Can People Tell the Difference?

I just completed the book “The Collapse of Distinction” by Scott McKain. It was a business book that had so many applications to church-related areas, specifically outreach.

The following quote comes out of the book…“Can people tell the difference between you and your competition?” What is your answer to that? How are people supposed to tell the difference? Because this is a business book, the word “competition” will be what we would think of as “other churches”.

As I ask this question, I am not just asking about people in the other churches. I am not focusing on those that already go somewhere. I am looking at it from the standpoint of a “consumer”, those that drive by our building, read about us, or hear about us who are not currently involved with any religious group.

These “differences” are not just superficial like color scheme, slogans, building style, etc. But think about, why you choose your insurance agent over another? Why do you buy tires at one place over the others? Why do you prefer Starbuck’s over other coffee places? What makes it different?

If we’re not different, we’re not going to exist.

We may exist by having an address, but our life will be non-existent. We, all of us, have to be willing to make something seem unique and different. I am not simply referencing the fact that we sing acappella, take the Lord’s Supper every week, or “have the truth” (as we like to claim).

There has to be more than those areas that make us distinct, in a positive way, from “our competition”. Be thinking and praying how you can be a catalyst in making us distinct!