Marketing and Message

One of the more talked about church issues lately has been that of marketing. Recently, there was an article on adage.com that chimed in on this debate. It was the article's stance that marketing has been a big part of the problem in the church recently. This is because it feeds our culture's consumerist mentality. Interestingly, the article also stated that marketing also provided the answer, but only if it is done extremely well.

Another site, churchmarketingsucks.com, had a post that I think gets to the heart of the matter: "Simply develop your message, and ask yourself the best way to communicate it without compromising." Here is the a-ha - it's about the message. It's not about the church building, nor is it about what advertising venues are utilized. It all means nothing without the message. And it is about us as Christians embracing the message of the Gospel, living it, and sharing it. I can tell you with certainty that the Christian faith has not grown and been sustained because of it's buildings or it's advertising campaigns.

Don't get me wrong, those things can be helpful. But we have to remember that they are just tools that mean nothing without the message.If we want our churches to grow we need to get back to the heart of the matter. Let's recapture the understanding of the Gospel as life changing, as making a difference. When we embrace, live, and share the Gospel, the rest will fall into place.

We have probably all heard that you can't give what you don't have. Do we who call ourselves Christians have it? What are we going to do next?

Chris