Does Jesus need marketing?
As I drove home tonight, I heard a commercial about how movie night is sweeping the nation’s churches. It offers a chance for families to get together to watch a movie (which it seems they could do at home), as well as, giving non-church goers a form of “free entertainment”. I, for one, am torn about this type of church marketing to try to get non-members to join. Should we really have to rely on movies, basketball courts, workout centers, and other perks to get people to join the church? I thought it was all about our life and the light that was shown through us. At what point did that lose it’s luster and become just a small part of bringing new people to Jesus? Shouldn’t we teach Christians that they, not the church, are the right reason people should come there in the first place?
Mark4:1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3″Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”
Why would I use this parable here? Because I think anyone that you bring into the church because of basketball courts or movies are seeds being planted on shallow ground. They will start to grow, but as soon as things get tough, they will wither and die. I’m sorry if this post sounded a little like a rant, but it just amazes me how much a church has to do to grow it’s membership these days. When the tried and true method of spreading the gospel is within every single Christian.
Although I am also apprehensive about movie nights, I wouldn’t necessarily deem any person who comes for movies or basketball games and then converts to Christianity as just a “seed planted on shallow ground.” I have known people who have come to church for no other reason than to hear a preacher (no movie, no basketball game), say that they have become a Christian, and then act as if Christ has no bearing on their lives.
Non-believers may not send their children to church to hear an evangelist preach, but they may send them to participate in a basketball game. If the children are able to hear the Good News, how is that a problem? I’m not talking about being “seeker-friendly” or “results-oriented” - I’m talking about creating opportunities for sharing the Gospel.
Simple answer, because that’s not how Jesus did it. Did you ever hear of the disciples using song and dance to bring people in? No, Jesus touched peoples lives and that’s how the word spread. That’s what the church needs to be doing, touching lives. There are plenty of opportunities to do this without these things, which the church has lost focus of.
acb: Did Jesus or his disciples speak in air-conditioned or heated auditoriums? No, they usually spoke to people outside, in the open air. Is that how it happens at your church? Jesus and his disciples most probably wore robes, according to the dress standards of the times - does your pastoral staff wear them? Many churches start their services with a time of hymn-singing, and yet there is no record in the Bible that Jesus said, “Before I talk about some parables today, pick up your hymnal and turn to page 324.”