CMS, no sorry not that famous missionary society but "Church Marketing Sucks" has released some results from a poll on church planting they ran. See Below
I voted on what Money?…but I suspect had that not been an option then staff probably would have been up there as it was for most. Staff are important from a realistic point of view, that a church cant run an infrastructure (sorry organics there is something there) without people dedicated to that cause, also God may call people to lead the vision of the church and those people and their familys need to eat, and shouldnt have to work filling shelves, or even as my very own flat mate does, spray boxes in a fish factory in order to subsidise their ministry work.
I also suspect the high response on launch marketting may have something to do with the demographic which might read the CMS blog. Though I guess this might be a consideration in a city where you are literally competing in a spirituality market place and your community may not be identifiable in any other way.
In a more rural setting though, that Ive had a little experience of, I feel its a much more organic way to allow your prescence to be the people and building in the community to permeate (hopefully) the essence of Christ instead of relying on buying advert place on the local bus with a funky techno ad about the church.
Any Thoughts?
6 responses so far ↓
1 Andy // Nov 30, 2006 at 2:32 pm
OM Goodness!!!
Not a single percent allocated to actually being out there, serving the poor, healing the sick, binding the broken hearted. OM Goodness!! That poll scares me, really, truly scares me.
Website - OK, I get that, and I’ll build it for them ;-)
Seriously, though - image counts, setting matters, environment is important. But come on - is it just me or was Jesus more bothered about being out there actually doing it rather than looking good. Come to think of it, didn’t he tell a story that involved cups and fairy liquid….. ?
2 Liam // Nov 30, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Andy, Thanks for centering the ball on this one, Im right with you buddy. But I guess with this poll being about how a church markets itself the intention is that maybe the things you mentioned shoudl happen through the lives of the people and doesnt require money from church resources.
Though in practise thats rubbish, because somebody has to pay for the car polish, the free coffee, and the soup for the homeless.
Im afraid on the other hand the ball when flying over my head with your reference to fairy liquid, you’ll have to help me out
3 Andy // Nov 30, 2006 at 5:16 pm
no good just being clean on the outside - looking good counts for zip if you aren’t good.
4 Liam // Nov 30, 2006 at 5:35 pm
Darn Straight,
Im still to reconcile the balance of having an attractive and accesible church persona, ie maybe this church marketting thing, and the fact that God really draws people to himself and we cant really trick people in becoming followers by a fancy logo. Though I guess the thinking behind it is that once you’ve attracted someone and dispelled their fears that church is full of others and not people, then they have the oppurtunity to hear the gospel.
There seems to be another balance that needs to happen as well I suppose because there is a need to dispell an unhealthy otherness about church while keeping the otherness of the identity of the people of God which is right and healthy.
Also thinking on my feet again, if we serve people and help them, while this will surely fulfill our calling as a community for Christ, if we retain an unhealthy otherness (which can possibly be taken away by good marketing which invites a sense that church is not so different that they could never imagine themselves being incorporated into the community.
Lots of rambled thoughts there, non particularly incomplete. What do you think?
5 Liam // Nov 30, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Andy Thanks so much for your help with the PHP, thats pretty quick tech support you have there!…But serious it was great of you to call me and help me out like that, sorry If I sounded a little shellshocked but I was just at my desk and you were the last person I expected to call!
Thanks again.
If I can ever help you by messing up some code then give me a call haha!
6 Andy // Nov 30, 2006 at 6:20 pm
I have a corporate/marketing background, so for a long while I used to think that churches who didn’t bother trying to look the business were short-changing Jesus. To a degree I still believe that, but my thinking has changed, or maybe just developed.
For me, these days, authenticity is key. In fact, authenticity is perhaps the most crucial part of following Jesus. The coolest logo in teh world will only get someone through the door, maybe, it won’t show them Jesus.
If we assume people want to change the world, and Jesus was teh most radical world changer ever, then being Jesus to people is what will be attractive. The logo, I see, as the second piece of the puzzle - it draws people into what God as got going on where we are, but if we haven’t given them a reason to think that God is worth checking out in the first place then we are unlikely to move people from a ‘hmmm, cool logo/website/building’ standing to a ‘I wanna check these guys out’ standing.
I am with you - it is hugely complex, and there are things at play we can never hope to understand - not least the Holy Spirit, who can take the most sound marketing strategy and make it look like it was put together by a two-year old, or take a zero strategy and grow a church community to thousands.
We need to do our part - to fail to recognise the very real presence of a ’spiritual marketplace’ is to bury our heads in the sand, but we also need to be focused on living out an authentic walk as followers of Jesus. The logo is simply an aid for the journey.
Liam - this is a big issue - a big, big issue. It encompasses so many aspects of church, not least the whole ‘personality driven’ danger. You raise a good point, well points plural - maybe you should do a blog series on this - I’d love to read your developed thoughts on it …….. ?
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