When I read an article by Seth Godin on the woes of book publishers recently, I couldn’t help but think about the similarities between the situation he describes and the challenges facing our congregations. His summary statement of the problem is striking: the challenge the big book publishers are facing is that a perfect industry is being replaced by one filled with chaos and opportunity. What does he mean by “perfect”? Simply that book publishers – and the stores that depended on them – enjoyed a monopoly on the means of producing and selling books. As he writes, Limited shelf space plus limited competitors plus...