I took a grad class in business marketing in 1976. The school I went to used the case method, where you were presented with a business problem distilled to a five-page "case." Your objective was to analyze, present and defend your recommendations. The marketing case I recall best was Escalante Chili. If that's a real product, apologies to the owners in advance.
Their [Escalante's] problem was market share. They had a small share of the canned chili market, and they wanted more. So they played with different formulas to achieve that...e.g., increased promotion, different packaging, lower price and variety of tastes (mild, spicy and caramba!).
One of the solutions I didn't recommend was that Escalante invest in increasing the overall market for chili. Escalante had such a small share, it didn't make sense for them to focus on expanding the number of chili lovers. They wanted consumers that loved Escalante chili, not just any old chili. And for a company with a small share, that made a lot more sense. They had to view the market through a narrow lens. Now if they were the dominant provider--think Ma Bell in 1980 (not chili, of course)-- it made all the sense in the world to expand the use of the telephone..." reach out and touch someone..." With a 95% market share, every dollar of added telephone spending put $.95 in Ma Bell's pocket. Not so for Escalante chili.
What's the point? John 17:20-22 reports Jesus praying for all believers:
"I pray also for those who will believe in me through their [the apostles] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one."
Christ's words challenge me to think radically about the capital formation of his church. When he challenges his followers "... that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you," he is picturing gospel-centered believers as bolted together at the cross. He actually goes so far as to state that we do this so "... that the world may believe that you have sent me." In other words, our being one is a witness to Jesus' divine Sonship. Conversely, our being narrowly focused, solving only for our particular "brand" in his church, denies that same truth.
The marketing terms we used back in grad school were π1 and π2. π1 was the overall market. π2 was our own particular brand's share. As A Christian, I'm called to focus on capital "C" formation, capital C being the gospel-centered Church. That doesn't say the local church doesn't matter...of course it does. But Jesus' words do tell us it should not dominate how we view our investment in building Christ's kingdom here on earth.
His words also warn us about modifying His recipe to make it milder,or spicier, or more attractive to a particular segment. He is the author of the formula.
Lord, forgive me the narrow lens that I often use in viewing your kingdom work. Grant me the heart, the will and the vision to see that the way I define your Church directly testifies to the world what I really believe about you.
Chris Joyce
Comments