Selling out the Church: The Dangers of Church Marketing

a review by Adam Pohlman

Surely, if everyone at Emmanuel were asked if they thought reaching out to the world with the word of God was important we would have very little disagreement. The authors of this book would agree, "Many Christians rightly sense that the church is a marginal factor in the lives of most Americans, and even of many self-identified Christians. Many believe that the church is increasingly irrelevant, that it has failed to keep up with the times, that it no longer addresses people's perceived needs." (pg. 15) But when it came time to determine how it is to be done there would be much disagreement. There is often a lot of talk today about methodology, or missiology and how we must constantly consider how to be relevant to the culture without compromising our theology. In Selling Out the Church, Kennison and Street contend that the two are not so easily separated, and certain methodologies (in this specific case, Church Marketing) carry with them an underlying message of the theology a person possesses. "We firmly believe that all theology, when done well, is practical theology. All good theology aids the church in living out its calling in concrete, specifiable ways." (pg. 24)

Kennison and Street believe the problem stems from a misunderstanding of the purpose of the church on this earth. "...[T]he church in the United States has largely forgotten what it means to be the church." (pg. 23) Many churches are trying to be entertainment venues for the community trying to show the world that they aren't much different than they are, while others are living in a box expecting people to simply show up and see what they have to offer. Often we try to cater to the different styles of worship or organization to fit what the culture is accustomed to so they will want to join our club. By trying to market the church with telling people about the great programs, the rockin' music, or the relevant messages, we forget that the church is called to be different. We are supposed to preach an alternative to the world system and be a small preview of the kingdom God will establish when Christ returns. "Instead of being a place for the consumption of different religious experiences, the church should understand itself as a crucible for forming people capable of embodying their calling to be a sign, a foretaste, and a herald of the kingdom. This would mean that as a community we would be more concerned about the way our character is being formed than we would about whether a certain style of worship is in line with our consumer tastes and preferences." (pg. 158) "The church most effectively engages the wider culture, not when it strives to be more like it in order to gain a hearing, but when it strives to be responsive to God's calling for it to be a sign, a foretaste, and a herald of God's work in the world. We offer unbelievers little, except perhaps more and better reasons to persist in their unbelief, when they see little that distinguishes the people of God from the rest of the world." (pg. 160)

The authors in Selling Out the Church repeatedly suggest that the church is "to be a sign, a foretaste, and a herald of the kingdom of God." The book details specific church growth marketing trends that have become popular, such as: viewing the culture in terms of exchangeable commodities, surveying people to determine their "needs" from the church, targeting populations who may be more responsive to the gospel, and advertising positive aspects of "church life". It then discusses how these misrepresent their understanding of the purpose of the church. While our evangelism may not be market-oriented, the thoughts in the book are convicting because they encourage readers to consider their own evangelism efforts and whether or not they are calling a person to Christlikeness and proclaiming His coming kingdom, or calling them to join an exciting Sunday morning organization. Summarizing their original premise that theology and methodology cannot be easily separated, Kennison and Street conclude, "Rather than offering an alternative to the social arrangements the world knows and reproduces, the church simply mimics those same arrangements. By relying on marketing activities (research, segmenting, targeting, positioning) to bring about change and growth, the congregation is excused from having to be genuinely transformed in order to reach the world. The unspoken message of target marketing is that the church need not be different from the world; it simply needs to package itself differently, position itself properly, and enjoy the benefits that come from engaging in mutually beneficial exchanges with its target market." (pg. 93) Selling Out the Church is a short, easy read that challenges you to examine your evangelism motives and search the Scriptures to learn how God wants you to share His good news.