Who Is The Customer?

I was asked this question on a recent blog posting, and needed to give it some thought before giving my answer. For those interested, here it is, from my perspective. Let’s start with answering that question in the reality of our world from a business perspective. Who is the customer? There are many different levels of ‘customer.’ To the manufacturers of the product (let’s stick with toothpaste as the product, as per last week’s blog), WalMart itself is the customer. Aquafresh markets to WalMart, not to the end user. For WalMart, the customer is the person who actually purchases the product. Mom comes along, and throws a few tubes of Aquafresh in the cart, takes them to the checkout, and buys them. In one sense, Mom is the customer. However, who is the end user, or consumer? Now the Aquafresh makes its way to the master bathroom, where Mom and Dad use it dutifully every morning. Another tube goes to the family bathroom, where the kids use it as well. And yet another tube goes to the guest bathroom, where it is only used occasionally. Mom is the customer, but so are the others: Dad, the kids, the guests, etc. One might call them residual customers, because although they didn’t actually make the purchase, they are using it and they are benefiting from it. So, in a spiritual sense, who is the customer in our churches? I believe the customer is the one who benefits. Let me be clear, we’re not hawking a product here. We’re sharing good news with people that can lead to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. If ‘good news’ is our ‘product,’ then, who benefits from us sharing it? God? One could say that our worship pleases God, but God is unchanging. God does not benefit from our worship of Him. He is, was, and is to come, regardless of what we do. Who benefits? I believe the people in the pews benefit from coming to church, praising God, hearing the Word, and being spiritually uplifted, challenged, encouraged, etc. They are, in that sense, ‘the customer.’ Who else? Those outside of the church who benefit because people in the church are sharing the love and mission of Christ. These are the residual customers; the end users. The husband who may not come to church regularly, but is blessed with a godly wife who influences him and the children. We may not see the results immediately, but there are residual benefits that are passed on to people outside of the church. I realize there are people who are thinking – IT’S NOT ABOUT WHO BENEFITS! IT’S NOT ABOUT WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME, WHAT I GAIN, ETC.! But isn’t it? I realize we are in worship for what we can give, and what we can offer to God in our praise and worship and submission of ourselves to Him. But the Bible is full of examples of Jesus teaching that coming to God results in benefits for those who come. Rest for the weary. Peace for the troubled. Eternal life for the lost. Relationship for the disconnected. Hope for the hurting. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. If that isn’t a benefit, I don’t know what is. Sunday mornings, I come to give and offer what I have and who I am to God. But God gives me abundantly more than I could ever give to Him. I forget who said it, Spurgeon perhaps: “I am simply a beggar who is telling other beggars where to find bread.” I’m not going to send them there and say, “but don’t expect to get anything for yourself out of this! There’s bread there in abundance, but it’s not for you!” Of course it’s for us, that’s why God sent Jesus into the world.