The Marketing of God

MERCYhouse made the news this week, or should I say The Buzz (click for article). If you live here in the Pioneer Valley, you've probably seen newstands with "The Buzz" in big red letters. It's an entertainment/news monthly that has been around a couple of years.

I had a blast talking to their executive editor Greg Saulmon. He planted the newspaper from scratch as one of several target specific papers distributed by the Sunday Republican. He and his counterpart did something you don't often see these days - journalism. They actually did their homework and wrote a stellar article about church in the valley.

What gave them the idea for a story about church was seeing the oldest Congregational church in Springfield close its doors because of dwindling funds and membership. At the same time they were seeing (and hearing) advertisements for the new Vineyard Church plant in Northampton and the new MERCYhouse site also in Northampton. This got Greg to thinking, "What's the difference?"

Their hunch was that it was marketing. That newer, growing churches are using more modern means for getting "the word" out. To some degree, they found what they were looking for. Growing churches seem to have websites and advertising. More modern worship environments and loud music. Even those that they interviewed from dying churches disdainfully confirmed that growing churches were selling out to Madison Ave.

I'd say that relevant marketing and communications are more than some slick technique to keep the church growing. They reveal something deeper about the ancient message that the church has held to for 2000 years. Usually referred to as "The Gospel" which means good news, it's the story of how God became a human in order to reconcile human beings to himself. It is God's cosmic marketing strategy for getting His product (himself) to his customers (human beings).

God, who is all knowing, all powerful, and all present considers his potential target - human beings. He tries thunder and lightening at Mt Sinai, appears as a low lying cloud in the Jerusalem temple, he even sends out 100's of salesmen (aka prophets) all with little success. He then unveils his most brilliant marketing approach yet. He becomes a little Jewish zygote in the womb of an unwed mother in a backwater village called Nazareth.

The fusion of God's bend over backwards accomodation with his unchanging message of a need for humans to reconcile with God is not only the source of salvation for the church, but also the model for how they are to go about proclaiming this good news. As Jesus is readying the disciples for his earthly departure, He gives them these instructions, "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."

As the church, our job is to continue to search for ways to communicate the ancient message of the gospel in ways that make sense to our culture. To dress it up in those neutral elements of the culture that serve as bridges to those who are seemingly far from God.