For those of you expecting my thoughts on Ramsay's Customer Rules #3 and #4 this weekend, my apologies for my absence. Being the end of Holy Week and beginning of Easter I have been rather...preoccupied of late. I will continue my ruminations this coming week.
I have learned a lot thinking about these restaurant rules and how they apply to ministry and leadership in a congregation, and I'm eager to share them. Stay tuned.
0 Comments
![]() Buzz. Gordon Ramsay’s second customer rule is this: Create an organization with buzz. Involve your customers. If a restaurant is to succeed, it must be the talk of the town, the place to see and be seen, the social and culinary highlight of any customer’s week. And customers can’t help but spread the word. Church is all about buzz. The good news is just buzz—buzz about the kingdom of God come today. Sure, Jesus called people to follow him, but he also sent them out to the ends of the earth to spread the word about the reign of God. That’s the literal meaning of the word apostle—to be sent out. And don’t forget that just fifty days after Jesus’ death and resurrection, his first disciples were set on fire by the holy Spirit—they were so buzzed that onlookers reportedly attributed it to drinking too much Manischewitz. Read it for yourself in Acts 2. Being a Christian…being a church…is not a passive recreational activity. It is active, lively, passionate, buzzy. How do we make our congregations buzzing with the good news? The answer is simple—we involve our people. We involve our people in worship. Liturgy literally means ‘work of the people’. Are people at our services participants or spectators? Are they actively engaged and engaging in worship, or are they following along in the book and mumbling monotone responses in bold print? When we look out at our congregation during worship, are the people looking down at their bulletins or are they looking right back at us? And what about preaching? There was a time when I would preach behind a solid, wooden pulpit, standing on a little platform. I would read my sermon dramatically, making appropriate eye-contact with the congregation as I worked my way down my carefully composed manuscript…a manuscript printed in double-spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font (complete with one inch margins). I was careful, scholarly, and sometimes even interesting. But I wasn't engaging the people. I had to change. So, I shed the manuscript. Oh, I spent as much if not more time preparing my sermons because now they had to be delivered without a parachute. But the freedom was rewarding. I could engage my people—ask them questions and listen to their answers, bring them on a journey, use them as props and sermon illustrations, and so on. People had permission to listen, to laugh, to object, to puzzle, even to derail a sermon. Now, more than ever, I believe my preaching can buzz. But buzz is more than Sunday morning gatherings. We have to honestly ask ourselves how involved our people are in doing the ministry of the church. Try this: the next time you have a church committee or team meeting, look around you. If I’m honest, I see the same faces I see on most other committees. The same 10 or 20 percent actively engage while 80 to 90 percent watch and wait and maybe even avoid. That’s not buzz…that’s burnout. We can only challenge this 20/80 rule by reaching out and getting more people involved. How well do you know your people, and how well do they know each other? Do you know what people do for a living? What are their hobbies? Where do they like to hang out? How do they unwind, have fun, and socialize with friends? What gifts and talents have they been blessed with by the holy Spirit that energize them, motivate them, send them buzzing? If our people aren't engaged, they won’t be involved; if they aren't involved, they won’t buzz. And church is all about buzz. If a congregation is to succeed, it must be the talk of the town, the place to see and be seen, the social and religious highlight of any person’s week. And people can’t help but spread the word. Create a congregation with buzz. Involve your people. ![]() The first of Gordon Ramsay’s Seven Customer Rules is obvious: Use the best ingredients. That includes people. A restaurant will be a success only if it uses fresh, local produce and protein, and prepares and serves that delicious food with skilled, passionate chefs and wait staff. It’s that simple. Let us suppose the first rule of leading a congregation is the same: Use the best ingredients. That includes people. Ingredients: The message—what message are we feeding our people? Are we feeding cheap grace, prosperity gospel, safe and warm-fuzzy messages that are inoffensive, dispassionate, or uninspiring? I’ve heard colleagues in ministry bemuse that if we truly preached the message—as Jesus would intend—we’d have to wear a helmet and Kevlar. I find this anecdote shocking because it exposes cowardice as preachers and our lack of passion, and our disregard for what we are called to do; namely, speak the truth. Use the best, the freshest, the most honest ingredients in your message. We can’t feed our people cheap, processed, sugary foods. We must nourish them, educate their ‘palates’, and stimulate their senses and their God sense. And you have to be passionate about the message, because if you aren’t, our people won’t be either. Take risks, don’t be afraid, and if you have to, wear a damn helmet. The context—does the environment support our message? Is it cold and uninviting? Is it warm and welcoming? Is it functional, or friendly, uncluttered and clean? Does it show that the people who gather there care about what happens there? The worship—do the worship services convey the work of the people? After all, liturgy literally means ‘work of the people’. Is it simple, sincere and dignified? Is it easy to follow? Would a person who had never stepped foot in congregation be able to follow along and not feel left out, lost, or unwelcome? Is it too expensive—too hoity-toity, out of reach and out of touch? Is it too cheap—lazy and messy, and lacking passion? The formation—do we educate our people’s palates? What programs do we use to teach our children, our teens, adults and seniors about the story of God’s people? Even better, how do we teach our people to follow the way of Jesus? Do we just give pithy messages about justification, grace, law and gospel…or do we actually teach and show people how to really live? Beyond the doors—the best advertising is word of mouth. Is what we are about so life changing, so incredible, so amazing that people can’t help but share with others? Think about the last time you had a great meal at a new restaurant…did you recommend it to others? When someone asks, ‘Where’s a good place to eat around here,’ don’t you have an answer ready? And what about a bad restaurant experience? If food is nasty and service terrible, word gets around fast. Is what we are serving in our congregations creating buzz? People—do we use the best people? Do we use the best IN people? Do we demand the best in ourselves and others? I have to admit that as a pastor, I am often gun-shy about confronting mediocrity because I’m afraid to offend or hurt feelings or anger someone. God knows if I piss someone off it will come back to bite me…hard. But I have to remind myself that just because Jesus didn't call the best and brightest and richest and most qualified doesn't mean he didn't expect the best from them. He expected from his disciples total commitment—100%. As leaders of a congregation we do not respect our people or God if we settle for less. If I am afraid to offend, then I can’t be a pastor. At least, not a good one. And if I’m going to live by this first rule, I've got to use the best in myself. A congregation will be a success only if its message is honest, relevant, passionate, and fearless; proclaimed and lived by people who are just as honest, passionate, and unafraid to follow Jesus. It’s that simple. Use the best ingredients. That includes people. Amen. ![]() Today, I’m abandoning the Holmesian schtick for my blog. I guess there are finally a few things on my mind that I can’t weave into a cute mystery solve. The detective will doubtless return now and then, but for now I want to share some thoughts of my own without the deerstalker and pipe. Here goes… I’m a fan of Gordon Ramsay, the Scottish Michelin starred celebrity chef who peppers his language with the occasional F-bomb. I enjoy his cooking, his gimmick, and his personality. Love him or not, he’s a savvy business man and one hell of a chef. He is passionate about food and passionate about making his diners experience the best cuisine possible. One day I was browsing the web and reading news of the Chef when I stumbled across what was described as Gordon Ramsay’s Seven Customer Rules. While I couldn’t verify truly if they are directly from Ramsay, I was nevertheless astonished by what I discovered—how much these seven rules seemed to apply to me as a pastor of a small mainline congregation. I know I am not the first pastor to find helpful insights from the world of secular hospitality and customer service. And I know that to be a Christian leader is to serve, yes? ‘The greatest among you must become like the youngest,’ says Jesus, ‘and the leader like one who serves.’ Fundamentally, in practice, I am in the service business. I serve God and I serve my neighbor. I don’t have a product to sell, and whatever people get from me I give away for free. So, what can I learn about how to be the church…how to lead the church…from a restaurant? The most common metaphor for the kingdom of God is a sumptuous feast. What can a foul-mouthed celebrity chef who slams about Hell’s Kitchen teach me about leading a community of faith? A lot, I imagine. For the next seven days, I am going to reflect on each of Gordon Ramsay’s Seven Customer Rules and how they may or may not inform me about how to lead a congregation better. Don’t worry. I’ll keep my language clean. |
AuthorScott Howard is the pastor of Triumphant Cross Lutheran in Salem, New Hampshire. HomeArchives
December 2016
Categories
All
|