured and found wanting, as principles and practices of large churches, (resembling coorporations), have failed to translate to meaningful impact in smaller communities.
We have created a culture in which ministers move about as autonomous individuals instead of viewing themselves as having a responsibility to any given community.
While the network and program driven approaches of Purpose Driven and Willow Creek have given us much to think about, unless we raise up indigenous, contextualized churches, with indigenous, invested leaders we will continue to see the rapid decline of the North American church.
Starbucks has recognized this and began to adjust, now the question for us as me move into the next generation as church leaders is, will we?
Ariel
Read the Out of Ur post, the "Oracle" was hilarious. I do think there is much for the church to learn from the Starbucks illustration. The increasing number who "want to identify with local, accessible, and human-scaled institutions," I believe reflects back to the triune, relational nature of God. (and the fact that He created us in His image.) It is unfortunate that it takes us years of living in the "church as vendor of religious goods and services" mode to recognize that something is amiss.
Brad
Can you say "contextualization?...." It appears that Starbucks is beginning to catch wind of, and apply principles of contextualization to its business practices, and in many ways the church would be wise to do the same.
In a word, you nailed it, must_decrease. Contextualization. It's a buzzword these days, but I'd be quick to point out that the first century church "invented" the idea. Paul was a master at incarnating the gospel for the cultures he preached to, and Jesus himself "contextualized" the kingdom of heaven when he brought it down to earth.
The increasing number who "want to identify with local, accessible, and human-scaled institutions," I believe reflects back to the triune, relational nature of God. (and the fact that He created us in His image.)
That's right!! Thanks Brad, that's "theological reflection" with deeply practical implications (and shouldn't thinking about God's truth always work this way?). Looking forward to more.
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