#190. Hating Church Marketing (And how God invented it.)
Apr 30th by JonA fairly famous minister wrote a book a few years ago and said the following about church marketing, “The thought of the word church and the word marketing in the same sentence makes me sick.”
I think that’s a fair statement. A lot of people feel that way. Readers on this very site have said similar things. But then I realized something shocking, I had bought his book at a bookstore that marketed the book to me. I had paid money for a product about the church, after said product was marketed to me, the very definition of what makes him sick.
I wanted to make sure he was aware that this was happening, so I went online to tell him. Only instead of his email address I found the most beautifully branded site in Christianity. He had a multimedia product he was selling. There were previews and prices and all the stuff that constitutes marketing. So I bought another of his products and was blown away when it arrived. I brought it into work so that our advertising team could study how perfectly marketed it was. Surely he was not aware of the machinary being used to sell his thoughts on church and God. I decided to tell him on his book tour. The idea of a tour for a product you sell felt a little like marketing, but you read what he said, this guy gets sick at the thought of marketing, there must have been a mistake. But I couldn’t get to them. His tour was so popular that there was no chance to talk with him. And he didn’t just name it, “John Doe on tour.” It had a really catchy, sensational title that attracted lots of folks. I was so confused.
OK, I wasn’t. The second I read that sentence in one of the most perfectly marketed church books of the last decade, I knew he was being silly. The sentence was fake. The words were miles and miles away from his actions, but I think they reflect a problem.
The problem is that as we squabble about whether church marketing is good or bad, the world is noticing. When we fail to creatively portray God and the church and faith, the world sees an opportunity. And they’re pretty open about it. Here’s a quote from Communication Arts, an advertising magazine, “As traditional institutions, such as government, the church and the schools, fail to provide meaning, consumers will increasingly turn to products and services to find meaning in their lives. Savvy companies that can align themselves with the core values their customers find meaningful, and do so authentically, will prosper in an economy that’s increasingly based on meaning.”
The translation of that thought is simple, “If the church fails, we’ll be able to fill the hole inside people with products.” Maybe that is only scary and frustrating to me. But it’s hard to shrug it off when I read things like this from the Harley Davidson brand handbook: “There are three essential elements to the Harley-Davidson experience, which riders feel for the first time they ride: the joy of individualism, the chance to be free, to make choices; the commitment to adventure, the opportunity to change, to discover new experiences and emotions; the reward of fulfillment, an intense, personal and consuming bond with the bike that means a richer fuller life.”
Want a fun game? Switch out Harley Davidson with the word “God” and it reads like a church mission statement. “A consuming bond with God that means a richer fuller life.”
This post is already longer than I intended but I think there are three things we need to remember:
1. The new definition of marketing.
I hate selling the church. I can’t stand when ministers promise money and health and all the trappings of life if you’ll only believe in Jesus. That’s bogus, but that’s not how I define the word marketing. Marketing to me isn’t about selling a product. I define it as “sharing something you care about with other people.” That’s it. When I tell my coworker about how much I like Andy Stanley’s sermons, that’s marketing. When I tell you about a song I like, that’s marketing. It’s just a form of sharing and it’s one that Paul and the other disciples did really well. It’s silly that we’ll throw rocks at marketing and then pretend that Paul didn’t go on a tour, with a clear objective, to share the message of a new way of life. Paul shared. Paul marketed.
2. Your church already markets.
Unless your church doesn’t have a sign, please don’t tell me you hate church marketing. Unless your church doesn’t print bulletins, please don’t tell me you hate church marketing. Unless your church doesn’t read announcements and tell you the time of tomorrow’s potluck, please don’t tell me you hate church marketing. Unless your church doesn’t pay an advertising fee to be listed in the yellow pages, please don’t tell me you hate church marketing. Unless you’ve never bought a Christian book and instead got your Bible for free, please don’t tell me you hate church marketing. Unless you’ve never invited a neighbor to church, please don’t tell me you hate church marketing. We are all engaged in church marketing. When we act like we’re not, we prevent ourselves from doing it really well. We don’t allow ourselves to focus on making it better because we pretend we’re not doing it.
3. God invented church marketing.
What’s your favorite story of God marketing? Mine is in Numbers 21. In that chapter, the Israelites are complaining and so God says, “You want something to complain about? How about some poisonous snakes?” (That is not a direct quote.) Everyone starts dying and when they repent, God tells Moses to make a bronze snake on a pole. If the people look at it they will be healed. Now there are some ties here to Christ on the cross, but there’s another idea here as well. Why did God make an idol? In previous chapters and chapters yet to come, the Israelites will be severely punished for interacting with idols. So why did God create one and heal them through it? I think it is because He understood His people. He knew they spoke “idol,” He knew they thought and acted that way. So instead of coming up with something crazy and complicated, He spoke their language. He marketed a solution to them that they would easily grasp. But maybe I’m reading that story incorrectly. Maybe you still think God hates marketing. We can agree to disagree, but you can’t argue that He doesn’t like creative communication. The donkey that spoke, the burning bush, the mysterious handwriting on the wall, God is by no means afraid to communicate in some creative ways.
This was such a long post, but I honestly feel like porn and our approach to how we share God’s message are two of the biggest problems facing us. For more on marketing, check out my friends at http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/ . They’re experts at this issue and smarter than me.
Update: I don’t hate the pastor I mentioned above. I actually dedicated an entire post to him on this site and said people should check out one of his books. I really feel like there is no way to interpret his statement about getting sick from church marketing as anything other than how I have interpreted it. If I am missing some nuance, when he said “sick” he meant it as “love marketing” kind of like the kids say “bad” meaning good, please let me know. Honestly, I am no stranger to making mistakes.
Comments
I feel the same way about Rob Bell (that’s who you’re talking about, I presume).
For me the issue has to do with how you market. The term carries a negative connotation because the secular model of marketing can be fairly deceptive and/or manipulative – the only goal being to get the consumer to buy the product, with little concern how that’s done as long as its effective. That’s not cool for the church.
There are some who would just plug Jesus or the church into a good (ie.e “effective”) marketing model and ask no further questions – a Christian leader was once quoted as saying about evangelism something like “it’s just learning the techniques of good salesmanship. It doesn’t matter what you are selling – soap, shoes, Jesus . . .”
No thanks to that.
If you are talking about non-manipulative, non-deceptive, creative ways of showing the attractiveness of being in relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then I’m all for it.
FYI: Title has misspelled word Church
“Hating Chruch Marketing (And how God invented it.)”
#190 for the win!
All your thoughts are great, but this is one of the best posts yet!
Matthew 28:19 = word-of-mouth advertisement.
Christianity has the third-most recognizable logo in the world: the cross (behind the Nike Swoosh and McDonald’s Golden Arches). Definitely clever marketing.
I believe that the problem is, most churches are ONLY successful (ie. “big”) because of successful marketing people. The Bible states “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” That statement is NOT told to people seeking a church.
What people are sold on is “If any man will come after me, he’ll get a nicer SUV, make some business contacts, have a place to ditch the kids at for a bit, listen to some wicket sweet music, and listen to a 10 minute make-me-feel-good-about-my-sinful-life message so I can live my same life with no changes whatsoever”
I sat in a coffee shop a few weeks back and listened to a marketing director at a LARGE Arizona church talk to the lead pastor about how to reach more rich people. That is usually the focus of most of the marketing efforts, to bring tithe payers in, nothing else.
that guy…
Recommended: Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz oh yeah and The Holy Bible by God
Bravo!
I think we all should embrace church marketing and do it with excellence and creativity.
On the other hand, we should stop trying to “sell” Jesus. He promised us the best possible life (John 10:10) and it’s time we start living it ourselves. That, in itself, would do wonders for our “brand”. And a little no-strings-or-judgment-attached lovin’. Let’s get our love on, people!
Awesome. I’m just going to say “OK,” and leave it at that. Love the blog, and agree with sweaza-one of your best.
Yeah Daniel; definitely Rob Bell.
Meant to make that observation in my earlier comment.
Hey PJ — good post, quite thought provoking! THere is a typo though that may mislead some — under point 1 “The New Definition of Marketing” it says “but that’s now how i define” instead of but that’s NOT how I define… Way different meaning that might throw some readers off what you are really saying. no need to post this — just fix it (and rock on!)
We don’t need to “market” the church, we need to present Christ … BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!
I’m definitely going to share this with several pastors I know who complain about other churches being good at it, but not feeling comfortable with the idea so they don’t.
Paul Marketed.
I also agree that the church has two huge problems in porn and pr. It’s good to see the innovation that has taken place in addressing both in the last few years.
As a member of Mars Hill (where Rob Bell is teaching pastor) it’s a shame that his work is so completely misunderstood by people who have never met him but only read stuff about him.
You’re missing out on so much.
Diane -
Thanks for the feedback. I like Rob Bell. I encouraged people to read his book Velvet Elvis in the post I dedicated entirely to him. This post is not about Rob Bell. It’s about marketing. But I have to disagree with you that I “misunderstood” what Rob is saying when he says, “The thought of the word church and the word marketing in the same sentence makes me sick.” If you have a different understanding of that as a member of his church, please share and I will add it to this post. I’m not really sure how you can interpret that sentence as anything other than “Church marketing makes Rob sick” but I have been wrong in the past and will be wrong in the future. Honestly, if I’m wrong about him saying it makes him sick, please let me know how.
Jon
I was referring specifically to #2. Mars Hill does not do 90% of those things.
Also, Rob apparently said it but that doesn’t make it untrue just because he does book tours, etc. I’m sure his PUBLISHING COMPANY is behind those things because it’s certainly not the CHURCH THAT IS MARKETING ROB BELL. Despite what it seems like.
Diane -
I have to repeat, the post was not about Rob Bell or Mars Hill, so to analyze whether they do #2 is like telling me a different church I have never been to in Iceland doesn’t do those things. That’s great. I’ve never been to Mars Hill, so that you guys don’t have bulletins or make announcements about church or have a book store is news to me. Is your argument that Rob doesn’t participate in marketing? That’s all I was arguing. The Rob Bell post was titled “Rob Bell” and is a closer representation of my overall thoughts on Rob
Jon
Sorry, I should have clarified that my comment was not to you, Jon, but to other people who left comments. I’m not trying to get in a quarrel or anything…sorry for being mis-understood.
Jon, I think what Rob means with his statement “The thought of the word church and the word marketing in the same sentence makes me sick”
…is pretty much the same as what you mean when you say:
“I hate selling the church.”
I don’t think Rob is down with selling the church. I do think he’s down with getting the word out about Jesus’ message and attracting as many people as possible to Jesus, whether that’s through books, dvd’s, tours or websites.
In other words, I think he’d agree with most of what you’re saying but as a professional marketer with a more nuanced understanding of the term “marketing” (and maybe a chip on the shoulder re. Christians who criticize Christian marketing), you are hearing him to be saying something he’s not.
Most of us hear “marketing” and we think not of someone sharing something they are passionate about that has changed their lives, but of the manipulative pushy salesperson, the obnoxious infomercial or the telemarketer who calls us while we’re trying to feed our kids dinner if we aren’t on the “do not call” list. Maybe we agree about what we do and don’t like, but fail to communicate because of a misunderstanding regarding our terminology, and you’re setting the record straight that marketing doesn’t have to involve “selling the church” or manipulative practices and can actually be a good thing. I think Rob would agree.
Diane -
Not at all. I can only imagine the heat you take from folks about Rob and Mars Hill. I’ve never been, never seen Rob speak, and have only read his two books. So by no means am I an expert on Rob. So we are completely cool. My main argument was that you can’t market like crazy the Nooma videos (which are beautiful and amazing) and then also tell me you get sick at the idea of church marketing. Those two ideas disagree with each other.
Jon
My two cents:
1. Didn’t Bell do an “Everything is Spiritual” tour? Wouldn’t that include marketing?
2. I recently met another pastor at a coffee shop who told me how much he despised the idea of churches marketing. I then noticed the centerpiece of the table we were sitting at and pointed to a postcard promoting a Sunday night thing his church was doing.
I thought that was ironic.
Karl -
First of all, great comment. Conversations like these are why I write the site. Good stuff. I agree with you. Church marketing that pimps God and Jesus is not cool. I have a chip on my shoulder, guilty as charged. But you had to write a multi-paragraphed explanation to clarify Rob’s sentence. My argument is that when important people like him say powerful, simple sentences like the “sick” one, they put dangerous ideas in people’s heads. You said not everyone looks at marketing the way I do. Completely agree. But to that same point, not everyone reads that sentence he wrote the way you do. Thousands if not tens of thousands of churches read it the way it is written, “The thought of the word church and the word marketing in the same sentence makes me sick.” Rob did not write “some church marketing makes me sick.” Rob did write “selling the church makes me sick.” He made a big, sensational sentence about his feelings on church marketing. I like your interpretation of what he meant, but not everyone will see it that way.
Jon
To me, there is a difference between “church marketing” and “book marketing” and “Tour marketing”
Rob Bell’s books/tours are marketed by his publisher. The church is not his publisher.
Our church is NOT marketed. There are no signs outside, no road maps, nothing at all. We don’t post fliers around town. Nada.
I think Rob’s comment would make mroe sense if you saw our church. I mean that literally.
Diane -
I think that’s a great point. I have no personal experience with Mars Hill and thus tried to keep it out of the conversation. I guess that since Rob talks about the church being the people, not the building, I took his statement to be much more than about just a church. And I agree there are differences between church marketing and book marketing, but when you write a book like Velvet Elvis that includes passages about your church, are you doing church marketing or book marketing? That’s a tough call. Regardless, I think you and I are on the same page.
Jon
Jon, I think we agree. The terminology causes the breakdown, if there is one. To many of us who lack savvy about marketing, the sentences “selling the church makes me sick” and “marketing the church makes me sick” sound synonymous. Someone like you is needed to point out that not all “marketing” is “selling” and explain why its bad to sell the church but ok to market the church.
As you point out, Rob is a pretty savvy marketer though so maybe he should have known better. Or at least nuanced what he said in his book. The interview excerpt with Rob below gets at what you are talking about, I think. The difference he highlights between “entertaining” and “amusing” may be similar to the difference you are talking about between “marketing” and “selling.”
Q: Your preaching blends styles and images. And people often laugh. Do you intend to be so, well, entertaining?
A: . . . Sometimes I hear people say, “The church isn’t here to entertain.” To entertain means to hold people’s attention, which is clearly something teachers throughout the Scriptures are doing. They engage and capture attention.
“But we’re not here to amuse. To “a-muse” means to “not think.” And it’s wrong to prevent people from pondering or distract them from thinking. I’m not here to amuse. But of course I want to engage people . . . So what you say is important, but just as much the way you say it.”
Your thoughtful posts such as this one lead me to encourage you to get a position as lecturer in ethics at a well-respected seminary. But then that would cut into your blogtime and I’d miss that.
Please let me preface this by saying nothing i am about to say has anything to do with rob bell. Thank you…
My problem isn’t with church marketing… it’s when churches tell us they are doing “outreach” and putting money into “outreach” when really they are marketing and putting money into marketing…
They call it “service evangilism” but every bottled water they hand out has a big logo and church address… oh and by the way, conversations are limited to “you oughta come check us out” … they say they’re handing out free coffee and newpapers to bless those in traffic, but they have to pull through the church parking lot, and the mug is a reminder of where to find the church … so they justify giving a certain percent of their money to “outreach and evangelism” but it’s not… its marketing…
I’m not against church marketing, but don’t call it evangelism.
All the thinking about marketing has just left me with the conclusion that there is really nothing magic about the term making it good or evil.
All I can say is to evaluate marketing the same way you evaluate anything else if you’re a Christian. Is it going to make believers (real ones)? Does it genuinely help people? Is it deceitful or self serving? …and so on.
No less a personage than Billy Graham once said (and you can probably look it up), “We should market Christianity like a bar of soap.”
Jon,
I just read in one of your comments that you have never been to Mars Hill and have never seen Rob Bell speak. You really should hear him, because he talks like he writes — with lots of spaces. NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT, Rob Bell fans.
Is this why you didn’t publish my comment comparing a Rob Bell DVD to The Chris Farley Show? I better go take down my blog post about this before someone leaves me a nasty comment! I don’t want to offend EITHER ONE OF THEM! (And by THEM, I’m referring to my 2 readers, not Rob Bell or Chris Farley.)
I think people use the “speaking their language” excuse as a cop out to be a tool far too often.
It turns into a game of making Jesus easy to transition into, and he shouldn’t be. He should flip our whole life upside-down and make us reexamine the habits and attitudes we always accepted as normal and acceptable.
When I think about church marketing, I think about the calculated decisions (both major and minor) that churches make to try to bring in more people. Our responsibility then isn’t about being the church, it’s about looking enough like the culture so people can think it’s cool to come to church.
I think Rob Bells’ referenced quote in this post has more to do with advertising then marketing in general. You’ll note that Rob Bell doesn’t do any advirtising for any of his products. Nooma, DVD’s, or Books. You have to go looking for them to find them. At least that has been my experience. Now a retailer might advertise carrying his products, or a publisher might advertise his new books but I think his quote is talking about sending out bulk mailers, doing radio or TV advirtising for the church. His chruch was built on word-of-mouth which CAN fall into a general definition of marketing but I think if we read the words AROUND the one sentince quoted from “Velevet Elvis” in this post we get much closer to what he is actually talking about.
Jon, perhaps your occupation made this particular line a little hard to digest. But I appreciate your honesty and think that Rob Bell would love the dialog if you ever had it with him. But then again, I don’t know the man. Keep up the GREAT work Jon.
-John Hall
Fresno, CA
John -
Great point. I think you are completely right about me having a bias when it comes to marketing, given my background. That is honestly a good point.
As far as Rob and marketing, I have to disagree with your idea that Rob doesn’t participate in advertising. He goes on book tours. In the world of writing, this is perhaps the biggest form of marketing you can do. Which I think is great. I think Rob Bell does some great things. I don’t fault him for advertising.
Honestly, I think he’s doing some really cool stuff. He just made an extreme sentence that wasn’t explained in the book I pulled it from. The sentence after the one I referenced had nothing to do with explaining his feelings on church marketing. The sentences before were about not liking flyers and signs. But that doesn’t explain anything so what happens is that people take that out of context and refuse to market their church because someone they really love said it makes them sick.
Again, I think Rob does really interesting stuff and I don’t fault him for his thoughts on marketing. I just think he’s involved in marketing
Jon
I think, Jon, that the point isn’t about marketing as much as it is about Christians in America (esp public figures) trying to “sound” more spiritual than they really are. Church marketing makes me sick, but if it fills my pockets, hey, I’m all for it. Raping children makes me puke, but it’s okay if I go 90 in a 25 mph school zone. Same-same.
really.
Church marketing? Ok. I agree with that. What I am against is Church advertising. It may be a matter of splitting hairs, but there is a marginal difference.
People have developed such a poor view of "marketing" that even today when it's done for a business it's looked down on. However, when it IS done correctly it isn't a negative, it's a way of letting people find what they are looking for rather than what I want to sell to them. When marketing is done that way, it's in the best interest of everyone.
Now, I believe God said "spread the word" so, if we aren't marketing we aren't spreading the word, and not living up to what we are supposed to do. So, spread the word!!!! Market what you have to share with others.
In fact, I wrote an article showing that there are 33,000 people a month looking for a church right here in Kansas City. And, frankly, churches who will stand up in front of that 33,000 will immediately be exposed to 33,000 more people every month. Those that aren't standing up to market aren't being found and aren't doing those 33,000 any favors.
I could not agree more. Marketing is necessary. It is good. Like everything else, however, there is a right and a wrong way. I also like Rob Bell, just throwing that out there, even though some stuff he believes gives me the heebie jeebies
In references to those of you who hate advertising churches, my question would be: if you attend a church or are employed by a church (small "c" church – meaning the building not the body of believers) and you feel your church can help people grow in Christ as well as any other church, how are you to get the word out that you exist without advertising in some way? Whether you have word of mouth advertising, you hand out cool water bottles with your church address on it, or whether you have a nice sign by the road, you have to find some way to let people know you are there.
If you got a good deal on snow tires at Goodyear, would you want to let others know about it?
If you ate at a fantastic restaurant, would you feel free to talk about your wonderful meal?
If you are getting spiritually moved by a particular church, why not talk about it? For fear of advertising?
I have been going through your archives and I really like the part about replacing "Harley Davidson" with "God" Here's another fun game… http://www.sloganizer.net/en/
This website replaces words from advertising campaigns with whatever word you type in.
Type in Jesus. It comes up with some good stuff. So far my favorite is "Jesus. The power on your side"
We have a blog that we hope will encourage churches to utilize proper effective church marketing techniques. Hope this can help some people: http://blog.ncbaptist.org/creativeteam/