Atypical Church Marketing

OK, this has been a bit of an experiment, but so far it is working. Today I am going to go public with the idea. For the time I feel it is God's direction and plan for us as a church.

Lately I have been thinking about church marketing. It has become a popular term lately among a lot of church leaders. There are even websites dedicated to the study of church marketing. The popular, or hot items seem to be, branding, bulk mailers, billboards, radio ads, and TV adds.

Here are my thoughts. We finally have the money to do those things! And now, I don't want to do them. Let's look at the reasons why.

1. The best invitations are personal. People respond to trusted references from friends. So, how should our church be marketed? Through believers who share their faith and tell their faith story.

2. The best testimonies involve people. If we market the church using the latest business models, in a way that bypasses our people, our people will not have testimonies of God working through them.

3. The best Christian experience involves adventure. Our people can be proud that their Pastor spent their tithes on a hip advertising scheme that kept them from witnessing, and for a few thousand dollars, yielded a handful of families who visited. Or, they can be proud that they heard the Holy Spirit's voice in their conscience to go and invite a friend and their obedience resulted in a handful of families who visited. I'll take the second.

So, this year we did not buy a newspaper ad or radio ad for the Easter Egg Hunt. We sent people out door to door the last two Wednesday nights and hit over 2,500 homes. We made about 200 invitation cards and only about 25 were not taken to be handed out. Our Egg Hunt attendance was great even though the weather was really bad, the worst we ever experienced.

What is the moral of the story? Look at Acts 8:26-40. An angel appeared to Philip and told him to leave a very profitable place of ministry to go wait on the side of the road that leads to nowhere, the desert. There he meets an Ethiopian who he leads to Christ. Here is the big question. Why did the angel tell Philip to go and witness to the man? If God sends an angel, send the angel to the guy that is lost so that he will believe! No, the Gospel is not to be preached to humans by angels. Preaching is the duty of the saints. It is the adventure, the privilege, the honor, the mission and the pleasure of the saints to share the good news about Jesus. So should we really put the task of evangelization in the hands of non-saints?

So, I realize that all the fastest growing churches in America use modern church marketing methods. I know that many church plants use these methods to get 250 people to show up on their launch date. Do I want the church to grow fast? Yes! But also, I want God's people to be loving, friendly, outgoing, bold, witnesses. I am putting my future ministry success in the hands of the church I pastor. If I can't lead the church to lead the lost to Christ, then there is something wrong with my leadership. Let's trust, hope, believe, that if we trust the saints with the task, we will not be disappointed.