In an effort to “… keep my enemies closer,” I occasionally read marketing books and blogs. For who are holding out hope that the two can be married, I hope this post will bury that notion forever.
Seth Godin
Seth Godin is one of the bright lights of marketing especially to those on the cutting edge. He’s written a lot of books and his blog is one that I follow. In his book, “Small Is the New Big” there is one very telling quote:
Marketing is now officially about wants, not needs. That’s what your entire day should be about. Your church, your company, your restaurant, your blog, it doesn’t matter. Give me what I want or I’m out of here.
Do people want to hear about their sin? Do people want to hear about how helpless they are? People need the Gospel but that’s not what marketing is anymore.
Church Marketing Sucks
Church Marketing Sucks is a site that attempts to help churches with their marketing. They recently had a couple posts (“Jesus is not a Brand: The Good” and “Jesus is not a Brand: The Bad“) responding to a Christianity Today article entitled, “Jesus is not a Brand.” Here are a some choice quotes:
I realize it seems callous, but the gospel is a lifestyle with a cost.
For the purposes of marketing, the only difference between the gospel and a product is that the gospel is a lifestyle rather than a good or service.
Sometimes that [communicating the entire gospel] looks like public relations in the form of good deeds. Sometimes it looks like a brand that communicates excitement or simplicity.
But the church succeeds when the world is changed by Christ-followers…
Their understanding of the Gospel and the purpose of the church are quite deficient. “Gospel as lifestyle” is a new one for me. The thing that struck me is that the Gospel is this super life and world changing thing, but nobody wants to tell you what it is. The Gospel isn’t the good news of Christ’s death for sinners, it’s just the thing that the church dispenses. These guys want to talk about the gospel and what it can do, but never get around to actually proclaiming it.
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