Marketing?

I'm reading a book called Church Marketing 101. Many dislike the concept of marketing in connection with church. The author tackles that and explains a simple definition of marketing: managing perception. Put in that light, whether we like it or not, all churches are invovled in marketing. Every time we do (or don't do) something, we are marketing our church, our selves, and our God. Scary. Good marketing therefore manages well the perception that others have for your product or service. The author assumes that most people who are reading this book are currently in an existing church and must evaluate where they are and determine where they want to go. Many readers will have to undo poor marketing. Many will have to completely change the public perception of who they are. What a blessing to be reading this book now as we are embarking on something new and have the marketing in front of us!

The author says, "Marketing must first affect who we become before it can affect those we pursue. If it does not, we promote hypocrisy and drive people even farther away."

This is vital! We must all be on board with who we as a church community are becoming. We must understand the vision and direction. We must understand the love that God has for us is just the same as the love He has for anyone else on this planet regardless of background. We must market to ourselves before we market to others.

It's my hope that all of us will be reaching out to the people around us as we near the public launch of Journey. Certainly it's a little ways off still. We can still be building relationships with others...earning the right to share with others. Before we do that, however, we must clearly understand why we are setting out to do this new thing. We must clearly understand why we would undertake such a large task with so many unknowns instead of staying with an established church with very few unknowns.

It is the hope that we would resemble the church that Jesus intended. It is the hope that we can share Jesus with people who have given up on the church or denied the church or been hurt by the church. It is the hope that we can grow in Christ and resemble Him so that we offer an appealing picture of faith in Jesus. It is the hope that people will look at our church and at us and see Jesus instead of a nice building or slick programs. We must market this to ourselves before we market it to others.

Next meeting: Sunday, June 11th at 9:00 am