Something Smells
I stumbled upon an interesting blog this morning:
http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/
At first (just reading the title), I thought I might have found a jewel in the rough. Fellow marketing people that see the danger in trying to dealve to deeply into marketing in the sacred realm.
Alas, these are people who make fun of churches that don't meet their high standards for professionalism and polish in their communications materials.
Don't get me wrong. I can sometimes get distracted by cheesy, tacky or out of date materials that churches use. However, there's a problem when we start to believe that the medium is the message.
The people at this site seem to believe that it is their responsibility as Christians to spend copious amounts of money on marketing materials because we need to boldly proclaim the word of God. Now, I'm pretty sure Jesus, in using the word "boldly", was not indicating a font decision.
Yes, well done materials can grab people's attention. But, does anyone actually believe that a slick brochure for the church is a replacement for evangelism? Has anyone ever picked up a church brochure and said "These people really know their graphic design. Let me pause for a moment and dedicate my life to Christ."?
No.
Why? Because the medium is not the message. If we think we can just pop out cookie cutter churches with software generated perfect marketing materials and the people will flock in, we're in for a shock. The message isn't slick professionalism. The message is raw humanity. It's about transformed lives and real relationships with Christ.
As a marketing/communications person I certainly understand the power of effective communication in reaching people. However, if we think our marketing and PR skills are a substitute for God, we have much worse problems than bad communication materials.
Rant over. NYC pictures to come.
http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/
At first (just reading the title), I thought I might have found a jewel in the rough. Fellow marketing people that see the danger in trying to dealve to deeply into marketing in the sacred realm.
Alas, these are people who make fun of churches that don't meet their high standards for professionalism and polish in their communications materials.
Don't get me wrong. I can sometimes get distracted by cheesy, tacky or out of date materials that churches use. However, there's a problem when we start to believe that the medium is the message.
The people at this site seem to believe that it is their responsibility as Christians to spend copious amounts of money on marketing materials because we need to boldly proclaim the word of God. Now, I'm pretty sure Jesus, in using the word "boldly", was not indicating a font decision.
Yes, well done materials can grab people's attention. But, does anyone actually believe that a slick brochure for the church is a replacement for evangelism? Has anyone ever picked up a church brochure and said "These people really know their graphic design. Let me pause for a moment and dedicate my life to Christ."?
No.
Why? Because the medium is not the message. If we think we can just pop out cookie cutter churches with software generated perfect marketing materials and the people will flock in, we're in for a shock. The message isn't slick professionalism. The message is raw humanity. It's about transformed lives and real relationships with Christ.
As a marketing/communications person I certainly understand the power of effective communication in reaching people. However, if we think our marketing and PR skills are a substitute for God, we have much worse problems than bad communication materials.
Rant over. NYC pictures to come.
posted by Joy at
4:56 PM
1 Comments:
hahahahahah That's a funny rant.
I agree for the most part. However, and this will likely be a blog post for me in the future, I've reached the conclusion that an organization's Web site is roughly equivalent to a person's clothing, in my view. Let me just say, if you don't have one, well....
snicker
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