Over the last year and a half – maybe longer – I have been plagued with a nagging question that leaves my spirit restless and the more I pray…the more I seek…the more I try and listen…the more the restlessness refuses to leave, begging me to keep praying, keep seeking, and keep listening.
My background is in communication design. Anything having to do with visually communicating a message is where my natural niche resides. I promote and advertise anything because it’s what I naturally do.
Since in the last few years I’ve been fulfilling that role in as a vocational church employee, I often walk the line between what is necessary as far as “marketing the church” and “is this necessary at all?” I struggle because marketing, in the sense of advertising, happens whether it is intentional or not. And I struggle because having intentional plans is a good thing, even when it comes to the message of the church.
But has the local church taken church marketing too far?
I did a Technorati search on “Church Marketing” and came across this blog. John O’Keefe writes:
it is easy to sell, “come to our church, our pastor is handsome”
it is not easy to sell, “come to a faith that tells you to love the unlovable”
it is easy to sell, “come to our church, we have great music”
it is hard to sell a faith that says, “come to a faith that seeks you to be silent”
it is easy to sell, “come to our church, we have some great programs”
it is hard to sell a faith that says, “come to a faith that tells you you must be active in reaching the needs of others”
it is easy to sell, “come to our church, we have a wonderful and clean building – with a ton of parking”
it is hard to sell a faith that says, “come to a faith where we will meet on a hill side, and you will need to walk five miles to get there”
it is easy to sell, “come to our church, God loves you”
it is hard to sell a faith that says, “come to God, and by doing so love others – even to the cost of your life”
it is easy to sell, “come to our church, we love america”
it is hard to sell a faith that says, “live for the kingdom of God, and love those who hate you.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
As a marketer, I see the need for target markets, for knowing your audience, and other marketing principles you learn. But as a Christ-follower, I often wonder if by marketing the church, we’ve bowed down to the American consumeristic mindset which has evolved into a slogan-filled, attention-grabbing, who can come up with the most polished looking piece of marketing collateral-tsunami.
Isn’t our target market PEOPLE? Does it really matter if those people are ages 30-45 with an annual household income of $85,000, with 2.5 kids and a dog who shop at Pottery Barn and eat at Panera? Does the gaping hole in their soul, longing for a Love really exist soley after the fact their houses cost $190,000 and they drive a minivan? Can’t the love of God shine through our lives more than a four-color, glossy, die-cut postcard?
I think we have it backwards sometimes. I really, really do.