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A Simple Cup of Coffee: What Starbucks Can Teach the Church About Hospitality in How We Reach Our Neighbors John Austin Hinkle Jr

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A Simple Cup of Coffee: What Starbucks Can Teach the Church About Hospitality in How We Reach Our Neighbors John Austin Hinkle Jr Digital Commons @ George Fox University Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations 2-1-2015 A Simple Cup of Coffee: What Starbucks Can Teach the Church About Hospitality In How We Reach Our Neighbors John Austin Hinkle Jr. George Fox University, [email protected] This research is a product of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program at George Fox University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Hinkle, John Austin Jr., "A Simple Cup of Coffee: What Starbucks Can Teach the Church About Hospitality In How We Reach Our Neighbors" (2015). Doctor of Ministry. Paper 112. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin/112 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Ministry by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY A SIMPLE CUP OF COFFEE: WHAT STARBUCKS CAN TEACH THE CHURCH ABOUT HOSPITALITY IN HOW WE REACH OUR NEIGHBORS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GEORGE FOX EVANGELICAL SEMINARY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY JOHN AUSTIN HINKLE, JR. PORTLAND, OREGON MARCH 2015 George Fox Evangelical Seminary George Fox University Portland, Oregon CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ________________________________ DMin Dissertation ________________________________ This is to certify that the DMin Dissertation of John Austin Hinkle, Jr. has been approved by the Dissertation Committee on February 2, 2015 for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics and Future Studies. Dissertation Committee: Primary Advisor: Steve Dangaran, PhD Secondary Advisor: Phil Newell, DMin Lead Mentor: Leonard I. Sweet, PhD Expert Advisor: Phil Newell, DMin © Copyright 2015 by John Austin Hinkle, Jr. The Scripture quotations contained herein are taken from the New International Version Bible, unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved worldwide. ii To Leila B. and to Tripp, I am the man that I am because of both of you. iii “For all the promise of digital media to bring people together, I still believe that the most sincere, lasting powers of human connection come from looking directly into someone else’s eyes, with no screen in between.” Howard Schultz – Onward “Starbucks knows that people live for engagement, connection, symbols, and meaningful experiences. If you read the Bible, you’ll see that the people of God throughout history have known the same thing. Life at its very best is a passionate experience, not a doctoral dissertation.” Leonard Sweet – The Gospel According to Starbucks iv CONTENTS DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………... iii EPIGRAPH……………………………………………………………………………… iv ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………..…vii SECTION 1: THE PROBLEM…………………………………………………………... 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………..……1 Twentieth-Century Decline and Continued Free Fall…………………………..…2 Closer to Home: A Look at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)……………………4 Failed Renewal and Evangelical Efforts to Restore Local Church………………..7 Failed View of John Calvin’s Understanding of the Visible and Invisible Church………………………………………………………..…10 An Inward Focus Understanding of the Ministry of Christian Hospitality…….. 13 The Implied Challenges……………………………………………………….... 16 SECTION 2: OTHER SOLUTIONS………………………………………………….... 19 Introduction……………………………………………………………………... 19 The Anti-Capitalistic Approach……………………………………………..….. 21 Political Engagement………………………………………………………...…. 23 Corporate Evangelism (The Purpose Driven Church)………………………...... 26 Individual Evangelism (Contagious Christianity)……………………………… 29 SECTION 3: THESIS…………………………………………………………..………. 33 Introduction………………………………………………………………….….. 33 A Biblical Mandate………………………………………………………….….. 37 v Hospitality Witnessed in the “Four Pillars for World Class Customer Service”…………………………40 Anticipate……………………………………………………………...…41 Connect…………………………………………………………….…… 45 Personalize……………………………………………………………… 48 Own………………………………………………………………..……. 50 Implication in Applications of The Four Pillars in the Life of the Church……... 53 Invitation…………………………………………………………...…… 54 Space…………………………………………………………………..... 57 Connection………………………………………………………...……. 61 Ownership…………………………………………………………...….. 64 SECTION 4: ARTIFACT DESCRIPTION…………………………………………..… 69 SECTION 5: ARTIFACT SPECIFICATION……………………………………….…. 71 SECTION 6: POSTSCRIPT……………………………………………………………. 80 APPENDIX: Artifact – A Simple Cup of Coffee (A Fictional Story)……………..…… 83 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………...… 171 vi ABSTRACT This dissertation explores a local church’s implementation of Christian hospitality through the examination of a local Starbucks coffee house that successfully offers hospitality to its customers both in and outside its community. A critical problem facing mainline churches today is a decline in overall membership and worship participation. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has experienced a significant decline over the last 40 years. This decline is now being experienced even in larger evangelical churches. In this dissertation the researcher plans to explore whether a local Presbyterian Church can more effectively reach out to its neighboring community by renewing and implementing outward acts of Christian hospitality while adopting the practices of a Starbucks coffee house. Section One will address the problem with Christian hospitality that is focused inwardly towards those within the church. Section Two identifies and evaluates alternative solutions to the ministry problem of hospitality. Section Three explores hospitality as implemented by a local Starbucks coffee house using “Four Pillars of World Class Customer Service” and the possible benefits for the local church in implementing “The Four Pillars” as a form of outward Christian hospitality. Section Four is an artifact description of a fictional novel meant to offer the local church a practical application to hospitality using tools employed by Starbucks through “The Four Pillars of World Class Customer Service.” The final section offers the artifact specification. The artifact concludes the dissertation. vii SECTION 1: THE PROBLEM Introduction A young couple awoke one Sunday morning and decided that this was the day to try a new church. Both husband and wife were baptized in the Christian faith. The wife was active in her church’s youth group growing up. The husband’s family attended church on Easter and Christmas only. They even got married in her childhood church, but after that day and before this day, they thought they had no reason to go back. They worked hard on the weekdays and they loved to sleep in and play on the weekends, but with the birth of their daughter, now thirteen months old, they came to the conclusion that they wanted more for their child than what life without a faith tradition seemed to offer. They decided to visit the Presbyterian Church in town, in part because the wife’s family was Presbyterians for generations, but mostly because they had often admired the beautiful exterior and stained glass as they passed by the sanctuary going to work. Running late that Sunday morning, the young couple had to figure out where to park since the church was located downtown and there were few parking spaces close to the church. Once they parked, they rushed towards what they thought was the sanctuary with no signage pointing the way. Unable to get through a few locked doors, and having to re- navigate, they finally entered the sanctuary. The ushers were nice enough, showing the young couple where to sit, but no one told them about the nursery for their daughter. Sitting in a sea of gray hair it was clear that this particular congregation was aging quickly. When worship was over, people smiled, and they felt sure the pastor would have shaken their hands had they waited in the 1 2 line to talk with him. However, no other parishioners introduced themselves. No one said, “Welcome” or “Please come back.” After church, the couple decided to go “their” Starbucks. The minute they walked into the coffee house the barista warmly said, “Welcome Johnson family. Two Latte Grandes?” Twentieth-Century Decline and Continued Free Fall From the end of the 20th century and through the beginning of the 21st century, mainline denominations in the United States have witnessed both a constant free fall in membership and an eroding influence in the local community. Even denominations that once prided themselves in growth, both in membership and baptism, have awakened to this new reality.1 For years denominational leaders have attempted to address this waning influence by establishing lofty goals for new church plants or imposing unrealistic, evangelical church membership drives, both with little success in the longer term. Once- thriving congregations now find themselves struggling to move forward in all aspects of church life as they try to minister to their local communities in the same way they always have. Instead of “pouring new wine in new wine skins,” many churches lament the passing of a golden age and speak openly about wanting to go back to a time of prosperity. Yet, this sentiment seems to detach the church and its members even further 1 Yasmine Hafiz, “Southern Baptist Convention Membership Declined For Seventh Year,” The Huffington Post, May 29, 2014, accessed June 5, 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/29/southern-baptist-convention-membership- decline_n_5411695.html 3 from their local communities, creating the image of a walled
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