Does Richard Branson have anything to teach us?

Yesterday I caught just a few minutes of an interview with Richard Branson, the eccentric visionary behind Virgin Airlines. He made a comment that I believe has relevance to our ideas about church planting and revitalization. He was asked why he thought the existing airlines had such a difficult time turning a profit. His answer was surprising. He said that the opportunity to file for Chapter 11 has made them sloppy and that they operate with an expectation of entitlement and "good enough" is OK. This mentality de-motivates them from operating in an efficient, customer focused way and sets up a vicious cycle of poor management that leads to serious losses, driving them into bankruptcy where they are rescued from their creditors by Chapter 11, only to repeat the cycle again. He suggested we would all be better off if poorly managed airlines just closed up shop. In the entrepreneurial climate of the US they would quickly be replaced by better run, more efficient and customer focused airlines and our travel experience would actually be much improved.

I couldn't help but notice the parallel between keeping poorly run airlines afloat and propping up unhealthy churches. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that we run out and start closing every church that under-performs some arbitrary metrics involving noses and nickels. I am suggesting that closing churches does not equal opening churches. Think about it. We do not close churches of 50. Usually churches that close have dwindled down to a handful of folks hanging on. They are often mired in a "maintenance" mode and have long forgotten the prime directive of the Master (go and make disciples). In contrast, Ed Stetzer's research shows that the average AG church plant averages 50+ after its first anniversary and has a high ratio of baptism's per member. So when we see that 10 churches have opened, but ten have closed, the Kingdom impact is actually positive. Again, I do believe that we should and must help every existing church to be as healthy as possible. Healthy churches start with healthy leaders. Instead of trying to "not" close a church, let's get on the offensive. I believe we must put our energy into raising the level of health of every leader and revitalizing and planting as many churches as possible. But when it's time to close the doors on a church that has served its purpose, let's find a way to let it go with dignity and clear the path for a new work to spring up in its place!