Economics of Church (long)

I've been looking at a lot of options for what to do with the rest of my life in the past few months. I've found some really cool jobs and expounded on some previous thoughts. One idea has been to go back to school and get a higher degree in economics. Now this idea isn't really appealing to the Rents. What do you do with an Econ degree? So here's some advice for anyone out there looking to change majors or jobs to something questionable.

You/Me: Mom. Dad. I'm thinking about going back to school to get a theater degree and try to be a movie star.

Rents: Excuse me?! That doesn't sound like a very good career choice. Your not THAT good looking.

You/Me: Well I want to do something else. And that's something I'm interested in.

Rents: Ummm, can you think of anything else?

You/Me: Yah, I've also been interested in Economics (or whatever questionable profession like working for HALO and clearing mines in some remote place.)

Back to the post. In Economics we find that a company must perform certain tasks to stay afloat. If a company wanted to open a store in Town X, pop. 35,000 then they would most certainly need a niche, something they do (or do better) that other stores don't. It could be something as simple as offering a service not previously offered in town, such as accountant. If that store choses to be in the retail business they will most certainly have to compete with Wal-Mart. You would have to offer something Wally World didn't, like decent books or cars. There is also the idea of supply and demand. You cannot expect to maintain a business without a sufficient supply. Moreover you cannot maintain doing the same business as a larger business with more assets unless you offer something special.

Churches are everywhere where most of us live, especially here in American Samoa. What is your church offering that no others are, what is your Specialization? A bad answer is "God," "the Bible," or "being holy." Almost every church specializes in those things, or tries to to some degree. Those aren't good selling points. Also all churches aren't Wal-Mart. Your church probably cannot support a grocery store and a sports department. More practically, a small church (under 80) cannot have a hispanic ministry, hospice ministry, and prison ministry; Ceteris Paribus. Another econ term. It means "how things are now" or "all other things being equal." Economics, and the Three Amigos, suggests that a small church should find something that church can do well as a group and focus on it. You'll never be able to compete with Fort Jesus down the road if you try doing the same things they are. And why would you want to? If they are already meeting a need in the community then fantastic. Find what you do well. "We can sew!" O.K. Bad example, textiles are cheap. "We like old people." Well lets go visit old people on Monday and Thursday nights. Eventually we'll get more old people to visit, but we'll also get more people excited about serving. A church that does something is a lot more attractive than a church that exists without a visible impact. Is your church existing? No business or church can merely exist. They either have a constant rebuilding or they die.

I think the whole idea of "The body" sometimes gets lost. The body has Specialization. It took the business world 1700 years to state what Paul stated. An eye is an eye. Its hard to pick stuff up with your eye, but not impossible; I just tried. A small church cannot expect to be like a big church, but that doesn't mean they still can't be very productive. White blood cells are some of the smallest specialized part of your body. As mine are thrown out of whack right now I can tell you they are very important. Small churches are important as well. Because you don't produce as much quantity as other churches that gives you the opportunity to focus on the quality. That's why small business still exist where there are Wal-Marts and that's why small churches still have a function and place where there is Fort Jesus.

Econ- Church. Find what your church does well and do focus on that. After you get too much participation in that field, then you start another area (like WM with the pharmacy).

Econ- Persons. Find what you do well and do that for the church. I don't have great planning skills. Partially b/c I hate planning. Nobody at church wants Paul Murphy on the worship committee. "Um. Turn to p. 454 and mark 289. The song after the invitation will be... umm.... 302." (All engine sizes). Paul Murphy is a good at doing, at setting up, and taking down. And its something I enjoy. Its why I love working at camp, I get to do stuff that helps out. Its my specialty.

Paul "Feet" Murphy