John 13:34-35 with a story and an observation about being in the people business

SCRIPTURE: John 13:34-35 (The Message)
"Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. 35 This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples - when they see the love you have for each other."

THE STORY by Peter Hay, “The Book of Business Anecdotes”
In the 1950s, marketing whiz Stanley Arnold was working at Young & Rubicam, where he was asked to come up with a marketing campaign for Remington Rand. The company was among the most conservative in America. Its chairman at the time was retired General Douglas MacArthur. Intimidated at first by a company that was so much a part of America, Arnold also found in that phrase the first inspiration for a campaign. After thinking about it, he went to the New York offices of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Beane, and placed the ultimate odd-lot order:

"I want to purchase," he told the broker, "one share of every single stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange." After a vice president tried to talk him out of it, the order was finally placed. It came to more than $42,000 for one share in each of the 1098 companies listed on the Big Board at the time. Arnold now took his diversified portfolio into a meeting of Remington Rand's board of directors, where he argued passionately for a sweepstakes campaign with the top prize called A Share in America. The conservative old gentlemen shifted around in their seats and discussed the idea for a while. "But Mr. Arnold," said one, "we are not in the securities business." Said another, "We are in the shaver business."

"I agree that you are not in the securities business," said Arnold, "but I think you also ought to realize that you are not in the shaver business either. You are in the people business." The company bought the idea.

AN OBSERVATION:
The church is in the people business … or we are in no business at all. People should be front and center to everything that we say and do. We are not in show business. We are not in the entertainment business. We are not in the business of building a complex of buildings. We are not in the business of impressing people with a “Wow” factor plus 10. We are in the people business.

If it means that we can gather more people, touch more lives, change more souls by doing all those other things then more power to the church. But we should never loose sight of our primary focus – people!

It would appear that certain situations are built upon the notion of bring glory to the pastor and/or the institutional church (denomination) instead of introducing them to Jesus Christ. If the focus is just a little off … then the result will be decline and ultimately death for the church.

Some people are determined to keep their church small as illustrated by a recent statement from a church member, “Preacher, I hope that we don’t get too big like those other churches. We want to keep it small and intimate.” Interesting … but, as I shared with him, we are in the people business. How can we be in the people business and limit our growth. The two ideas cannot co-exist. We either want to stay small and intimate OR we want to be in the people business. It would be great if we could make up our mind instead of having a split personality.

Jesus was definitely about people. That’s what got him into trouble with the religious leaders of his day. Their desire was to preserve the institution; Jesus was about freeing the people. Their desire was to keep the rules and regulations; Jesus was about meeting the people at the point of their greatest need.

Jesus was in the people business … can we do less?

PRAYER:
It is easy gracious Lord to get lost on the way of fulfilling your purpose for us. The other things are just too easy and oh, so demanding. They grab our attention, demand our time, require much of our resources and they are the expectations of too many. It is easy to get distracted, but help us to keep our focus on the people and their spiritual needs. In the name of the ultimate people person, Jesus Christ himself. Amen.