My church’s website underwent a massive transformation recently.
I had visited it to find information about a church event, and found that I barely recognized it. A slickly-produced video greets you on the front page and it somehow makes even our cranky members look photogenic. Hugs are given in slow-mo; a camera lingers on the golden communion plates near the altar.
Accompanying the shiny new video is a new logo that sums up our church’s mission and philosophy. We have shiny infographics and ways to connect electronically. The website is quite nice. I imagine the makeover cost a fair bit, but it was probably judged to be worth it.
After all, we’re living in the age of Marketing the Church.
Surely you’ve noticed it. It’s not enough to be a church: we have to be a brand. Churches now have whole marketing teams and public relations divisions. We have logos and videos, catchphrases and mission statements. Even church names are starting to have the uncanny, bland-but-appealing, target-messaged appeal of their corporate counterparts.
It’s not all bad. In fact, I’d argue that some of it is probably necessary. In our technological age, we would be remiss not to take advantage of every possible tool to reach others for Christ. And if getting people in the doors requires a shinier website, that’s a small price to pay.
But marketing Christianity as though it’s a brand requires us to buy into the myth that Christianity is marketable. And it’s not.
Let me repeat: Christianity is not marketable. At least, not when we’re being honest about what it is and what it’s like to be a believer.
Here are things that are marketable: success stories. Positivity. Promises of wealth, security, and success. Satisfaction. Happiness. Puppies and kittens. Charismatic and attractive people. Ways to reduce conflict, stress, and discomfort. Fun things. Easy things.
Take a realistic look at our faith, and you’ll start to see why it doesn’t exactly fit a TV commercial. Contrary to what some preach, God does not promise health, wealth, and career success to all. Jesus said we will have trouble. Obedience requires sacrifice. Giving up the things you cling to that aren’t God is part of the package. Hello, discomfort.
Even Jesus Himself is more complex than our tendencies allow. Sure, the Son of God who healed people would probably make a great, poignant commercial for the faith. But what about the Jesus who cursed a fig tree? Who had to say to a disciple, “Get behind me, Satan”? Who presented a version of righteousness so intense in the Beatitudes that, as Philip Yancey noted in The Jesus I Never Knew, we ought all be disconcerted by it?
And as for the truly good things of the faith, the ways we grow—well, that’s hard to market too, isn’t it? How can you capture what wisdom is in a TV spot? Can you truly express the depth of patience in a video on your website? The joys of fellowship and unity in Christ: you can’t convey that without offering the experience itself.
What’s more, and what’s most important: love and service can’t be experienced through marketing.
We can show in our marketing what Christlike love does. We can give examples of it. We can talk about the benefits of what it means to be loved by Christ so we can love others. But it is impossible to share love through a video. Through a commercial. Through an ad.
An author I read once wondered why in particular God had chosen to incarnate at that particular moment in human history. Why then? Why as a Jewish carpenter? Why in the midst of Roman oppression? Why then, and not any time or any place else?
I don’t know the answer. But one of the ways I can make sense of it is to think that God came when He did because He had everything He needed there and then, in that time and place, to do what was required. Jesus and the disciples did not need the internet to do God’s work. They did not need cameras or crews or audio clips. Love needed nothing—still needs nothing—but warm bodies and willing hearts. That’s it. That’s all.
There is nothing wrong, inherently, with trying to get as many eyes on our church and its work as possible. Market away! Draw people in as much as possible with websites, videos, ads, or whatever you need. But please do recognize that no amount of marketing is going to bring a soul to Jesus. Christ can’t be “prettied up” at the expense of His character or all that He is, and the Word does not need to be watered down to draw people in.
Ultimately, the only thing that brings people to Jesus is love. Marketing might get them to your door, but if all they find there are some well-produced videos and catch phrases, they’ll slip right back out again. The frippery of modern technology is not enough to satisfy the eternal, unyielding, aching desire for love that God placed in us and desires to answer. Only our own hearts and our own acts of giving and service can do that. It’s really that simple.
Samaritan's Song 
I always appreciate a well-designed website and I love a good marketing campaign, so I always enjoy when I see a church doing that well. But, like you said, marketing can only do so much. A well-designed piece might be able to get someone new into the door, but it’s love and connection that will keep them there. Thanks for sharing!
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Great food for thought.
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Love covers over a multitude of sins. An impossibility for marketing. Marketing is the fine art of hiding blemishes, warts and not-very-attractive truths. Much like the popular question of the day in many churches, “how do we make the gospel message relevant in 21st century America?” Only those seriously seeking truth ever will find it relevant – unchanged and undiluted. This, of course, is my personal perspective.
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Absolutely true. Marketing is focused on making things look as shiny and new as possible, disregarding all the difficult or ugly bits.
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The easy solution is:
STOP letting the mega-churches and TV preachers set the bar for everyone else.
Who CARES if your ministry us on 11 tv or cable channels in South Africa?
It’s not about keeping up with Jones’s OR that big church down the street.
The Apostle Paul warned Timothy: In the days, perilous times shall come…..
That’s another thing—instead of just listening to anyone on TV or from a mega-church, instead—-sit in a quiet chair and READ your New Testament, for yourself! With a decent translation. I’d stay away from The Living Bible, The Message, or the NIV. I feel the New King James version or the New American Standard are more accurate.
Joel Osteen had a Huuuge attendance! But he doesn’t rebuke Sin anywhere near enough.
Preaching about “love” may fill up the pews (because no one has to DO anything!). This is watered-down, Christianity-lite drive-thru McSermons. A bad path.
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Correct me if I am wrong but did not Christ overturn the tables of the moneychangers in front of the Temple. The samaritans came from ancient Samaria who believed in God when things were going good then when things went bad they believed in the gods of Babylon in ancient Mesopotamia.
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Yes, Christ certainly did!
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He overturned the tables in front of the temple because the people were bring offerings and sacrifice to the gods and goddesses that came out of Babylon.
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I found this piece when doing preliminary market research to better understand the concerns when advertising for faith based organizations after being called to do exactly that for Christ. The Great Commission 2023 Edition.
I’m curious if you still hold this same perspective five years later? Especially after witnessing how churches had to adapt to digital channels during the pandemic.
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This is a good question, Stephen! The answer…yes and no. Post-COVID, I can say that I understand the value of advertising in helping people understand what is available to them in terms of the church, and what it might mean for them and for their family – especially now. But I also think the pandemic reiterated for me is what I have always believed: advertising cannot substitute for, nor compel, people in the same way as the lived love of Christ can and does. Over and over again I still hear people tell me they find churches built to be “slick,” “appealing” and “marketable” but grow disappointed when affection, connection, and genuine care isn’t there. So what I think I would say is: advertising is great, but without that second half, it can be meaningless and even threaten the purpose of the church. That you are thinking about this, and researching it, tells me you are part of the solution rather than the problem. 🙂
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Oh wow, really appreciate the response! I agree with you actually that part cannot be substituted. There is no substitution for the body of Christ. I think marketing or rather extending the community values you have in your local congregation to the digital world is what’s missing. I see a world moving more and more digital and also more and more secular and we are called to be in these places, not withdrawn from them. We are called to go wherever people are until all have heard. And people are online and soon they’ll be in ar/vr en massé. If our voices aren’t in these places we’re not doing all we can do. I’m tired of weary people only having secular answers to Spiritual questions. Google, “when to get a divorce?” or some variation thereof and see how many religious sources you get and where they are located in the results. Then see how many of them are Scripturally sound. Just one example of many :.(
But yes, indeed correct. You can’t market a product along one set of USPs and then not deliver. That’s bad fruit. It’s got to be a unified experience. God bless you, thanks for well reasoned opinions and points of caution.
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