The Imagineering Story: See it from Their Side
This is the second of a five part series based on lessons learned from The Imagineering Story: The Official Biography of Walt Disney Imagineering by Leslie Iwerks. We’re covering five things that those of us in the church world can take away from gifted artists, thinkers, creators, and engineers. See the Top Ten Quotes post here, or get started on the series here.
One of the Disney company’s challenges over the years has been to contextualize for new audiences. Disneyland in Anaheim largely catered to a regional southern California crowd. Walt Disney World in Orlando captured a new segment of the eastern US market – and that of a shrinking globe.
And with every new expansion into different countries – France, Japan, Hong Kong, and China – the company had to take customs and cultures into consideration. For Euro Disney (now Disneyland Paris) for example, Imagineers contracted with local artists, because they believed the centuries of craftsmanship would show through in their new park. Similarly, the loves of the locals had a direct effect on the dimensions of certain aspects:
“We discovered in our research early on that Europeans, especially the French, love the West, the Wild West,” Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald said. “It’s a piece of American history that is still very romantic to them today. So when you visit Disneyland Paris, you’ll notice that the Frontierland is enormous. It’s far grander than any of the other Frontierlands that we’ve created.
But one of my favorite anecdotes from The Imagineering Story comes from Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. At every Disney park around the world, there is a dedication plaque near the entrance, the text of which was read at the respective park’s opening ceremony. In the Tokyo parks,
The English-language plaque was installed to the left of an identically sized plaque in Japanese. Since English is read from left to right and Japanese from right to left, each plaque appeared to have the primary position to readers of that language.
Now, we may choose to call that a Bob Ross-style happy little accident, or credit the original inventor of the Japanese language for coming up with the “right-to-left” thing. But I believe it illustrates a bigger idea, and that is that we should strive to see things from our guest’s side.
Takeaways for the church world:
It’s far too easy to fall victim to our own insulated bubbles. We use language that is familiar to us, but has to be interpreted for our guests. We hold traditions that bring us comfort, but cause outsiders to be confused. Does that mean we do away with the language or the traditions? Of course not! We shouldn’t be scared of biblical words like repentance or New Testament sacraments like baptism.
But even as we’re presenting these biblical concepts and commands to our guests, we should take a moment to see it from their side:
- Every weekend, we should talk to the congregation as is first-time guests are there, explaining why we do what we do as we do it.
- When we participate in sacraments like baptism or communion, we shouldn’t proceed business as usual, but take time to say what it is.
- When helping guests acclimate or assimilate, we should keep it simple. Maybe we even keep it intentionally boring, so what’s routine for us becomes easy to explain to them.
- For those who are unbelievers or new to the faith, we must manage the tension between “what does scripture say?” and “What’s in it for me?” Yes, we want to get them to the obedience of the former, but recognize that they’re starting with the posture of the latter.
- We have to be aware of our own curse of knowledge and how our assumptions on what our guests know can prevent them from ever knowing it.
Taking the time to see it from their side is not a violation of scripture. Jesus used probing questions and colorful parables to start from the perspective of his hearers. Paul reasoned with the locals using their own idols to drive home a point. It wasn’t as if Jesus didn’t know the answers or needed a good illustration to fill some time. It wasn’t that Paul believed the Athenian idols had anything to say. But they started at their hearers’ “Point A” to get them to the necessary Point B.
Take a look at last Sunday’s service. Where could you have used a healthy dose of seeing it from the side of your guests?
