Perhaps it’s unfair for me to vent my frustrations here as a part of my entry about Amanda, but I have to admit that I’ve been having a struggle with the way churches have begun marketing. I suppose I’ve been thinking about this all semester but during the last class it came to the forefront of my mind and tonight I became aware of my uncertainty about the subject even more.
My concern is that the time, energy and money applied to today’s modern church marketing just isn’t worth it. I can’t help but wonder, if the same amount of resources were applied to meeting people’s needs outside of the church walls would people come to know Jesus in a more rapid, more meaningful way?
I feel like this approach to drawing new attendees to the church is taking people who are curious about the gospel and turning them into “consumers”. Our approach becomes “how can I get this person in the door?” instead of “how can I show this person who Jesus is?” Now, I understand that the argument might be “well, you have to get them in the door before you can teach them about Jesus” But why can’t we just cut out all the fluff and reach people with the gospel the way Jesus did, without connection cards, café coupons, video announcements and suavely published bulletins, monthly newsletters, small group catalogues and e-mails?
Maybe the truth is that the way Jesus reached people just doesn’t work in this day and age. Personally, I don’t believe that. The way Jesus reached people was organic, gentile, personal and powerful. I don’t see any of those attributes expressed by today’s push to market churches. Even more upsetting is the fact that there is no reason why these attributes can’t be expressed or appreciated in today’s culture. So why do we choose to bombard people who are curious about the gospel? Do we even give them a chance to be curious about and in awe of Jesus or do we just make them curious about and in awe of our church?
You make a great point, and one I struggle with often. What would happen if we took the dollars used for marketing (and decorations, and furniture, and landscaping, and, and, and) and used it to meet people's needs?
ReplyDeleteWhat I've come to is that we shouldn't be waiting on the church to take care of people. We, the Church, should be taking care of people. It's not about an organization helping people. It's about people helping people.
I own a design firm that works exclusively with churches to help in the way they communicate (what you call church marketing)...I do it because I do believe Christ would communicate in the way people would understand and grab hold of. That's why he told stories and parables, that's why he used the analogy of seeds when talking to farmers, etc.
But...if we rest on our marketing, if that's all there is...we miss it. We must indeed have balance. It's not an either or thing. It's both/and.