Church Marketing Sucks

Reimagining Spiritual Formation isn’t exactly a title that makes you sit up and pay attention. But the subtitle should get you: “A week in the life of an experimental church.” This book explores a week at Solomon’s Porch, an emergent church in Minneapolis, through the eyes of Pastor Doug Pagitt and several members of the community. While Pagitt isn’t trying to add to the church marketing discussion, there’s plenty to chew on.

“We join with the many people, professional and lay, who have suggested in writings, conversations, prayers, and pleadings that the Christian Church has not lived up to its potential or calling in the post-industrialized world, but that it could.” (page 23)

The title of the book comes from the idea that Solomon’s Porch sees the current church working on the idea that knowledge is the primary shaper of our spirituality. We go to Sunday School, we learn about God, we get saved. Spirituality in a nutshell. Solomon’s Porch pushes beyond that idea, instead embracing a holistic approach to spiritual formation, primarily centered around community. And while community is a lovely buzzword, they really try to live it at Solomon’s Porch, accepting one another no matter what (as one member wrote: “I could think life sucked and still be in a Christian community.” page 30)

Selling the Gospel
One of the big complaints at Solomon’s Porch is the way some churches treat the Gospel like a product:

“Comodification of Christianity may be among the greatest threats to living a viable Christian faith that we face in our world. This assumption is in serious need of rethinking. Unfortunately much more energy has gone into discovering the best use of marketing techniques for the church than reflecting on what happens to the gospel when it becomes a product of an ever-desiring culture looking for “value-added” faith as the final rung of the self-actualization ladder.” (page 42)

While marketing techniques can be helpful, we’ve lost the plot if we’re more interested in numbers than souls. Any church marketing that loses sight of that is church marketing that sucks.

Authenticity

“Since the beginning of Solomon’s Porch, we have done things in particular, and often peculiar, ways. But we have worked very hard not to be peculiar for the sake of novelty. We are more interested in creating authentic practices than interesting or trendy practices. … Authenticity is more important to us than slick production or professional execution.” (page 54)

The real test for whether or not marketing can be useful to the church is whether or not it’s authentic. And really this is true for any marketing. If a Fortune 500 company has a hollow ad campaign, it’s not going to work as well as one that’s honest and true (though it may take some time for that to pan out). And while a Fortune 500 company can call short-term profits a success (which is why dishonest marketing happens), the church is held to a higher standard. We’re not simply looking for butts in pews or hands raised at an altar call. We want “people who are concerned with more than our own salvation – people bent on practicing a Christian faith that’s useful in the world.” (page 38)

Bottom-line
The lesson from the emergent church when it comes to marketing is two-fold:

1) The Gospel is not a product that can be marketed and sold like a pair of jeans. That doesn’t mean we can’t use the tool of marketing, it just means we have to realize we’re dealing with a different animal, and respond accordingly.

2) For church marketing not to suck it must be authentic. An honest postcard with ugly clipart is better than a slick and glossy card that misrepresents a faith community.

For anyone still scratching their head about these emergent folks, you’ll find they’re just like the rest of us (with the possible exception of the couches):

“I leave work in time to make it to church by 5:30 and find a place on one of the low-riding couches. Finding the perfect seat is so essential to worship. Get in a too low couch and your back starts to hurt. Get too close to the front and you might get called on. Sit too close to the kids and their chatter pierces through the sermon. Sit in a chair and look unapproachable and lonely. Sit in a big couch alone and look like a leper or unclean. Sit with the regular group and look antisocial, and sit with a stranger and risk looking like the creepy church guy coming on too strong. Think about it too long and look like an arrogant idiot that isn’t spontaneous enough to just sit down. Man. Church can be so hard.” (page 45)