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01.06.08

EPIPHANY

E-DAY

GENESIS 12:1-5; ACTS 16:6-10

Learning From Past Mistakes

An American Failure

September 4, 2007 was a significant day in the landscape of American culture, although it was a day that wasn’t actively celebrated by anyone

Fact is, for most Americans, September 4, 2007 was just another ordinary day
Only those who are age 55 or older would stand any chance of knowing that that day was the 50th anniversary of E-Day
And even if you’re in that age bracket, there’s a good chance that you may not remember what E-Day is all about

Now, let’s not confuse E-Day with D-Day, or VE-Day, or VJ-Day, all of which were days of significance during World War II

E-Day has nothing to do with the second World War
Instead, it was part of the economic boom that occurred after the war
September 4 is significant because on that day in 1957 (drum roll please) the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel

Having developed the design for the 1958 model year, Ford designated September 4, 1957 as E-Day, and launched a massive marketing campaign to introduce a car that was supposed to revolutionize the automobile industry

This was Ford’s attempt to enter the competitive market for upscale-but-not-luxury cars
Ford was already making the Lincoln as their top-of-the-line model to compete with GM’s Cadillac, but another car was needed to compete with the Oldsmobile line
So, in 1955, Ford began research on a vehicle they would initially call the “E-Car”—short for “Experimental Car”

When the Edsel (named for Henry Ford’s son) began rolling off the assembly line, dealers were instructed to keep the car strictly under wraps with tarps until the big day under the threat of big fines or the suspension of their franchise rights

Ads touting that “The Edsel Is Coming” were everywhere, but featured only the car’s hood ornament
The ads implied that that vehicle was going to be new, innovative and exciting—something the American public had never seen before

But Ford had difficulty getting people to buy this new car

When people saw it, they realized the Edsel wasn’t really anything new
It had the same body style as the other Ford models
There was a little more glitter attached to it, but basically it was the same old same old

There were problems with the Edsel right from the start

Many of them were delivered to the dealerships with a note attached to the steering wheel listing the parts that were missing
Since Ford had no dedicated Edsel plant, assembly line workers often got the parts confused or left them out altogether
Then there was the automatic “Teletouch” pushbutton transmission
It was located in the center of the steering wheel where the horn typically is
Drivers would instinctively go to honk the horn and accidentally slam the car into reverse

Perhaps the biggest factor in the Edsel’s failure, however, was a matter of simple economics

It was the wrong car for the wrong time
In 1957, the American economy was slipping into recession
Car sales were down, and those that were selling were generally smaller and more fuel efficient than the Edsel
The Edsel had power, but it required pricey premium gas
So the Edsel lasted for two more model years then vanished into the scrap heap of automotive history
E-Day was intended to be a day of celebration marking the triumph of the Edsel over the automotive industry
Instead, E-Day became known as “Error Day,” marking one of the biggest marketing disasters in American economics

The Edsel and the Church

Now, you might already be wondering what a 50-year-old automobile blunder has to do with you or even with the life of the church

As I said last week, we all make mistakes, but what we learn from them helps shape the way we move into the future
So there are lessons to be learned from Ford’s blunder with the Edsel that we can apply to the life of the church

The biggest mistake Ford made was releasing the wrong car for the wrong time

Although they began to do research two years prior to the release of the car, that research focused on the car itself and not on the needs or the desires of the American public
They didn’t take any time to look at the demographics of who might buy this car
They had no particular target audience in mind
They also failed to consider the impact an economic recession might have on the sales of this new automobile

Oftentimes in the life of the church, we don’t really know the people we’re trying to serve

We don’t understand who they are or what they need
So many churches (especially mainline churches like ours) exist in a particular community, but they’re not really part of that community
In many long-established congregations, a majority of their members live outside of the immediate community, yet they continue to attend and support the church because of long-standing family ties to the church
While this is good in certain ways because it helps to provide stability for the congregation, it’s bad in terms of growth and attracting new members because the church doesn’t really know its neighbors
And it’s hard to take the pulse of a community’s needs if we’re not involved in meaningful ministry to the people who live around us

Two Common Problems

There are two common problems that result from not knowing the people and the needs of the community around us

One is that we often hold onto programs that used to work in the past but that are no longer effective today
The culture has changed dramatically over the last 50 years, and the people who live around us have also changed
So it’s wrong for us to expect that we can reach new people with old programs
Simply because they worked in the past doesn’t guarantee they will work today

The second problem is that when a church does attempt to offer new programs of ministry, they do so on the basis of perceived needs and not on actual fact

Just because someone has what seems to be a good idea doesn’t guarantee that the program or ministry will actually work
Too often, we, as the church, fail to take the time to connect with people and find out what their needs are, and then develop programs and ministries to address those actual needs
Too often, our programs are designed to meet our own needs rather than provide ministry to people outside the church

This is why Ford failed so badly with the Edsel

Even though it was touted a something new, innovative and exciting, it really wasn’t
It was just more of the same, a reflection of the past rather than a step into the future
And Ford created the Edsel based upon perceived need rather than taking the time to find out what the public wanted and needed

Where We Are and Where We’re Going

Choosing the Right Path

So how do we know what to do as a church to provide ministry to our neighbors that’s effective?

How do we know where to go and what to do so that we might make disciples of all nations?
Certainly, we must take the time to be involved in the community, to get to know the people around us, to listen to them and to understand their needs
But, secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we must be willing to discern and follow where it is that God is leading us

That’s the theme that runs through our Scripture lessons this morning

In Genesis, we read the call of Abraham, a call that came to him when he was 75
It was a call to do something radically new and different, and it was a call Abraham could have easily ignored
I have no doubt that Abraham has his own agenda in mind

At age 75, he was probably settling into retirement and looking forward to spending the rest of his days in rest and relaxation

But God had something different in mind
So when God’s call came to Abraham, Abraham had three options to choose from

He could choose to ignore the call and do nothing at all
He could choose to follow a completely different path, a path of his own choosing
He could choose to follow where God was leading

He chose to follow where God was leading, and that choice meant leaving his past behind and venturing into a new and unknown future
While it’s often difficult to do, following where God is leading is the only way to get to where God wants us to be

In our passage from Acts, we have a brief account of the apostle Paul on one of his missionary journeys

It’s apparent that Paul had his own agenda in mind as he set out to preach the gospel
But he ran into one roadblock after another as he sailed from port to port until he had a vision of a man from Macedonia beckoning him to come over to Macedonia to help them
Faithful to the leading of God’s Spirit, Paul went where God was leading
He ultimately ended up in Philippi where he was able to establish the strongest congregation of all the ones he established on his missionary journeys

The Right Path for Us

The possibilities of ministry are endless when we are willing to follow where God leads

Pastor Rick Warren from the Saddleback Valley Community Church in Southern California, which is one of the fastest growing churches in the country, says in his book, The Purpose-Driven Church, that too often we pray for God to bless what we’re doing when we should be doing what God is blessing
While we often pray for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, the reality is that we’re often reluctant to go where the Spirit leads and do what God calls us to do
Unless we’re open to the Holy Spirit and willing to follow where God leads, we can’t expect the church to be any different in the future than it is right now

I see a bright future for Cold Spring Presbyterian Church

I see the potential for some new, exciting, and effective ministry to the people of this community
I see the possibility of developing a large-scale ministry to senior citizens since the Cape May area is fast becoming a retirement community
We already have the beginnings of this ministry in place with our Tai Chi groups and craft group
I have heard your desire to restart a Sunday School, but before we can do that, we must find ways to connect with young families
One way to do that might be through a weekday after-school program that offers homework help, a computer lab, and fun activities for the kids to be involved in
I see the potential for further expanding our ministry to those at the Coast Guard station, and developing some sort of summer ministry to reach out to the tourists who visit our community
This is part of the vision God has given me for this congregation, and the challenge before us is to faithfully follow where it is that God is leading

But before we jump into anything, we must first connect with the community around us

In order to know what will work and what won’t, we have to know our neighbors and know what their needs are
We must be willing to move beyond our past so that we can shape a new future
And we must be willing to respond when God calls us and go where God is leading