Every Little Helps?

We're no longer surprised to come across Western brands and stores in Thailand. Indeed, it's increasingly common to see Tescos, 7-11, Boots, Pizza Hut and Starbucks shops in Thai towns and cities.  To be really successful, these companies need to adjust their models to fit Thai culture, as epitomised by one particularly famous brand:

Last week, we were in Mae Sai, a Thai town on the Burmese border.  On our way out of town, we called in to the Tescos store.  I was amazed to see that the signs around the store were not only written bilingually (in Thai and English), but also in Burmese!

It struck me just how much effort these corporations put into making people feel welcomed and at home in their shops!  It also challenged me in the light of a conversation I'd had the day before with a church planter working in a Thai community.  He told me that his aim was to encourage a genuinely Thai expression of church - to the extent that a Westerner coming into that church would feel awkward and out-of-place.  Of course, a 'genuinely Thai expression of church' is going to involve more than a smiling plastic figure at the door and translated text around the building.  But wouldn't it be tragic if Thais (or Burmese) are made to feel more at home in Tescos than they are in a church?