Church Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction

Two items that caught my eye this week seem to have something in common – Customer Satisfaction Doesn’t Matter and Americans not losing their religion, but changing it often. Both discuss how people change brands – or churches – even though they aren’t disatisfied with what they have been getting. Consider this:

By every metric you could choose to assign to my experience, I’m a satisfied customer.

Now let me tell you something that should scare you, no matter what business you’re in. If something even slightly better came along as another option for me, I would switch without hesitation. (Customer Satisfaction Doesn’t Matter)

Her shift in religion was gradual, said Case, 41, a freelance writer and editor in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“It wasn’t so much ‘You people stink and I am out of here,’ as ‘I like this better and this is what I want to do.’ ” (Americans not losing their religion…)

In the church world, some say the Christians are to blame for being finicky and immature. Others blame churches for either not adapting to people’s desires or for failing to create mature Christians who remain loyal.

Instead, I see a different reason. Customers and church goers alike have little loyalty these days. It’s the result of a mobile society, where relationships and their counterpart – loyalty – take a backseat to what is best for the moment. Can churches counteract this?

Some people are surprised that I have remained loyal to my home church, where I have attended for 15 years. It’s a good church, but there was a time when I wasn’t a satisfied member. Yet I stayed because of a few key relationships and a network of acquaintances. Today, I couldn’t be happier.

Likewise, I remain committed to the denomination – not because it’s perfect, but because it’s my family. I see its short-comings, and I’m not motivated to remain because of a misguided elitism. I want to serve as part of the team that reached me, taught me, and trained me.

Yet, I don’t know how to connect with others in the denomination who share similar interests or are engaged in the types of ministries I’m truly passionate about. I know they exist, but the people who I personally know that do the things I really care about aren’t part of my denomination. I wonder at times if it isn’t God’s hand at work, leading me to the people He wants me to be with. Meanwhile, a few key relationships and a network of acquaintances keep me loyal.

An Unexpected Opportunity

The plan I had in mind for my future at my church seems to be going in a different direction. I had planned to start something to reach out to international students at local colleges. I wanted to begin with a “host an international student for a day” event, where families in our church would agree to host a student for a couple hours on a Saturday. It’s one of those experiences that too few internationals get and an opportunity the church misses to welcome foreigners in our midst. After that, I hoped a couple Christian students would begin attending the church, and I would just see where it went.

I’m not abandoning that idea, but some unexpected opportunities with the Inner City Assembly of God church have come up. One of my coworkers and her husband are leaders in the church, and my church’s pastor is working with their pastor to connect our people to their ministries. Sarah, my coworker, told me a week ago they needed help Saturday cleaning their new property before a big event. I shared the need with a few friends, but the next day, I discovered our pastor had committed to having a group help that day – but didn’t have a group to go because he learned of the need after Sunday’s service. Although it was last minute, six of my friends and I went to help last Saturday for a couple hours.

Talking with Sarah and her husband Garrett, I learned that one of their biggest needs is for some people to really commit to the church. Garret told me about how he had basically cut ties with his old church to focus on the inner city work. Garrett and Sarah have been in the kitchen cooking for the hungry for weeks (months?) during services because they don’t have enough volunteers, and they need some people to come on-board and help at the church every week. The assistance of occasional volunteers is helpful, but they really need people who will be there consistently. It struck a chord with me, and I told Garrett I would think about it. Despite mentioning that churches can get upset when their people leave for projects like this, he told me to spread the word, and I wondered how he expected me to do that.

The next day at church, my pastor and I talked about the inner city church. I asked what his plans were, hoping to better understand them so maybe I could use my “network” to strengthen the partnership. He said he wanted us to be involved in anything they needed and felt comfortable with us doing, so I told him what Garrett said about needing help Sunday mornings. He said he wouldn’t have any problem with me making that my “Sunday morning ministry”, but that he would rather I “make it a ministry than do it solo.” When I asked him what he meant, he said he would prefer me to take four or five other people with me. So long as they were solid Christians, he didn’t care if the Rock couldn’t continue counting them as attending or members. I stood their, dumbfounded, and he laughed, told me to pray about it, and let him know how God led me.

I have the coolest pastor ever. When was the last time you heard of someone telling her pastor, “I want to go help at another church on Sunday morning” and getting the kind of response I got? I don’t think that’s a good time idea is the norm, not please take other people with you.