Amazon Church

August 5, 2018

Amazon has been in the news lately (no big news there!). Being a big, successful company that has driven many brick and mortar stores out of business means Congress is itching to get its hands on it with new rules and regulations. Of course, the brick and mortar stores from big box to mom and pop are lining up to lobby for increased regulations. Already, the tax exempt status of interstate sales has fallen to this pressure, and we have yet to see how much government is going to get into the game. If I were a betting man, I’d say that we can expect an almost apocalyptic fight, and that government will win. 

A hundred years ago, Sears, Roebuck, and Co. came up with a marketing strategy that pushed them to the front of the retail line. They mailed catalogues to prospective customers whose often rural locations prevented them from shopping in an urban retail setting. This marketing strategy worked, and soon Montgomery Ward, Penny’s, and others followed suit. Who even knows about Woolworths or Western Auto any more? Sears provided a service whose time had come, and a retail giant was born. Alas! They failed to see how completely the internet would transform the shopping experience of a new generation, and now they are on the ropes just like many of the businesses they supplanted years ago. 

Toys ‘R’ Us has already disappeared, and others are sure to follow. People will always need food and clothes, gadgets and gizmos; the only question is how they will get them. As I rode to church this morning (a gorgeous day for a ride on the bike, I might add), I thought about how Amazon is transforming the retail business, and began wondering how we in the Church are responding to the cultural changes occurring all around us. People’s spiritual needs haven’t changed, but I wonder if the way we usually present our “product” has kept pace with the world in which we live. 

I lead worship in a beautiful 100 year old building with 20’ tall stained glass windows portraying Jesus the Good Shepherd, Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Resurrection. Those windows are magnificent! The sanctuary is breathtaking; not quite European cathedral, but still beautiful. But I wonder who feels at home in such a building, and who is moved by our music and my preaching? I don’t know the answer; I am not that much of a visionary, but I do know that the culture is changing and people are “shopping” for spiritual life differently than they used to. The need remains the same, the Gospel hasn’t changed, but how we deliver it may need to. I still like brick and mortar; I like to see, to touch, to gauge perspective in real time and space, but my kind are passing away, and who knows what virtual reality will do to human experience? 

These are good times to be alive. Change is happening faster than I can imagine, but having the Gospel as an anchor for the soul keeps me grounded as I rise and fall with the changing tide. Amazon church? Who knows? One thing I do know: God is still God, people are still people, and connecting the two is the mission we’ve been given. Thanks be to God!