Ramsay Customer Rule #3: Wow all your customers. No matter how unimportant they are. If a restaurant is to succeed, it must create an atmosphere and culture of service so that every diner commands as much attention as the next. Every customer must be treated like a VIP.
When I first read this rule, I was stuck on the ‘wow’ factor. Only after I wrote a long reflection on why and how to wow a congregation did I notice that I missed the whole point. It’s not the ‘wow’…it’s the ‘all’.
Our congregations are gatherings of a faith community (coming together as one), and each person has a particular role to play. The holy Spirit gifts each of us to serve and heal the world. One of the most zealous followers of Jesus, a man named Paul, likened the church to an organism whose individual organs and parts make up the whole body of Christ working in the world today. Each one is as significant as the rest.
It is easy to forget this and assume that some roles are more important, significant, or special than others. Hierarchy and seniority and experience become badges of not only honor but of power. But one great reformer of the church, Martin Luther, taught that we are all members of the priesthood of faith. Not one of us is more righteous, more holy, or more significant in the eyes of God than any other. To think and act so is sin.
This is why I don’t like the way some people talk about or treat those who only attend worship on Christmas and Easter. They use pejorative names like Chreasters, Holiday Christians, C & E’rs (Christmas & Easter), or CEOs (Christmas & Easter Only). I see absolutely no reason to berate or humiliate them, especially from the pulpit. Each person who walks through our doors should be treated with as much love and respect as any other. That said, we should have the same expectations of each one…
In other words, everyone should be treated like a VIP. It doesn't matter whether one puts in $100 in the offering plate or pocket lint, whether one is a bishop or a seeker, whether one is a founding member or first-time visitor, whether one volunteers twenty hours a week at a food pantry or comes to worship only twice a year…they all deserve the red carpet.
There’s a story about a wealthy man named Simon who invites Jesus to his home for dinner. Simon is a Pharisee, a member of a very religious movement that loved the rules. While Jesus is at the table, a woman of questionable reputation crashes the party and anoints his feet and cries over them. Simon is furious and convinced that Jesus isn’t a prophet since the rules would never allow him to be touched by such a sinful person in such an evocative way. Jesus uses the moment to illustrate how inhospitable Simon the Pharisee is really being—he has offered no water or perfume for his guest of honor’s feet, yet this woman has not stopped weeping over them. Jesus sends the woman away forgiven and renewed. Simon likely feels ashamed. And no doubt she feels very special.
If a congregation is to succeed, it must create an atmosphere and culture so that every person is given as much attention, affection, and respect as any other. Every person must be treated like a VIP. Wow all your people. No matter how unimportant they are.