Churches are turning to aggressive marketing. Is there something wrong with that? It's hard to say, but it's worth keeping in mind that the most common criticism of advertising these days (after criticism of its saturation of public space) is that it is more concerned with getting sales than imparting truth, and, indeed, that it will distort the truth to get the sales. If churches turn to ad agencies for whom such an approach is the norm, isn't there a significant risk that the ads will be misleading and a discredit to institutions that claim to impart objective truth?
To succeed, a number of denominations and local congregations alike are seeking marketing know-how, whether among church staff or from from hired experts.
Churches' outreach to potential members as summer winds down. The United Methodist Church, for instance, will make its largest media buy of the year starting Aug. 30 - a four-week, $4 million effort. To get that marketing know-how, they're turning to those who know how to sell cars, houses, and other commercial products.
"The church in more ways than not is mirroring Wall Street and the world and Madison Avenue," says H. B. London, vice president of pastoral ministries at Focus on the Family, a national resource network for evangelical Christians. "We're [lagging] behind them to a certain degree, but we're using all their techniques."
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