Church Marketing Sucks

Last week Google CEO Larry Page took the stage at the I/O keynote and shared some personal insights as well as a powerful quote that you may have already seen floating around the web:

“We should be building great things that don’t exist.”

Isn’t that amazing?

Go ahead and read it again and let it soak in.

Here are two major takeaways the church can take from Page’s keynote:

1. The Church Should Build Great Things That Don’t Exist

We’ve spent so much time trying to be like the world, we’ve lost our identity.

We want to produce music like the world.

We want to build websites like the world.

We want our marketing to be like the world.

Believe me when I say there are valid arguments for doing some things “like the world,” as it has more to do with doing things the right way than anything else, but that’s not the point.

The point is that we’ve ceased to innovate.

Did you know that government welfare systems were simply mimicking and providing a secularized version of services previously offered by the church? Who used to feed the poor and clothe the naked? It was the church.

I realize this is laced with some irony as I am recommending that the church approach innovation like Google (the world), but like I said, there are valid arguments for doing things well.

The point I’m trying to make is simply this: Let’s build something that doesn’t exist.

Perhaps we could start by filling a need in the community that isn’t currently being met in Jesus name.

2. Pass On Your Passion by Your Actions

Larry Page shared some interesting insight into his childhood:

“My dad was really interested in technology. He drove me and my family all across the country to go to a robotics company. Then we got there, he thought it was so important his son would go to the conference.”

Dang.

That’s huge.

Page’s father was a huge influence. He didn’t just talk about technology, he lived technology. His actions had enough weight that they left a deep impression on who?

The CEO of Google.

Our churches can have awesome websites, thousands of friends and followers on social media networks and provide a live video stream of services every Sunday morning, but if we’re not living the gospel of Jesus Christ to an impressionable degree, it’s a complete waste of time.