Learn evangelism from Starbucks

Posted: 9/02/05

Learn evangelism from Starbucks

By Jocelyn Delgado

Communications Intern

DALLAS–Some churches may be a little nervous using the word “evangelism,” but it's the new buzzword in the business world, author Leonard Sweet told the Urban Training Institute of the Southwest annual meeting.

Howard Schultz, chief executive officer of Starbucks Cof-fee Company, once said the “E” in CEO stands for evangelist, said Sweet, who teaches evangelism at Drew University in Madison, N.J. In Schultz's case, he evangelizes people about coffee.

Sweet laid out a four-part plan known as EPIC–experiential, participatory, image-rich and connective–to teach churches how to read signs and be aware of community needs. If Starbucks can do it, so can churches, he said.

“Starbucks is all about the experience; it's not about the coffee,” Sweet said. “Starbucks expects that when you become part of the Starbucks community, you ought to learn the lingo.”

Likewise, churches should offer a positive, meaningful experience to worshippers, he said.

And the rising generation wants the experience to be interactive.

“Television created passive people, the Internet created interactive people, and we are only beginning to see the effects,” Sweet said.

“People are not going to take anything straight; they're going to have to interact with it in every way. The new standard of excellence no longer is the quality of the performance; it's the quality of the participation.”

Another consideration is a cultural shift from a text-focused society to an image-rich society, Sweet said. People recognize Starbucks Coffee by its company logo.

“Church, by and large, is still trying to communicate in words,” Sweet said. “That's not how Jesus communicated. If you start playing around with people's images, you're doing spiritual brain surgery.”

Society became disconnected during the last mass migration from urban neighborhoods to cities, he noted.

Old houses used to come with wrap-around porches.

Now people have fenced-in backyards.

Starbucks coffee shops have couches and tables to sit at and meet with friends, implicitly telling customers: “We will be your front porch,” Sweet said.

Churches need to be more like refrigerator doors, Sweet said, citing a metaphor Reg-gie McNeal, director of leadership development for the South Caro-lina Baptist Convention, uses to describe how churches should welcome their congregations.

People put magnets, children's drawings, family photos and things on their refrigerator door that are not polished pieces of art, McNeal says.

Likewise, churches should be willing to offer “personal glimpses” into real life, not polished museum pieces.