Wednesday, February 18, 2009

'What Would Google Do?'

Search engines are changing the way people find, collect and share information. Online search is also affecting the way people interact and do business offline. In his new book, Jeff Jarvis asks, 'What Would Google Do?':
Give the people control. Do what you do best and link to the rest. Small is the new big. The mass market is dead; long live the mass of niches. There is an inverse relationship between control and trust. Be honest. Be transparent. Free is a business model. Middlemen are doomed. Simplify, simplify. Don't be evil.
Sounds like good church planting advice. I would like to translate it this way:
  • Start small with little to no overhead - no rented buildings and no paid staff.
  • Decentralize - pastors should act like trainers and not priests
  • Network with other churches - you can't do it all alone, but together we can reach a region
  • Be real - let people see you for who you are, warts and all
  • Be relational - let evangelism flow out of love
  • Be flat - no hierarchial leadership
  • Take it easy - don't over complicate things
  • Don't be evil speaks for itself

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Keeping up with the Joneses

I saw this commercial on tv and immediately thought about church planting. If this commercial is reflective of what people really want, then there should not be so much disconnect from the culture and the church. The problem is when the church trying to market itself as keeping up with the Joneses.