This article really intrigued me. I discovered it on Church Marketing Sucks‘ website. A site that I follow to keep me up to date on marketing strategies for churches for my freelance company. Send me an email if your church or business needs help with marketing Pedro.

For all of the wisdom in the book of Proverbs, the word “marketing” is not found. Furthermore, a key word search through 18 different Bible translations returns just one finding with the word “marketing.” In The Message version, 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.” While I am not going to insert or extract a certain theology from this one verse (not to mention one translation), it does make for some interesting arguments, especially given its context.

The bigger picture here is the word “marketing” and how it relates to today, given its non-existence in word-form (at least how we understand it now) centuries ago.

Ray L. Edwards does an interesting job attempting to argue 5 adcopy principles pulled right from the pages of the Bible. David T. Pope does an even better job at convincing people why churches should not be marketing themselves.

Arguments on both sides of the coin exist everywhere. Obviously, the issue of marketing the church is a hot one.

Perhaps for a moment you could take off your hat on either side of the conversation and face the reality that people need to be reached. There are people right now in your community that don’t know God. There are children without fathers, families without hope. How are you reaching them? How do they know your church exists, and what it exists for?

If you’re against creating a brochure or postcard, how about just walking the streets, talking to people? How about doing an event in the park? How about actually going to the people instead of waiting for them to come to you? The Bible has plenty to say about that.

And if you do decide to create some marketing materials, please don’t create stuff that sucks.

Originally Posted: Is Marketing in the Bible? By Brad Abare. Please leave your thoughts.

Suggested Reading:

Faith-Based Marketing

Bob Hutchins. Wiley 2009, Hardcover, 256 pages, $16.58

Brands of Faith

Mara Einstein. Routledge 2007, Paperback, 256 pages, $27.00

The Social Media Bible

Lon Safko. Wiley 2009, Paperback, 840 pages, $16.77

The Facebook Marketing Bible

Justin Smith. CreateSpace 2008, Paperback, 170 pages, $38.45

As a Christian, attending church is more than likely very important to you. For many Christians, when they graduate from college and enter the work force, they may have to relocate to another city. After relocating, they will be faced with the challenge of finding a new church. But what should one look for when trying to find just the right church? Here are a few pointers.

Is Christ the Head of This Church?

You might reply, “Isn’t he the head of most churches?” The answer is, “You’d be surprised.” When you go into a new church and attend a few services, it will become apparent who is the head of it. The services (and in some cases the pastor) will exalt the pastor. Did I say, “Pastor exalts the pastor?” That’s what I said. It happens. Jesus Christ should be the one exalted in a church.

Is the Church Provided with Financial Reports?

Okay, I’m being a little direct here but you will find that there are basically two types of churches. There are churches where they truly care about people and are honest and open with them and there are churches were there seems to be hidden society operating within them along with an inner circle. The latter is usually the type of church where funds from member donations are not getting used properly and they usually never have a financial report disclosed to the general membership.

Does the Church help to improve its Community?

A good church should be a lighthouse to the community around it. That does not mean that the church tries to be like the community around it but it should be an organization that does things for others. There are churches that run donation programs to the local homeless shelter or provide assistance for families hit by disaster. Remember that we are supposed to be the salt of the earth as described in this scripture here:

Mathew 5:13 (KJV) – Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Does the Church help in a Christian’s Growth?

Too often you will find churches that are focused on getting in new converts and do little to help those new converts grow once they are in. Then, when the new converts quit attendance after a short time, they are quickly forgotten about and the church moves on to find more new coverts. This ought not to be. There should be programs in a church to help believers grow and become stronger Christians.

Your choice of a church is a very important decision. Take the time to evaluate everything.

Suggested Reading:

Finding a Church You Can Love and Loving the Church You’ve Found

Kevin G. Harney. Zondervan 2003, Paperback, 160 pages, $0.01