A Produce Stand

In our area we have a roadside produce stand nearby our closest interstate highway. Depending on the season, it features locally grown strawberries, sweet corn, watermelon, in addition to other home grown items. The little structure isn't much more than a shack, but it doesn't matter. Those who run the stand make sure that people know how to get to it and what's available when we get there. Large signs, visible from the highway, tell us the featured item and make sure we know which exit to take, where to turn once we get off the interstate, and which access road will take us to the stand. The owners are more concerned with what the stand offers and getting people to the stand than with the stand itself. They have no trouble getting business.

As simple as this roadside produce stand is, it teaches something that many congregations of Jesus-followers have not grasped. I have travelled to many different church facilities of my denomination both in our state and beyond. I am convinced that one of the hardest locations to determine in any given community is the whereabouts of the nearest United Methodist Church building. We pour thousands of dollars into our facilities, and go head over heels in debt to keep them state of the art, then we assume people will know how to find us on their own. Too often we neither take the time and trouble to provide universally accessible direction to our locations, nor do we clearly communicate the product available once they arrive. With nothing intended or any ill will on the part of any follower of Jesus, we communicate a message that says, "We expect you to want to find us, and we expect you to do the work to get to us." Like it or not, that really says, "You really don't matter to us. If you take the time and trouble to get to us, we may or may not pay attention to you." Clearly that's not the message we want to send.

The roadside produce stand is not practicing high tech science. It's simple: the product you offer and making it easy for people to get to the product is as or more important than the place at which you offer it. Churches could take a lesson from that. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.