144. Price Manipulation
Simon Sinek says this in his book, Start With Why: “Once buyers get used to paying a lower than average price for a product or service, it is tough to get them to pay more.” He was describing the typical sales strategy of many companies who slash their price to sell their products and how it keeps them in the vicious cycle of having to give discounts every time to sell anything.
In contract, he used a company like Apple to illustrate how some companies choose a different strategy but thrive. Apple never goes on sale, and the price of their products is usually high. The fantastic thing is, people are more than willing to buy them at the full price. How do you explain this?
The author’s conclusion is this: When companies are clear about their “why,” they don’t have to manipulate people to buy. He points out that people mainly buy apple products, not because of features or price but because they feel like they know “ why” the company exists and buying their products gives them a sense of joining a movement that has the aim to change the world with technology.
I believe the church can run this way and thrive. It is because the church has the most precise and inspiring why it exists: To lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus who has conquered sin and death! But instead of leveraging this “why,” I feel that many churches have opted for asking “lower” commitment and sacrifice from their members.
The church is called to inspire their members to give more for Jesus, not less. At first, it looks like our church is asking a lot from our members because on top of Sunday worship, we have house church every week. And most of the Life series is 13 weeks long which happen on weekdays, not on weekends.
But we believe that though we ask more, people will not be disappointed in what they get in return. We believe house church has every reason to be successful. Because humans have an innate desire to express themselves. Also, people are always looking for a “family-like” community where they feel belong. Sharing food and lives together every week in house church satisfies these two fundamental human desires. Life Bible study might look too long at first, those who finish it say they felt the sense of accomplishment, and it empowered them to take the next challenge.
Everything in life requires time and sacrifice if you want to enjoy its benefit to the full. That is why people willingly wake up early in the morning to practice golf, hit the gym, and so on. When it comes to anything worthwhile, it is not a matter of sacrificing less, but getting used to sacrificing for it.
