Shoes Anyone?

     Last week I attended a meeting of pastors in my denomination and heard an inspired talk about church growth and organizational leadership.  One of the stories the presenter shared is well known among preachers.  And, unless I miss my guess, it is likely a popular motivator at corporate sales meetings, too.  I’ll bet you’ve heard it. 

     Two salespeople were sent to a remote desert island with a quota to sell shoes.  After a few weeks, each sent a telegram to the home office.  The first said, “Please send a helicopter.  No one here wears shoes.”  The second said, “Please send shoes.  The people are all barefoot.”  Now, I can see why that story is a big hit on the “after dinner circuit.”  I’ve used it a few times myself.  It makes a great point, doesn’t it?  It’s all about perspective.  The one person focused on the obstacle while the other saw opportunity. 

     But there is something missing in the story.  Neither person thought to ask why the natives were shoeless.  In organizations, we often make assumptions about both our product and our prospects.  We like our shoes, and we can’t understand why everyone doesn’t want to wear them.  Let’s face it.  Few things in life are more comfortable than a pair of old shoes.  Like old shoes, organizations also become comfortable – well polished and well worn.  The only problem is:  few people are shopping for old shoes. 

      Let’s attempt to make this discussion relevant to church leadership for a moment.  Fewer people in our society are “wearing shoes” these days.  Increasing numbers of people are “unchurched” or “de-churched” in America.  The denomination I’m affiliated with has lost 20% of our membership in the last generation.  The answer to our decline is not to work harder making shoes no one else wants to wear.  Who was it that defined insanity as “doing the same things and expecting different results?”  Statistics indicate that starting new churches will stem the tide of denominational decline, and it’s a great place to begin the conversation.  But let’s not assume that just because we make newer versions of our same old shoes, barefoot people will buy them (or keep them).

      No, it’s time to re-engineer our shoe, or, at the very least, to provide a more compelling reason than ”institutional survival” for people to purchase what we’re producing.  One of the most compelling stories of this generation is that of Blake Mycoskie and Toms Shoes.  It’s a case study in visionary leadership.  When you buy a pair of Toms Shoes, another pair is donated to someone somewhere in the world who is shoeless.  To be honest, they are not the most comfortable or fashionable shoes on the market, but Blake Mycoskie has provided today’s socially conscious youth culture a reason to buy shoes that serves someone beyond themselves.  Seems like the church ought to take notes. 

      Yes, we must always seek to be relevant in our approach to the world.  Old shoes don’t fit new people in today’s culture.  But I am not convinced that what the natives need (or even want) most are the “coolest” or the most comfortable shoes on the market.  They just want a reason to wear shoes that transcends their own self-interest . . . and ours.