We are 3 shopping days away from Christmas. If you don’t know, I currently sell jewelry for a living.

With pressure of the ever weakening economy weighing on the  jewelry industry (all industries for that matter, I just happen to have insider information on jewelry) many jewelry companies are closing or are in an extreme desperation mode to survive.  However, while there are closings, there are also stores that are thriving and doing well.

How can that be? How can jewelry stores be doing well in this economy. How can jewelry stores do well when the stock market is acting like it is on a vacation at Cedar Point (jumping from one roller coaster to another)?

In talking with different friends throughout the jewelry industry, the jewelry stores that are thriving in this economy, have three things in common.

1. Successful stores know who they are. Some stores try to be all things to all people. They want to sell a $10 disposable bead bracelet and then turn around and sell a $100,000 diamond engagement ring. That doesn’t usually work. The stores that are doing well define who they are through marketing and maintaining their image insuring that people in their community know who and what they are. It doesn’t matter if the store sells $10 disposable bracelets or $100K diamond rings. Both types of stores are flourishing in this economy, but rest assured, the store’s customer base knows what to expect when they enter the store.
2. Successful stores thive on customer service. Stores that are doing well in this economy know that the most important person to the store is the customer who walks in the door. Thriving stores treat each and every customer as if the stores very existence depended on that customer (and for the record, the store actually does depend on that customer for its existence.) These stores realize that once the sales is complete, customer service does not end. Successful stores follow up with thank you notes, phone calls, birthday/ anniversary cards, etc. Customer service continues so that the customer will not only trust the store in the future, but so the customer will want to come back to the store just for the experience.
3. Successful stores have the inventory their customers want to buy. A store can have the best inventory in the world. Beautiful diamonds, rubies, emeralds, gold… the best of the best, but if the store’s customers aren’t interested, then the store will have cases of gorgeous jewelry just sitting there collecting dust. Successful stores know what their customers want to buy even before their customers know that they want to buy it. One thing that all successful stores in this economy have in common when it comes to their inventory, is that all the inventory is quality. When money is tight, the last thing customers want is junk, no matter how cheap it is. Customers want the very best they can get for their money, and successful stores are giving their customers higher quality than their customers expect.

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you know I love God’s Church. The Church is God’s plan. The Church, outside of the power of God Himself, is the most powerful force on Earth. Jesus promissed that the Church will always endure. Jesus spoke in Matthew 16:18, “…I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

I have been thinking… why is it then that so many churches are seeming to struggle? The Church is God’s plan right? Jesus promised that the powers of hell will not conquer the Church, so what’s up?

The Church is not a business.

 I want you to read that again:

The Church is not a business.

However, the Church could use some lessons learned from the jewelry industry.

1. The Church needs to know what it is.  Like a jewelry store, the church can’t be all things to all people. (Before you go all Apostle Paul on me and hit me with 1 Corinthians 9:22, realize Paul was talking about himself personally, not the church as a whole.) Churches that are thriving  have a clear vision and direction as to who they are and where they are going and they do not veer off course. These churches know if they are contemporary or if they are traditional. They know if wearing blues jeans to church is O.K. or if they consider jeans in church a sin. Thriving churches do what they do and let their respective communities know what their church is about. Through marketing and word of mouth and evangelism the community learns about the church. Thriving churches realize how uncomfortable and intimidating it is for someone to come to church for the first time and successful churches go out of their way to make sure their communities know who they are.
2. Successful churches thrive on evangelism. Like a jewelry store when a customer walks in, that customer becomes the most important person to the store. Thriving churches realize that when someone who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus walks through the doors, that person becomes the most important person to the church. Thriving churches place their focus on leading people to a relationship with Jesus Christ. “Lifestyle evangelism,” as I call it, is a lot like customer service. At first you get know the needs, wants and desires of the person, then you do your best to help that person make an informed decision, then you continue to follow up with that person on a regular basis to see if there is anything you can do to assist that person in the future. Thriving churches place the highest priority on lifestyle evangelism.
3. Successful churches meet the needs of people today. Starting with the actual church services, thriving churches take the time and resource to make sure the church and its ministries are what the community needs. For example there most likely isn’t a need for the absolute best Southern Gospel Quartet on the planet to go set up a church in East Los Angeles, California. I am not sure, but I would guess that even though this quartet might pack out a church in Aiken, South Carolina to overflowing capacity, in East L.A., they may have a bit of trouble. On the flip side, a group of Latino Hip Hop artists might start a church in East L.A. that completely changes their community for Jesus, but if you put that same group in say, rural Georgia, they might not find as much of God’s favor there. This is not just a music issue. Thriving churches see the needs of their communities and move to meet those needs. Thriving churches don’t just throw some toys in a room and call it a “children’s minstry.” Thriving churches plan and have specifically designed services, classes and events for target specific groups. Like jewelry, people do not want junk, no matter how cheap it is… and that is especially true for the Church that is representing Jesus Christ.

I love the church. Stevens Creek  is my church and I love it. This post is not nuclear science. It is what I have seen to be true and what has worked under Pastor Marty’s leadership. Stevens Creek is a church that is thriving. The Creek is meeting the needs of the community and The Creek is leading people to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

One last thing… there is not a perfect jewelry store in the world, not even Tiffany’s… and… there is not a perfect church in the world, not even Stevens Creek.