What the Church Can Learn from Walmart’s Big Move on Convenience

The episode emphasizes the necessity for churches to innovate and adapt by drawing parallels to Walmart's same-day prescription delivery service, highlighting how genuine engagement with community needs can lead to meaningful change. It explores values like accessibility, care, problem-solving, and the importance of listening to congregation members. 

• Importance of innovation in addressing real community needs 
• Convenience reflects genuine care for congregants 
• Churches should offer holistic support, not just Sunday services 
• Listening and adapting are crucial for church relevance 
• Challenge to leaders: consider innovative ways to serve better

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Transcript

Church Leaders and Innovation in Services

Speaker 1 0:07

Walmart just did something really big they rolled out the same-day prescription delivery nationwide . Now , todd , I know you're asking why should church leaders even care about this ? Because it's not just a convenience . It's about listening to the real needs and adapting to serve people better . And if a massive corporation is willing to rethink how it meets customer needs , then shouldn't the church be doing the same ? I'm Todd Rhodes . I'm your host here on the Healthy Church Staff podcast . The gospel never changes , but how we deliver it can . So we're going to talk about that today and what we can learn as church staff and church leaders from Walmart's playbook .

Speaker 1 0:52

So I think there's four things I'd like to share with you today that hopefully , will just get your juices flowing a little bit , and so I love to do things like this , where we take something that's happening , maybe in a business or in culture and kind of try and figure out okay , what can we learn from this as church leaders ? And I find that a lot of times this cross cross . The only thing I can think of is cross-contamination , that's not it . Pollinization , maybe , that's it . Taking two different areas and molding them together and finding out what we can learn from this I find is really fascinating number one and number two . It just gets my mind going in different directions . So hopefully that will do this for you here today . So four key things that I think we can learn .

Speaker 1 1:39

First of all , innovation can really solve real problems . Innovation in the church kind of gets a bad rap sometimes , but we need to constantly be trying new things . Now here's how this worked . Walmart did not wake up one day and say , hey , let's add delivery just for fun . That's not how that happened , right ? No , they listened and they saw that people , especially older adults , those with chronic conditions , they struggled to make multiple pharmacy trips . So they created a solution that met some real needs for people . So my question to you as a church leader and to you as a church pastor or a church staff person Are we solving real problems or are we just running the same programs we've always had ? Stagnation is real in the church . Are there people in your church that are struggling to connect because they can't physically attend services ? Are their families stretched so thin that they can't make it to another midweek event ? Are young adults feeling disconnected because you don't have anything for them at your church ? They don't see a place for themselves at the church . The truth is , the best innovations aren't gimmicks . Gimmicks come and go , okay . The best innovations and the best things that can happen in your church are when you're trying to answer real problems . So that's the first point I'd like to share with you is that true innovation , in churches as in businesses , true innovations solve real problems . And then , secondly , convenience isn't a compromise , okay , it's care .

Speaker 1 3:25

Some leaders might hear innovation and think , todd , we're not going there . We don't go there . We're not going to talk about watering things down . That's not at all . Hear me , that's not at all what I'm talking about . And again , walmart didn't say , hey , let's stop selling medications in store . You can still find everything in store . Okay , they just made it easier for people to access them and people that needed access to them that couldn't get in their store . And all I'm saying is the church should be doing the same thing ,

Adapting Church Services for Success

Speaker 1 3:59

right ?

Speaker 1 3:59

We've been through a lot of changes in the last five years church right , and live streaming is one of them . Four or five years ago , there were churches that live streamed , but there are a lot more churches that had to live stream and learn how to do it just like that , when they couldn't meet . Live streaming is one of those things that isn't a compromise , right , it's accessibility . Online small groups aren't laziness , they're life-giving for people that have crazy schedules . Now you can push back and say , todd , this isn't for me , that's fine . Live streaming might not be for your church . Online small groups aren't . Might not be for your church , but here's what I bet is for your church Okay , offering , offering online giving is something that , again , five years ago , many churches had already started to do , but some churches hadn't done it and boy , when they couldn't meet in person .

Speaker 1 4:54

All of a sudden , that innovation of making it convenient wasn't a compromise , but it was a convenience . Making it convenient for people to give was huge , and now nearly every church offers online giving options . As a matter of fact , a lot of online giving options . Maybe offering different service times . You might think that's catering . This is the time we meet . You need to make time . You need to make priority in your life to worship Jesus at this time , sunday morning , 10 o'clock . Be there , right ? Maybe offering different worship services ? Maybe don't look at it as catering . Maybe it's making space for more people to worship . Again , I want to go back and you may criticize me and say , todd , you're trying to water . I'm not trying to water stuff down . The gospel message never , ever changes , but how we can deliver it absolutely does .

Speaker 1 5:45

Okay , point number three people want solutions , not just services . And here's what Walmart found they found that when people got their prescriptions delivered , they also ordered other essentials . Why ? Because people want holistic solutions , not just one-off transactions , and this is huge . This is a huge lesson for the church .

Speaker 1 6:07

Okay , people just don't want a sermon on Sunday morning . Okay , that could be an ego blow to you if you're a senior pastor . They don't come just to hear the sermon on Sunday morning . They want more . Okay , they want a church that walks with them throughout the week . A struggling marriage needs more than a Sunday sermon . It needs some mentorship and some resources and some help . That lonely young adult that feels isolated needs more than a church service . They need real relationships . That family that we mentioned that might be facing financial hardship doesn't just need prayer . And they don't need a really stellar knock it out of the park sermon on Sunday . Those are great things , but what they need is some real practical help . So are we providing solutions that help people thrive ? That's innovation . How can you innovate that can help people thrive where they are , because if you're not doing that , you're just offering services that check a box . Hey , come on Sunday . All right , you check the box , come on .

Speaker 1 7:03

For me , a generation ago , it was check the box . I grew up in the Panathabaptist so there were a lot of boxes to check . Right , you had to be at Sunday school Check that box . You had to be at Sunday night worship service Check at Sunday night worship service Check that box . You had to be at Sunday night service Check that box . You need to be at Wednesday night prayer meeting right , check that box . You needed to be . If you really wanted to love Jesus , you needed to come to . We used to call it visitation . You would come to visitation an hour before hour and a half before the Wednesday night service . You would go out and visit people . You had to check that box . As I was a kid growing up , I had to check the box of learning , very legalistically , checking off a lot of boxes , learning memory versus having it signed off by my leader , doing all kinds of contests . It was great , but also it was a lot of box checking .

Speaker 1 7:54

Innovation is more than just checking boxes . It's actually meeting people where they are Okay and last one , okay , listen and adapt . I think this is one of the biggest takeaways that we can get from this move that Walmart's making . Okay , they listened . Their customer said this is what we need , and Walmart delivered literally right , they delivered .

Speaker 1 8:20

So I want to ask you , as a church leader , as a pastor , as a church staff person , when was the last time you actually listened ? When was the last time that we actually asked what people in our congregation , in our churches , actually needed ? Are we paying attention to changing community dynamics ? Are we listening to unchurched people who might be open to faith but hesitant to church culture ? If we listen well you hear me If we listen well , we might realize that some of the things we've always done aren't actually meeting people's needs anymore . And if that's the case , it's okay to change . It's okay ,

Innovating Church Services for Accessibility

Speaker 1 9:05

okay .

Speaker 1 9:05

So here's your bottom line for today . Walmart did not innovate just for the sake of innovation . They made a change that served people better and the church man . We should be doing the same thing . So here's my challenge for you today what's one way that your church can rethink how it serves people ? You can drop your ideas in the comments , wherever you're listening or watching this . I'd love to hear them , because , at the end of the day , innovation in the church isn't just about being trendy . That's not what it's all about at all . It's about making Jesus accessible to more people in real , meaningful ways , and that's a mission that's really worth adapting for All right .

Speaker 1 9:45

Thanks for joining me today here on the Healthy Church Staff podcast . If there's any way that I can help you or your church in any kind of Healthy Church Staff initiatives that you have maybe you need some help with compensation analysis , maybe you need some help with hiring new staff , any of those kind of things I would love to have a conversation with you . I would love to come alongside and partner with you . If that makes sense and you can reach out to me anytime . Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom . I'd love to hear from you and I also hope that you will join me again . I love having you with me here on the podcast . I hope you'll join me again here on the Healthy Church Steps podcast tomorrow .