I was intrigued as I listened to talk radio the other day as to the striking similarities between the Airline Industry and the current state of the church. The talk radio hosts were talking about a recent poll done in some magazine about which airlines ranked the best when it came to effectiveness and customer loyalty. They explained that it was no surprise that airlines like Jet Blue and frontier (fairly new and young) were at the top of the list and airlines like United and American (old "legacy") were at the bottom. An airline expert commented that the "legacy" airlines "grew up" in the regulated airline industry when the gov. subsidised a large portion of their cost and that the newer airlines have "grown up" in a competitive market. Being as such the new airlines are much better and aware as to what must be done to reach potencial passengers.
It struck me at this point as to how similar this is to the church of today. The older model of "Christiandom" as a way of going about church "grew up" in a society where it was the center and it was just expected you would go to church. Some of the more "emergent" modes of church have "grown up" in a very different cultural context and thus has had to understand a new paradime. The church of today must understand how to be in culture and be salt and light with in it and not just expect everyone to come to it for salvation. The old model is not wrong just outdated and ineffective. Maybe there is more that just good TV on Frontier!
