“A shift towards all things digital and the convenience of
having worship at any time is the reality First Church is facing today.” This is the reason the Pastor Bob Tuttle gave
to the two denominational press agents who covered the press conference.
First Church will be closing its brick and mortar doors on
April 30, 2013 and moving to a completely digital church experience. This comes as a response to the lackluster
offerings and fundraisers added to the overhead costs in keeping the building open. There are only three employees affected by
this move, Pastor Bob, the lawn maintenance company and the cleaning
company.
When asked about the online worship experience Pastor Bob explained
about what the church is calling; “First Church Next.” Between now and April 30, 2013, First Church
will undergo a complete renovation online.
Instead of a website made in 1994 they will be plugging in tens of
dollars into a new website which is currently under construction. This new site will have video recordings of
Pastor Bob’s sermons, which he will preach from the parsonage’s office. “Now I can truly dress comfortably under my
robe.” replied Pastor Bob. “instead of a suit, I can still be in my pajamas.”
Parishioners are excited about this new direction First
Church is taking and what First Church Next can offer their online
congregation. Many have started to
volunteer in the numerous areas of the digital worship experience. There are volunteer opportunities in the Prayer
Line Phone Banks, taped hymn singers, worship chat supervisors and sermon laugh
track operators. “With the ease of video
editing we can get a worship service down to about 40 minutes. Plus it is now distraction free from any human
interaction,” replied First Church Next web designer Phil McVine. “Plus now, people can enjoy our worship
service anytime online, which just a click of a button and patience to wait
through the buffering.”
When asked how many of his aging congregation had access to
this new site Pastor Bob replied, “45% of our congregation has the wisdom and ability
to navigate online. We hope that this
move will increase that number to at least 60% by the end of 2013.”
First Church’s property has occupied the corner of First
Avenue and Main Street for the last 113 years.
It has been a fixture in the community and many people are sad to hear
about its move to an online community of faith.
Jessica Coke says, “I have walked by this church every morning on my way
to work, it will be sad to see it close.”
When asked about their move to the new digital medium, she replied, “I
don’t know if I will visit their new website or not. But I did hear that Starbucks is looking to
move into this corner now. That would be
a huge positive impact to this community.”
There have been some interest in the corner besides
Starbucks. ariSE, a non-denominational
church with sixteen other locations within the city, has shown interest in
turning this location into another worship video feed center.
The last physical service for First Church will be held on April
28, 2013 at 11:00am. The date of the
launch of their new website and online worship experience is still to be
determined.
*The above is a satirical look at the reasoning behind the
closing of all Cokesbury Stores by the United Methodist Publishing House. Sad day in the life of the UMPH. Inevitable? Probably. Sad? Absolutely! I am just sad that the one of the physical
places to go to get Christian literature, programs, church supplies, and quality
theology is closing. I feel all that is
left is LifeWay and that saddens me.
6 comments:
Jim,
I like it. I wrote something similar a couple of years ago - http://heartontheleft.wordpress.com/2007/07/15/what-we-are-supposed-to-do/ -
Cringing at the very thought of Lifeway being the only place to go to...and still feeling irate that they are closing the Cokesbury store at Duke!
Poor, poor taste. I'm sure the employees that are losing their jobs think this is hilarious.
Anonymous, this is satire and it is actually stating that this idea is a bad one. My heart breaks for those losing their job. The point of this post was to point out that closing Cokesbury stores may not be the best route for the UMPH to take.
Anonymous, I'm one of the Cokesbury employees losing his job and I DO think this is hilarious. But I disagree that this decision is inevitable: why is Lifeway thriving but Cokesbury failing? Because their denomination supports Lifeway; the same is not true of Cokesbury. In addition, Cokesbury and UMPH as a whole still operate under a rigid, 1950s-style management structure that generates an overall CYA attitude throughout the company. Notice Neil said he's expanding the sales rep program and will increase Cokesbury's presence at events -- but both these sales channels have been money losers forever. Yet most of the stores still finished the last fiscal year in the black. So what's really going on here? I wish I knew. It's clear that the incompetence of upper level management and the apparent ignorance of the board are the real reasons Cokesbury stores are closing. But, hey, folks, have fun trying to find anything on cokesbury.com!
Jim,
I think your satirical editorial hits the nail on the head. United Methodist Publishing House will find that this decision was poorly thought through. The problem is not that more and more people are turning to the digital medium, but that the upper management of Cokesbury has not been forward-thinking enough to remain relevant. Most of the stores have operated in the black, but have not made significant increases to profits - but is that the point of a church related store? I am afraid that when the Cokesbury stores close, UM Publishing believe all of us good little Methodists will bebop right on over to their new web store and/or telephone salesline; some will, most won't. I will not. From multiple experiences, the website lacks any useful interface and telephone sales, while allowing you to speak to a real person, does not afford you to see anything. Overall, Cokesbury is normally more expensive than other outlets, but having the opportunity to see and peruse before buying, along with the helpful sales associates offset the price difference. In my local store at Greensboro, Lilian, the store manager knows me and knows my church's preferences. She has often led me to try one thing and shy away from another because of that personal connection. If all I am left with is the choice to talk to a stranger over the phone, or try to use a user-unfriendly website, I will choose Amazon.com. At least I know that their prices will be the best and there are no shipping costs.
P.S. I find it quite distressing that when I go to the UM Publishing website to find some way to contact them about my displeasure in their decision, the only method of contact is a general email address. This is surely not a good sign of things to come.
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