“To some degree all that marketing means is communication. If we’re communicating in public, I suppose that could be called marketing. Is it being done intentionally, or accidentally, wisely or foolishly? The fact that when a non-Christian in America hears ‘Christian’ their first thought is anti-homosexual, that’s not a mistake. … Whatever you think about homosexuality, that shouldn’t be the first thing people think of when they think of Christians. Sadly, when the brand identity suggests Christians are judgmental, too often that’s accurate. That’s a consequence of our communication.” –Brian McLaren (see our interview)
Some people like to bad mouth marketing and pretend they’re above such a crass form of commercialization. But just as not deciding is a kind of decision, not marketing is a form of marketing (albeit a bad one).
The church has an image, whether we want to think about it or not. Right now that image sucks, more so than it probably should.
