I'm speaking to a group today that wants to know how to market their church.
I'm not sure I know the answer to that question. I know I've been a part of some pretty big churches and I've seen some ministries triple and quadruple because of some changes we've made...but marketing?
One of the problems I think I'm going to have is the difference in how we look at things. If my church has a bunch of people who go to a church because their parents went there...and that's just how things work, it's hard for me to understand any sort of conversion experience....if that's not what I know. When you talk to someone who can point to a particular time where the light bulb went on, or they started looking at faith in a completely different way - then there's just a natural excitement that goes along with that.
You could call that excitement - evangelism.
It's natural that the teachers that got free cars from Oprah would want to tell their friends about the day that Oprah came out with the keys. It's natural for the Steeler's fan to talk about the five Super Bowl Championships. It's not even that weird when people try to convince you to watch a tv show or vote for a particular political candidate. These things happen because people get excited about something...
But to be excited about your faith? If that's out of your realm of experience, then it just seems silly to be excited about something that's meaningless to you. To keep showing up at a church week after week because that's what you're supposed to do...that's one thing...but to talk about how it might be changing your life...well now you're a fanatic.
It's ok to be fanatical about sports, politics or a tv show...but that's where it stops.
So you can talk to me about marketing a church, but don't try to talk to me about sharing your faith because of the incredible things it's done in your life. Then you're just being a fanatic.
I'm not sure I know the answer to that question. I know I've been a part of some pretty big churches and I've seen some ministries triple and quadruple because of some changes we've made...but marketing?
One of the problems I think I'm going to have is the difference in how we look at things. If my church has a bunch of people who go to a church because their parents went there...and that's just how things work, it's hard for me to understand any sort of conversion experience....if that's not what I know. When you talk to someone who can point to a particular time where the light bulb went on, or they started looking at faith in a completely different way - then there's just a natural excitement that goes along with that.
You could call that excitement - evangelism.
It's natural that the teachers that got free cars from Oprah would want to tell their friends about the day that Oprah came out with the keys. It's natural for the Steeler's fan to talk about the five Super Bowl Championships. It's not even that weird when people try to convince you to watch a tv show or vote for a particular political candidate. These things happen because people get excited about something...
But to be excited about your faith? If that's out of your realm of experience, then it just seems silly to be excited about something that's meaningless to you. To keep showing up at a church week after week because that's what you're supposed to do...that's one thing...but to talk about how it might be changing your life...well now you're a fanatic.
It's ok to be fanatical about sports, politics or a tv show...but that's where it stops.
So you can talk to me about marketing a church, but don't try to talk to me about sharing your faith because of the incredible things it's done in your life. Then you're just being a fanatic.
I this post a lot
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