Church Marketing

Gordon Atkinson has some pretty witty thoughts on faith on his blog but someone showed me an article he wrote recently for CT (which is funny because CT is usually NOT witty).

Gordon wrote about Church Marketing. Which is also funny because I've been part of alot of conversations lately about coming up with a "logo". You know, a "pithy statement" that tells folks what we are really all about.

I'm sure you've seen them: "A church that cares"; "Where everyone is welcomed"; "God's here, are you?"

Gordon can be a bit of a cynic. The point of his article is to point out that these catch phrases really come down to one thing: Marketing. And he goes on to say that alot of what we actually do on Sunday mornings is really nothing more than marketing. Even our age old liturgies can end up being "ad copy to comfort and assure ourselves that we belong to the demographic column of people who identify with Christianity. Maybe when this life is over we will say to God:

"Lord, remember me now as I enter into your Kingdom, for I was a member in good standing of a church that said some very nice things about you."

I share Gordon's skepticism of marketing. It's one reason I've resisted a "hard launch" for our new campus. It's why I've never been too keen on billboards or bus signs or even mailings. I mean it's one thing to let folks know you are there as a church (which can be relevant when you meet in a school). But it's a wholly different thing to devolve into a church that is really just another consumable. As Gordon says: "Commercials and billboards can lie, we know, and so can church signs. At issue is not quality or truth, but the bottom line: how many people join our church this year and how much money they put in the offering plate."

Here's the thing: We're not selling anything. We're living something. And if folks outside our walls aren't seeing us live it, it's not because of the inadequacy of our marketing or our website or our bulletins or even our beautiful sign (which really is quite nice.)

Here's Gordon's take on it:

An over-marketed, cynical, and wary culture is deaf to hollow words. If the living Word of God takes root in our culture, it will be because He first took root in our lives and especially in our daily lives. The Church of Jesus Christ is not made up of those who cry out, "Lord, Lord," but of disciples filled with the Holy Spirit, standing ready to bring God's presence and love to a needy world.
The only liturgy that counts is your life—your life and your willingness to take up the high calling of Christ.

So if we must have a logo, how about this:

Our liturgy is our lives