Today a piece of my childhood died. It was announced that
Hostess, the bakery of Twinkies, HoHos, and Wonder Bread, was shutting down and
going out of business. It is yet another sign that a once indomitable
institution (yes Twinkies can be indomitable) has come crashing down because it
forgot that it existed for those beyond its doors. They forgot that the purpose
of the bakery was not to bake bread and cake, but to sell bread and cake. The
systems that accumulated ingredients, combined them, baked them, and then
distributed them fresh and flavorful are worthless if nobody really cares. In a
crowded marketplace, insider dominated organizations that lose sight of why
they exist will eventually fail to exist.
I am afraid this sounds a lot like the church. When insiders
begin to believe that the organization and institution exists to serve those
inside the walls, baking Twinkies, rather than acting as a source of Twinkies
for those outside the building, then its shelf life decreases exponentially. We
can bake better Twinkies, improve our packaging, reduce our waste, increase our
production, but if we don’t share what we make, it molds in the warehouse.
I don’t know why Hostess went under. Management blames
unions. Unions blame management. I am sure like any organization that become
preoccupied with it’s insiders there is plenty of blame to go around. All I
know is that one day soon I will go to the grocery and there will be a hole
where the Twinkies once were. I am afraid, if the church doesn’t learn this
lesson, somebody will drive by where our churches were and try to remember what
used to be there, and it will have been us. That is why I remain:
Consumed by the Call,
Marty
