Long Term
I was pulling a mug out of the dishwasher at work, mid-cycle, when my boss came in and we started talking about the given merits of different white good brands. As a sidenote, if you are looking for white goods and are willing to spend, buy Miele it is the fire and forget of the white goods market.
What it brought up again and what I have been noticing over the last six months, the last six months where I have spent more money than in my entire lifetime, is that the consumer market is geared for the short term. Everything is priced and marketed such that it encourages you to buy stuff now that is cheaper. This cheaper product will break and force you to go through the same buying/marketing stuff again in 2-5 years. This as per usual got my brain turning over as I find the manipulation of people, for lack of a better word, fascinating.
I came to the conclusion that spending more now, significantly more now, will normally save you significantly in the long run. Not because you will save huge amounts of money, though if you are smart you will at least break even financially, but because that whole time, I am talking about ten years, you own a significantly better product.
Dave’s worldly wisdom aside, this all had a scary parallel to the product “Church”. The church is selling itself as one of those cheap, buy me now items which will break in 2-5 years time and force you to go out and buy a new one. People are so caught up in the short term; they are eating up this cheap church. The church actually thinks it is winning but the real consequences are the quality in churches at the moment is astonishingly bad and the rate of turnover high.
What if people demanded more? What if people decided to commit to a church long term? They decided we will be here ten years, let’s be discerning and find a high quality church. It might cost us more in the short term, we might need to move house, change friendship groups or sacrifice jobs. All this would be worth it though if it meant you were part of a vibrant church for ten years. A vibrant church which changed people lives. Not a cheap church which satisfied people for a while but then they moved on after five years because things were “broken”. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a vibrant church like that? Tell me why God is not asking you to commit to your church for ten years to see that happen?
