don't get too relevant

The Church Marketing Sucks blog takes a weekly poll. Last week's question was, "What is the number one thing that would make you leave your church?" The slight majority of roughly 300 voters said, "The church foresakes traditions of Scripture for relevance."

There's no way to know the demographic of the voters here, but judging from the forum and the profile pics on most of those who participate in their Church Marketing Lab on Flickr, it's probably safe to say they're mostly tech-savvy, artistic, twenty-somethings. Not the crowd we may normally think of as the, "We don't need a Starbucks; this is a church!" voices.

Of course that's not what these voters are saying, but it is interesting to note that while design may be the most powerful force a local church has to either attract or deter young adults (the population segment that generally feels the most rejected by the Church), even they would have you be a church before they'd have you be a community center.

Yes, you need a relevant facility for your ministry, but this may be further evidence that you first need to discover the vision/purpose for your minsitry. Yes, third place is important and will help you reach the unchurched in your community, but take care not to get so caught up in espresso that the sermon suffers.