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OPINION: An empty church is like an empty restaurant
By BY WAYNE BRIGHTON
February 13, 2008
Empty table * Wayne Brighton is a lay assistant at St John's Glebe in Sydney and is a co-convenor for CONVERSE, an interdenominational network for the emerging church. * Wayne Brighton is a lay assistant at St John's Glebe in Sydney and is a co-convenor for CONVERSE, an interdenominational network for the emerging church.

There's a critic in every congregation. But writes WAYNE BRIGHTON* could  a TV chef and restauranteur teach the church about leadership?

One of my secret pleasures is watching reality television - the entertainment equivalent of hot chips.

Don't get me wrong.  SBS is wonderful but this habit is one I indulge far too often.

Like all loves, it pays to be careful and discriminating. 

Shows like Australian Idol and Big Brother might draw big crowds but expired celebrities and show ponies make me reach quickly for the remote.   

In my book, there's nothing so satisfying as seeing 40 kids aged between 8 and 15 run a town without adults (Kid Nation, 2007). 

It's rewarding to see 16 Americans negotiate their way through a relational minefield of self-interest (Survivor, 2000). 

Above all it's captivating to watch a salty master chef breathe new life into a restaurant that's dead but hasn't fallen over (Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, 2004). 

While these shows are entertaining, I find they provoke me to think about church in a whole new light.  If the Simpsons or the Sopranos can speak to the Gospel, what can a potty-mouthed chef teach me about the church?   

Few Christians are likely to discover the treasure that is Gordon Ramsay, put off understandably by his excessive use of the f-word.  He should be better known as a master chef of Michelin-rated restaurants with an uncanny eye for leadership development.

Ramsay's mission is to build and improve restaurants through honest, if blunt, challenge. 

An empty restaurant is a travesty of nature, a living oxymoron. 

Restaurants die, not because people give up eating but because operators lose touch with the nature of their business. 

Nothing kills a restaurant quicker than pretension, complacency or a chef who can't cook. 

His recipe for success is deceptively simple.

Keep things fresh and simple. 

Give people what they want and not what you think they should want. 

Be who you are - don't try to please everyone.  Teamwork, a passion for food and chefs who actually eat the food they serve others makes all the difference.        

Ramsay is called in because a restaurant owner recognises that their business has problems - a lack of customers.  Unfortunately, they are blind to the cause of their own plight. 

The only question is, can a lifetime of bad habits, excuses and avoidance be unscrambled in 48 hours?     

I wonder what would happen if Ramsay visited my church?  Could I cope with the shock therapy or would I rationalise away everything preferring the comfort of what I know already? 

Would he challenge me about how comfortable I can be with half-empty churches filled with long-term regulars? 

Would he kick me out on to the street to meet new people, to hear what they need and to see what they think of my lovely church?

Would he turn the heat up on my kitchen? 

Does the worship do what it purports to do - help people experience the presence of the living God through word and sacrament?  Or am I piling up indigestible words and sentiments that taste like clag glue? 

Is the presence of Christ really transforming the flesh and blood of his disciples?   

Watching Ramsay I am reminded of the proverb, "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses" (Proverbs 28.6).   

Maybe those who encourage me to keep doing things the way I've always done them are not the friends I thought they were. 

Maybe those who push proclamation with certainty but without ever listening to the dreams, hopes and fears of people are not as helpful as they purport to be. 

Maybe those who insist on conformity and can't deal with diversity today aren't the ones to lead us in the future. 

Maybe I need to be with those who see something different in God's word and his world.

It's a troubling paradox that more churches are closing at a time when interest in spiritual realities has rarely been higher or where emotional and physical needs have rarely been greater. 

At a deep level, Ramsay reminds me that an empty church is not only a travesty, its a crime against humanity.