What the Church Can Learn from a Colonoscopy Experience…

Orginally published on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 8:24 AM
by Todd Rhoades

OK... here's a post that I know some people will take wrong for a couple reasons. First of all, it was written by a business leader, so it will probably tick off all the people who think that the church shouldn't be run like a business. (And it shouldn't... it should be run like a church.) Secondly, it will infuriate some who think that the church only caters to peoples needs instead of giving them the gospel. (And I'm not proposing creating an experience for people to make them feel good about themselves and tell them nothing about their need for salvation.) Thirdly, (is that a word?), this is going to really upset people who think that you can't use the word 'colonoscopy' and 'church' in the same sentence without doing something sacreligious. So, if anyone's left, please read on...

Tim Sanders, the author of “Love is the Killer App” has a great example of breaking down big experiences into segments.  He uses some business analogies in his writing, but I think the same thing could be done reasonably for a church.  Tim writes:

“The secret is thinking about your Customer’s [let’s insert ‘church goer’s] experience as the sum of several little experiences. Think of it from thought to memory. From the parking lot to the exit. A great example of how one company did this is found in the Sharp Colonoscopy Experience article published in in a publication by Pine & Gilmore. The execs at this hospital found one experience that was bad, getting a colonoscopy, and broke it down into segments. They improved in all the little things and eventually they created a colonoscopy experience so good that their clients were known to run out and tell their friends to go to Sharp “and get a colonoscopy”. If they can do it, you can too.”

Andy Stanley has said that evangelism starts in the parking lot.  Each step of the way, newcomers are getting impressions about us and our church way before we ever get to share the gospel with them.  That makes each ‘micro-experience’ extremely important.  From parking, to greeting, to printed bulletins, to decor, to media, to music… you name it… it all gives an impression to people that God has given us favor to.

Would it not do us all good to put on the eyes of our first-timers and experience what they experience, step-by-step.  Therein could lie some great areas that we could improve upon.

If it’s possible to get buzz and good word of mouth going about a colonoscopy; then doing it with our churches should be a piece of cake.

Here’s the study that Tim sites:  Download sharpexperience.pdf (1187.4K)

Todd

PS—What do you think?  What is the value in this for the church?  (A note:  if you’re one of the three people who were ticked off before you even read the post, please refrain.)

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.

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