Church leaders today have widely varying thoughts about how church marketing effects the integrity of the Gospel. Many see using solid marketing as contrary to Jesus intentions. While I'm sure I can't provide all the answers to the debate, I feel I've arrived at a place of balance for myself that I'd like to share with you.
First, in my view marketing and preaching are similar in definition. Marketing can be viewed as a "sub-dialect" of whatever language you are speaking. The words marketers use are intended to evoke feelings and thoughts within the target audience who will then act accordingly. By that raw definition marketing is not at all dissimilar to preaching or teaching. We use language to cause a change of thought and behavior in people. The only true differences are content and format.
Second, western culture is now used to being "marketed" into doing things. In many ways, consumers feel if the marketing isn't good, the product isn't good either. In essence, the package speaks to the quality of the product. I've found this to be true of attracting people to events and to church in general. If things are not "packaged" in a way that they feel comfortable with, they won't come. While this may be a cultural flaw, it is one we can't get away from and will have to address. I choose to embrace it rather than fight it.
Third, good marketing requires you to think out your course, be intentional about how you present yourself, and be clear in how you present ideas. There have been all sorts of great ideas that have gone nowhere because the presentation of those ideas suffered from poor planning and bad execution. Marketing adds a step between idea and execution requiring consideration of the human element of the endeavor. Since everything in church life depends almost solely on the human element, good marketing can only serve to help achieve overall success.
For these reasons and others I've decided to use the "language" of marketing to help motivate people into living a more godly and Biblical lifestyle. There are many problems and pitfalls to using marketing as a ministry tool. Maybe I'll touch on those another time.
Feel free to share any marketing ideas or thoughts.
