J.R. Briggs

What can the Church in North America learn from Domino’s Pizza?

January 14, 2010

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Over the Christmas break we were in Southeastern Michigan visiting my in-laws. When we were there I heard on NPR that Domino’s Pizza (their international headquarters, Domino Farms, is located just 20 minutes away in Ann Arbor) is attempting to completely reinvent themselves and their approach to pizza. They heard the complaints of customers. Rather than hiding them or ignoring them or disregarding them, they actually listened to the complaints.

They studied the pizza they were making. They were listening to the culture of pizza lovers. And they asked some difficult and courageous questions about who they were and whey existed. What resulted was a new recipe. New dough. New sauce. New cheese. New pizza.

I was intrigued.

Personally, I’m glad they’re attempting to change everything because I’ve been quite underwhelmed with their pizza for the past few years. I did some more research on this and found this fascinating four-minute documentary-like short video on the story behind their reinvention.

If nothing else, Domino’s leadership should at least get some credit for making such a bold move to scrap their fifty year old pizza recipe that built the franchise and start over.

All this made me ponder what the Church in North America can learn from Domino’s Pizza. Its no secret that denominations, especially mainline denominations, have been in decline for quite some time. By pondering pizza and church, I am not advocating for a flashy new marketing campaign that the Church of Jesus needs to embrace all of the sudden. Living out the radical compassion and obedience of Jesus in our everyday lives with the guidance of the Holy Spirit is enough. However, if the Church is not contextualized and relatable we’re in trouble. Exegeting the text and exegeting the culture are incredibly important.

So I’ve asked a bunch of questions since hearing this story in NPR.

• What could “reinvention” look like, as so many people are under-whelmed by the Church over the past several years?
• What if we spent time and listened – really listened – to those who are skeptics and their concerns and perspective of the Church?
• What if we were willing to ask the difficult and bold questions about who we are called to be and why we are here – and then did the hard work to offer the message of Jesus with our words, attitudes and actions in a way that was intriguing, clear and relatable?
• And what is the balance between the two, as the kingdom-oriented Church measures its success quite differently than a capitalistic pizza franchise?

And, another important question: will you be ordering Domino’s Pizza to see if you can taste the difference?

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