What Christians Can Learn From Henry Ford

   Most of us know the story of Henry Ford. His assembly line production made horseless carriages attainable to Americans. 

The Strategy That Made Ford Successful

   Ford introduced the Model T in 1908. His goal was to produce a reliable, standardized automobile that was affordable to as many as possible. 

   He continuously tweaked the manufacturing process to produce it faster or cheaper. The focus was primarily on the efficiency of the assembly line. To maintain peak productivity, he kept changes to the car itself to a minimum. Part of that plan was to paint all cars black until 1925 for manufacturing efficiency.

   For years this was a fabulous strategy. Common people in rural areas were able to afford their own car. 

Then The World Changed

   But something happened while Ford was hyper-focused on productive capacity. 

  The world changed. Consumer tastes evolved. Car buyers wanted bright colors, comfy seats and powerful engines. They began to see the black Model T Ford as old fashioned. 

   Ford found himself efficiently making cars fewer people wanted.

   What was once a corner on the market became a disadvantage and a liability. Production of the Model T ceased in 1927. 

   Human beings tend to continue doing things as they’re accustomed to. We don’t like to change. 

Christians Have Their Own Model T

   Christians can be as resistant to change as Mr. Ford was. 

   Recently, I was listening to a preacher from the Bible belt. He’s a trusted, solid believer that most have heard of. 

   The pastor was an older man and talked disparagingly of some popular worship teams as coffee toting, tight jeans-wearing musicians, and implied  it was more about performance and self-aggrandizement than about worship. They dress casual and some have unusual styles the preacher has never seen in his church. The young worship leaders would have been a culture shock to a traditional congregation.

   I’m familiar with some of the teams he was referring to and they are amazing. They are extremely talented with a heart for the Lord to lead worship. These young people will reach a demographic the stereotyped, conventional pastor will never cross paths with. 

   I’m not bashing the older preacher, but he suffers from the same thing that plagued Henry Ford. He is stuck in a tunnel vision of how he thinks it should always be. 

   There is an important distinction here. Changing the message to accommodate the culture is dangerous. Changing the method used to communicate an unchanging message is something entirely different.

   At some point in all of us, we somehow think our experience of worship is the best and only way. Any variation from our ideal is a downgrade.     

    It’s a shortsighted view of Christ. 

   He meets us where we are personally, but also meets us where we are culturally. There may be unfamiliar things to us in the circles we travel in, but they aren’t unknown to God. Christians may unconsciously assume God sees the world through the same American cultural lens as we do . His purview is much larger. 

   A friend of mine was a missionary to west Africa years ago. He related how unsettling his first African worship service was. 

   Some in attendance wore little more than a loincloth. The music itself consisted of a drum circle. They beat several large drums passionately. 

   Even though it made the conservative pastor uncomfortable, he knew it was their way to give glory to God. His discomfort didn’t translate to it being wrong. It was the way of life in the village. 

   Christians assume if they’re offended, it must certainly be unacceptable to God as well, and we mistake our discomfort for God’s disapproval.

Peter Had His Traditions Challenged Too.

   There’s an example of this thinking in Acts 10, when Peter has his rooftop vision of all kinds of animals a Jew would never eat. God tells him to kill and eat and Peter refuses because he has never eaten anything unclean. 

   Peter argues with God three times, citing his excellent record of keeping the law and avoiding unclean food.

   “The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”  Acts 10:15 NIV 

   We tend to draw lines that make sense to us but may have no real basis in Scripture. We can mistake tradition for a sacred command. 

"Traditions tell us where we have come from. Scripture itself is a better guide as to where we should now be going." ~ N. T. Wright

   In the Old Testament, God gives Moses extremely detailed instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle. 

   It’s much less detailed in the New Testament. We see the early christians meeting, breaking bread and worshiping together but there’s much less technical instructions. 

   We witness what they did as a guideline for us, not a hard fast rule. It’s part of the freedom  we’re granted under Grace. 

   The Bible says that God never changes. This is true, but it doesn’t mean He doesn’t do things differently. 

   “Behold, I am going to do something new, Now it will spring up; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.”  Isaiah 43:19 NASB

   If we come across the road in the wilderness or a river in the desert, will we assume it’s to be avoided because we haven’t seen it before? Or assume God is doing a fresh new endeavor? 

   God's truth doesn't change. But methods and preferences do.