Has Marketing Replaced Evangelism?
Marketing is an integral part of today’s church. This can be a good thing if done right, but if we are not careful, marketing can replace our evangelism efforts.
I am not against the church using marketing to get the word out. My college major was advertising and marketing, and I formerly worked for my hometown newspaper. My dad even owned a small-town newspaper for a short period in his life, so marketing is in my blood.
At the same time, whenever I hear marketing terms thrown around in church, I winch a little. My struggle comes because, in recent years, I have seen a trend toward relying on marketing to do what God calls us to do: Personal evangelism. If we are not careful marketing allows us to forgo our personal responsibility to share the gospel.
Here are a few things that I think the church needs to be aware of and guard against.
1. Attraction Over Action
Marketing often aims to attract people to church services or events, hoping they’ll hear the gospel there. But evangelism, by nature, is go-to rather than come-and-see (Matthew 28:19). Churches may pour energy into branding, social media, and clever sermon series without equipping people to share their faith outside the building, which can be a problem.
Our best evangelism plan is our people. It is easy to rely on marketing alone to do what God has called us. When we rely on marketing to get people in the door, we also can believe that we have done evangelism. We get lazy about a one-on-one proclamation of the gospel. We must adopt a both/and approach; that is, it is an invitation to church and an individual personal engagement with those who are not Christians. There is still no better method of sharing the good news than one-on-one personal relationships with people.
2. Audience Metrics Over Missional Movement
Churches increasingly track success by attendance, views, likes, or brand engagement, not by lives changed or people reached with the gospel. Marketing is concerned with reach; evangelism is concerned with repentance. The result is often a shallow kind of influence. Francis Schaeffer's writings often address the difference between psychological influence to change and biblical repentance, emphasizing that actual change requires a radical turning away from sin toward God through faith and the power of the Holy Spirit. The problem is when we equate all those marketing metrics with actual impact on people’s lives and eternity.
We have adopted some of the exact measurements as the business world, which can be dangerous for churches. Other measures, such as turning from sin in our lives, baptisms, discipleship, giving, or sharing of our faith, need to be used to measure the effectiveness of our evangelistic efforts.
3. Branding Over Boldness
Evangelism requires boldness, conviction, and a call to decision. Marketing is more about appeal, vibe, and relevance. To stay culturally relevant, churches sometimes dilute the gospel message to fit better with the brand—and that’s a problem.
A friend of mine encountered this very situation in his church. While seeking to advertise a coming mission trip, his comms director developed materials that made it hard to understand what was being communicated about the trip. Did they want me to give? To pray? To go? It wasn’t clear. When he asked his marketing director about it, he was told they were trying to maintain their branding. The problem was that their branding was off a bit, and they did not communicate missions. When branding takes precedence in your communication efforts, that can cause a real problem. Clear, bold communication is a must in church marketing.
4. Substitution of Message with Aesthetic
When style eclipses substance, the church risks promoting a lifestyle or community without clearly presenting the need for a Savior. Evangelism calls people to die to self and follow Jesus. Marketing may call them to try out a great Sunday experience.
The question is, what do we do when we find that our marketing has more primacy than personal evangelism? I will cover that in my next article.