Yesterday I took my kids to the park for a little time on the swings and slides.  On the way, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a healthy breakfast…dad style!  When I pulled up to the speaker to place my order, I noticed a sign that said providing express service was important to them, so if you needed time to decide which donuts to order you should step inside the store.  That kind of makes sense.

I pulled up the window and realized that I had forgotten to order a small coffee for myself.  Oops.  I asked the guy if it was possible to add a small coffee to my order.  He said, “I guess.”  He relunctantly got my coffee and swiped my card.  I drove away feeling like I had broken some sort of rule for drive-thru customers of DD.  I felt like I had incovenienced them, though from order to drive away I was only there for 90 seconds…at most.

This is not the first incident like this that I’ve had with DD.  On another occassion I went through the Drive-thru and ordered a dozen donuts.  I wanted 6 glazed, 3 chocolate, 3 with sprinkles.  Simple order.  Only 12 donuts.  Do you know what they said?  If you want to pick your donuts, come inside.

Reflecting on my two recent experiences, it occurs to me that DD wants to keep their drive-thru line moving quickly.  I appreciate that.  It is good customer service.  I hate waiting in drive-thru lines.  Don’t you?  But it also occurs to me that they have shifted the  responsibility of customer service to the customer.  DD wants to provide fast drive-thru service, so if you don’t want to be a fast customer, get out of our drive-thru line.  There desire to provide customer service by being fast has led to a not-so-good customer service record with me…and perhpas others as well.

It also occurs to me that the church uses the DD business model for its own.  We want to reach people for Christ.  We want people to follow Jesus and live for him.  But in our efforts to reach them, we have put the responsibility of fitting into our culture on them.  We want them to look like us, talk like us, and think like us BEFORE they come to our church.  Rather than letting them be who they are and move at their own pace and ask their own questions, we expect them to get with the program or get out of line.

Instead we must adjust and adapt in order to connect with people where they are.  Jesus didn’t ask the woman caught in adultery to get her life together before he would engage with her.  No, he engaged her and then from that place of relationship and connection, he spoke to her about getting her life together.  The responsiblity of adjusting, adapting, and relating falls on the shoulders of the church.  Jesus came all the way from heaven to connect, and he expects his people to take bold steps to connect as well.

So here are some questions for you.  Post your responses, comments, and questions below.

• How does the church’s ability to adapt, accept and relate help or hinder people from coming to faith?
• How can the church adapt without compromising its core message?
• Where is the line between adapting and compromising?

Looking forward to hearing from you!