The major misconception in the church community is that marketing and Evangelism are the same. Let me explain: Marketing is the process necessary for reaching the unchurched. Evangelism is the process for conversion of the unchurched. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines marketing as “the act or process for promoting or moving goods from the producer to the consumer and evangelism as “the winning or revival of commitments to Christ”. The church prepares its membership for evangelism but has no process for marketing. Its amazing that Jesus mentions the market or marketplace in many of his teaching yet the church has not embraced marketing.
Listen to Jesus, And the Lord said , Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? And to what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, calling one to another, and saying , we have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not wept. (Luke 7:31,32 KJV)
Jesus described the men of his generation in the marketplace as immature, sitting and calling one to another. Doesn’t this sound like the marketing plans of many of our churches today. Logo’s purchased on line or done by the secretary who has no time. Stationary designed at Staples. Signs printed at Kinko’s. The Sunday morning bulliten copied in the pastor’s office. How can we expect to compete with the world system for the time of the unchurched if they have a plan to reach the same people we must reach?
Marketing is the plan to reach the people we must then Evangelize. Knocking on a door is not evangelism its marketing. As a Pastor who was a former actor, I understand the reason for the churches confusion. Many of our Mega Ministries have promoted their growth as a product of their gifting. In many cases it is the work of the partnership that exist between ministry and marketing. The world is busy in the marketplace doing business. (Ezekiel 27:17b KJV) “…thy merchants: they traded in the market…” As a teenager I worked for Oglivy and Mathers one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. I was an actor for some of the largest companies promoting Tide, Planters Peanuts, Budweiser and many others. As a principle actor the whole studio set was designed for me to act out a scripted role to promote the product. But before the commercial was ever shot the marketing company designed a plan to reach the target consumer. They made sure the product was presented in a way that it communicated to the mindset of the consumer.
Today the gospel must be presented in the same manner. The churches competitors are not other churches but movie theatres, malls, television shows, internet, and special events who vie for the time of the unchurched.
Marketing places us in the marketplace the place Jesus said we should be.
For too long we have substituted advertising for marketing. Advertising announces an event or greets an individual. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines advertising as “the act of calling something to the attention of the public. Advertising announces, marketing promotes and evangelism converts.
Marketing is the connection between advertising and evangelism. It’s the bridge between announcing and getting commitments. Marketing speaks the language of the person to be reached, not the person speaking. The church reaches out to the unchurched in the language of church. Marketing defines the person to be reached and communicates the message in the proper dialogue for true connection. So a true marketing company reaching unbelievers has a approach conducive to unbelievers. It would ineffective if it continued to speak the language of the church.
Pastors if you want to promote true evangelism you must find a marketing company willing to place you in the marketplace. Jesus also said , (Matthew 20:3 KJV) “And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.” Many of us are idle in the marketplace because we don’t have a marketing company to position us for effective evangelism. If we are no longer growing our church, then the Church is no longer receiving commitments. The mandate in (Mark 16:15) was to ..”go ye into all the world…”. Jesus cursed a tree in Mark 11:14 because it had leaves but no fruit. Any church that is no longer growing is concerned with leaves and not fruit. Jesus was incapable of receiving what we needed when arrived at the tree. In verse 21, Peter noticed that the tree was cursed. Many trees are functioning under a cursed position because they won’t submit to marketing to promote evangelism. Even in the natural, a physical body that has stopped growing is considered dysfunctional. I invite every Pastor to do research on the teachings of Jesus concerning the marketplace. This book will certainly give you the initial tools to help you in the right direction. Study it and enjoy it, I know I have.
–Pastor Leroy Woodside The Fathers House
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