A recent U.S. World News & Report article we already covered included a quote I’d glossed over. It comes from the director of communications for the Episcopal Church, Anne Rudig, and is a sentiment I’d guess a lot of us share:
“I’m an evangelist, too.”
It’s a simple and powerful statement that church marketing is evangelism.
It reminds me of the first chapter of Meredith Gould’s The Word Made Fresh: Communicating Church and Faith Today, which argues that church communication is ministry.
What we do is not just some business skill for the church. The work you do is not mere work. It is a vital ministry of the church, seeking and saving the lost. We marketers and communicators, designers and editors, volunteers and assistants–we are evangelists.
Cameron Hammon
June 29, 2009
thank you for saying this. Interesting there are no comments. Communications IS evangelism.
john Follis
March 5, 2011
I agree: http://www.follisinc.com/sellinggod.htm
JF
Paul Clifford
December 30, 2009
Ideally all church marketing is evangelism, but it doesn’t have to be. You could market programs which don’t have the goal of spiritual transformation and relationship to Jesus. Not saying that is the norm, but that it happens.
Church Administrator
September 6, 2011
If you have found a way to help the Body of Christ understand that proper marketing is actually evangelism, I would LOVE to hear from you. This seems to be the challenge of my life right now, but I am trusting the Lord to lead me to the right people and the right organizations who want to use all the tools they can to reach the lost. God bless you.
Johanna
September 27, 2011
Its true, seeking the lost, and where are the lost if not on the internet!?