Sunday, November 12, 2006

A Learning Experience at the Coca-Cola Museum


My family and I took Friday as a day to go exploring Atlanta. We went to Underground Atlanta, and the Coca-Cola Museum. We ate at The Varsity. (If you come to Atlanta, it is a must!) We ended our trip in an express walk thru the IKEA store. We had a great time!

During our visit to the Coca-Cola museum, I read something that really made me think about church and how to 'do church.' When it had come to the company to create a bottle, the design went through a process. They had many different designs in the past in various shapes, sizes, and colors. When the design came for a new bottle, it was important to them to design a bottle that would be recognized by its shape alone. . . even in the dark! Since then, the concepts of that design gave Coca-Cola its mark in marketing. For decades, people all over the world have been able to see that shape and instantly recognize it is a Coke bottle.

The question which has been asked of us and every church plant in the initiatives we have been taking has been "What makes you different?" Another question is, "What is it about your church which will make them want to come?" I don't have all the answers. I have been thinking about the same things myself and pondering various things which I feel already will make us different. It presses me to make our church different even more. Making it distinct is a challenge before us. Making it "the real thing" (stolen from coke) and putting it is a distinct package as Coke did is the challenge. Every church could think this way and revolutionize the way we all 'do church!'

We need a new bottle - a distinctive package that will help us fight substitution. . . we need a bottle which a person will recognize it is a Coca-Cola bottle even when he feels it in the dark.
Benjamin Franklin Thomas c. 1912