What do a shopping mall and a church have in common?

Gibbs Frazeur

Churches should take a lesson from shopping malls when they seek to be relevant. A mall that does not stay in step with its community is a mall that will quickly die, says David Suddath of Noonday Baptist Association.

David Suddath is used to seeing churches slip behind the times as communities grow and expand - or transition and die. He's also noticed surprising similarities in the life cycle of shopping malls, and that's what he tries to impress on congregations as he helps them keep in tune with those in their communities.

"In the life of every church you have a life cycle that is clearly defined. About 85 percent of our churches are on the downside of the Bell curve (declining) and about 15 percent are on the upside (growing). Each community has the same cycle," he explains as he helps churches in Noonday Baptist Association evaluate their relevance.

"Churches are like shopping malls. Every 10 years a mall must update itself to reflect the needs of its community," he says.

Malls need to ask themselves hard questions such as:

• Are we offering products that meet the needs of our customers?
• Does our general atmosphere have a contemporary look and feel, or does we look like we are living in 1950?
• Do we provide a friendly, welcoming environment where people want to come and spend their time, as well as their money?

"Those are the kinds of questions each mall must answer if it is going to continue to attract new customers and expand its influence in the community," Suddath explains.

If the mall stays the same but the community goes in a totally new direction - upscale or downscale - the mall will die. It will not attract customers because it is out of step with their needs. Who wants to buy suits with wide lapels in 2005, he asks, even if they were the rage at one time?

Churches must do the same, he maintains. The better the job the church does to mirror the community, the more healthy it will become.

"Most of our churches, like most shopping malls, are community-based and need to be sure they reflect the needs of their immediate community."

Suddath is quick to point out that the gospel message is never comprised through such an updating of a congregation's relevance.

"The purpose and the mission of the church never changes, but the strategies to get people into the church should be constantly updated and evaluated. The outreach should be constantly fine-tuned to be sure it is meeting the needs of the moment," he explains.

"Christ was never complacent to preach the same message wherever he went. We see from scripture that he would always tailor his message to those he was trying to reach and speak the gospel in terms they would understand."