I bought an iPhone, the new 3Gs version that just came out.  It's my first iPhone.  I stood in line to buy it, which gave me plenty of time to think about this:  What if Christianity were more like Apple?

Everything about my iPhone purchase experience ran contrary to the way business is done these days.  With just about everything else I buy, it's all about expediency and anonymity.  Whether I'm buying books or groceries, whether online or in a store, the goal is to get in and get out with minimal effort and personal contact.  Not so with Apple.  Apple, especially the Apple Store, has created the ultimate hands on personal experience.

As I stood in line, I wasn't the least bit impatient (as I usually am in lines) because I really wanted what was inside the Apple Store.  At the same time, I reveled in the culture surrounding the transaction.  As I experienced the process of buying my iPhone, I couldn't  help but wonder if the experience of Christianity could be more like that.  Here are four observations I took from my Apple experience.

Not everyone qualifies.  Even though anyone can purchase an iPhone, not everyone qualifies.  As I and my fellow would-be buyers stood in line outside the store, an Apple guy in an orange shirt asked a series of questions to make sure we qualified to make the purchase. 

We don't "pre-qualify" in Christianity.  We follow the "whosoever will may come" philosophy.  But we forget that Jesus is the one who made that statement, so it's instructive to observe how he approached people.  In fact, Jesus did plenty of pre-qualifying when he talked to people.  He saw the Kingdom of God as something so valuable that anyone who wanted in would sell everything just to be there (something the rich man in Luke 18 couldn't do).

The entrance is restricted. In addition to pre-qualifying people, the Apple Store restricts who can come in.  Two Apple employees dressed in green shirts stood in front of the entrance and asked each person who approached the store what they wanted to do.  If they just wanted to look around, they could walk in.  If they wanted to purchase an iPhone or a computer, they were directed to one of two lines. 

People who want to "look around" Christianity should be granted full access.  Come on in.  Kick the tires.  Check out this life of faith.  You're under no obligation to buy, but if you do, you have to get in line, where you will be pre-qualified.  Jesus talked about the door to heaven being narrow (Luke 13).  Why are we so insistent on making the entrance so wide that it almost has no value?  We present Christianity as a mass market commodity.  Christianity is WalMart.  It should be the Apple Store.

Those who get in are welcomed with open arms.  Once it was my turn to enter the Apple store, I was greeted by a sales associate who smiled, introduced himself, and escorted me into the store.  I looked around and honestly felt a sense of euphoria.  I was qualified.  I was in.  I belonged.  Sales people and customers were conversing.  Apple "Geniuses" were training Apple users.  I was in a community of people who were teaching and asking and interactring and learning.  This is going to sound kind of strange, but there was a true sense of joy in the room.

What if Christians welcomed new converts like this?  We are told that the angels rejoice when a sinner repents (Luke 15:7).  Why don't we do that?  Instead of ignoring new Christians and letting them drift in ignorance, why don't we welcome them into a community of joy where people are teaching, asking, interacting, and learning?

New users are sent out prepared.  When I walked out of the store with my new iPhone in the cool white Apple store bag, I was the envy of everyone on the outside, those still in line as well as the curious onlookers.  Even more, I was prepared to use my iPhone.  Not only had my Apple sales mentor activated my iPhone so it was ready for immediate use, but he gave me a tutorial and offered to help me in the future if I had any questions.  "Here's my card," he said.  "Call me anytime."

We don't do a very good job of sending new users of Christianity out prepared.  They've got this amazing system at their fingertips, and they don't know what to do with it.  And they certainly aren't the envy of everyone else peering in from the outside.  Often they are the object of scorn.  No wonder the light of most Christians is pretty faint.  No wonder our saltiness has little effect.

Maybe it would help if we all realized what Christianity really is:  an infinitely cool and useable life system that gives us the ultimate connection. Maybe it would help if Christianity were more like Apple.