Apprentice 2 Jesus

You need to read the article in its entirety, but Mark Galli has an amazing editorial on “church marketing.” We have reached church marketing at a point that’s just hard to stomach at times. Big churches, small churches, we are all guilty of trying to “market our product” and increase our “market share.”

I remember a seminar my denomination put on a few years ago that was all about catchy bench stop advertising and other marketing ideas. One comment made was about our “competition.” It was said straight out that our competition included the church down the street.

Well, when that becomes the case, Galli’s point is well taken: Christians will shop your church to find what they need. When they quit finding it, they will just shop at the next church.

We no longer call ourselves pastors, shepherds or teachers. We are “leaders,” “managers,” and “CEOs.” We are taking our cues more and more from business models. And the church is suffering. The trouble is, we just don’t realize it. We may wake up and realize it one day. Hopefully, that day is soon, and that day is not too late.