Every once in a while (actually, more often than I might like), I find my mind working in a stream-of-consciousness manner, chasing what might initially seem to be unconnected rabbit trails, that only lead back to one another. Sometimes these intellectual flights of fancy end up being quite productive; sometimes they don’t. Sometimes I share them with you; sometimes I don’t. Today I’ll sahre one of those thought streams with you.

I was listening to NPR on my way to the church the other day when they had a little blurb about Starbucks continuing to make headway into the music market, this time by signing Joni Mitchell to their label which already features Paul McCartney. This set me to thinking about Starbucks and what they have created. One of the great successes of the Starbucks franchise is that they have succeeded, not just in marketing a product, but an image and possibly even a community.

Starbucks is one of the few major companies that is fairly lenient about giving away their products. If you know someone who works at a Starbucks, chances are, you’ve received a free drink at one point or another. While this seems counter-productive to the more pragmatically minded folks, it actually makes great sense because when someone sees you walking around with the famously branded cup with a smile on your face, they’re going to want a coffee drink they didn’t realize they were craving until they saw yours.

Starbucks furnishes their facilities with comfortable couches and chairs and music. In other words, they’re not just selling a product, they’re selling an atmosphere. What’s interesting is that they are selling an atmosphere that is both welcoming and a bit intimidating. How many people knew what a “Barista” was before the Starbucks invasion? They use their own language and expect you to adapt, knowing that once you do, you’ll feel like part of the “in” crowd and the experience will be all the more meaningful to you.

In other words, while maintaining a welcoming environment, part of the appeal of the Starbucks experience is that they are (or were) “other,” they used words that other people didn’t use and they were making drinks that (at one time), no one else was. Instead of dumbing things down to make them mor “accesible,” Starbucks understood that part of the allure was the sense of being a bit different. Of course that no longer holds true as there is nearly a Starbucks or copycat on every corner, but Starbucks has, at least in a sense, helped set the standard for this trend.

Part of the reason that this interests me is that many churches adopt the exact opposite approach of wanting as many people as possible to feel as comfortable as possible. Hence, the largest church in North America preaches the Gospel of Self-Esteem rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 4:3).

The church is called to be the “pillar and buttress of truth” (2 Timothy 3:15) and when we forsake our “otherness” so that others will feel comfortable, we are actually foraking our identity. We ought to take every step possible to ensure that we are warm, welcoming and loving communities, but we are not free to align the content of our message with what people will want to hear. We cannot run the church like a traditional business. Numbers are not always a key indicator of success, disciples are (Matthew 28:18-20, etc.).

As far-fetched as it might initially sound, I’m becoming convinced that part of what the success of Starbucks teaches us is that there is a balance between being “other” and welcoming. It does not have to be one or the other.

• Read Surprising Insights From the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them by Thom Rainer
• Read The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles For Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary by Joseph Michelli
• Read Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends, edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Charles A. Anderson and Michael J. Sleasman

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