The Death of Kodak and Too Many Churches
Last week I shared a blog post titled, She’s Dying where I shared Thom Rainer’s “Why Dying Churches Die.” As I thought about the many, once great churches who now seem to be headed toward death, I was reminded of some once great companies who have died. The church is not a company, but I wonder if there is something to be learned.
The Glory Days
Kodak was founded in the 1880s, and by the 1970s, had become a leader in cameras and film. Kodak film was sold everywhere, and almost everyone had used a Kodak disposable camera. In 1962, Kodak sales surpassed $1 billion. By 1972, sales topped $3 billion! Kodak ruled the photography world. In 1975, Kodak invented the first digital camera and by 1976 controlled 85% of the camera market and 90% of the film market. In 1981, sales topped $10 billion .
Sales began dipping in the mid-1980s, and in 2012 Kodak filed for bankruptcy.
What Happened?
While I am no expert on Kodak, I do see a few things.
In the 1980s a shift began toward digital cameras. Though Kodak had invented the digital camera 10 years earlier, it had done nothing to develop their camera. Instead, they continued to put the vast majority of their “eggs” in the film “basket.” After all, it was ultimately film that had propelled them to the top of the camera and film world and brought in billions. Film was their great success.
The problem with this is that the world was quickly changing. Shortly after digital cameras took strong root in the market, another technology began what would be an explosion - the smart phone. The smart phone has grown into a “professional” quality camera that most everyone has access to. As digital cameras grew in use, film moved from cameras to printing and quickly to social media and storage.
Everything that had made Kodak its billions was essentially gone, and because they had held so tightly to their past, bankruptcy and death followed. The world was taking more pictures than ever before, but without the one-time photography leader.
Kodak Churches, What Can We Learn?
A big part of Kodak’s death was its unwillingness to change. The world moved from film photography to digital photography while Kodak did not.
Please note that photography itself did not change, only the tools of photography.
I emphasize that because when it comes to church and what we do, our mission (making disciples) doesn’t change, nor do our means (the gospel proclamation), but how we do those things must change as the world changes. We have to ask the hard questions. We have to be honest in our assessment of where we are and where we are headed. We have to prayerfully consider what is most important - reaching those far from Christ? Or maintaining the way we’ve always done things?
Below is a post from Thom Rainer and Outreach Magazine that may be hard to honestly think through, but should be incredibly helpful. We need more healthy, vibrant Christian churches reaching their neighborhoods, communities, cities and the world.
9 Changes Dying Churches Must Make Immediately
Thom Rainer - April 26, 2017
“Around 200 churches will close this week, maybe more. The pace will accelerate unless we make some dramatic changes.”
It broke my heart.
Another church closed. This church had unbelievable potential. Indeed, it had its own “glory days,” but only for a season. But, 10 years ago, few would have predicted this church’s closure. Today, it is but another statistic in the ecclesiastical graveyard.
I know. We don’t compromise doctrine. I know. We must never say we will change God’s Word.
But many of our congregations must change. They must change or they will die. I call these churches “the urgent church.” Time is of the essence. If changes do not happen soon—very soon—these churches will die. The pace of congregational death is accelerating.
What, then, are some of the key changes churches must make? Allow me to give you a fair warning: None of them are easy. Indeed, they are only possible in God’s power. Here are nine of them.
1. We must stop bemoaning the death of cultural Christianity.
Such whining does us no good. Easy growth is simply not a reality for many churches. People no longer come to a church because they believe they must do so to be culturally accepted. The next time a church member says, “They know where we are; they can come here if they want to,” rebuke him. Great Commission Christianity is about going; it’s not “y’all come.”
2. We must cease seeing the church as a place of comfort and stability in the midst of rapid change.
Certainly, God’s truth is unchanging. So we do find comfort and stability in that reality. But don’t look to your church not to change methods, approaches and human-made traditions. Indeed, we must learn to be uncomfortable in the world if we are to make a difference. “We’ve never done it that way before” is a death declaration.
3. We must abandon the entitlement mentality.
Your church is not a country club where you pay dues to get your perks and privileges. It is a gospel outpost where you are to put yourself last. Don’t seek to get your way with the music, temperature and length of sermons. Here is a simple guideline: Be willing to die for the sake of the gospel. That’s the opposite of the entitlement mentality.
4. We must start doing.
Most of us like the idea of evangelism more than we like doing evangelism. Try a simple prayer and ask God to give you gospel opportunities. You may be surprised how he will use you.
5. We must stop using biblical words in unbiblical ways.
“Discipleship” does not mean caretaking. “Fellowship” does not mean entertainment.
6. We must stop focusing on minor issues.
Satan must delight when a church spends six months wrangling over a bylaw change. That’s six months of gospel negligence.
7. We must stop shooting our own.
This tragedy is related to the entitlement mentality. If we don’t get our way, we will go after the pastor, the staff member or the church member who has a different perspective than our own. We will even go after their families. Don’t let bullies and perpetual critics control the church. Don’t shoot our own. It’s not friendly fire.
8. We must stop wasting time in unproductive meetings, committees and business sessions.
Wouldn’t it be nice if every church member could only ask one question or make one comment in a meeting for every time he or she has shared his or her faith the past week?
9. We must become houses of prayer.
Stated simply, we are doing too much in our own power. We are really busy, but we are not doing the business of God.
Around 200 churches will close this week, maybe more. The pace will accelerate unless our congregations make some dramatic changes. The need is urgent.
Hear me well, church leaders and church members. For many of your churches the choice is simple: Change or die.
Time is running out. Please, for the sake of the gospel, forsake yourself and make the changes in God’s power.
If you are leading in a dying church and want to talk or just pray together, I would love to do that. Just reach out - keith@newcitymacon.org .
If we die as a church, let’s at least die fighting, trying, doing all that we can to reach the people around us today with beautiful news of Jesus.
