Years ago when I first started to work in church communications I was bothered by the lack of quality and excellence. Vocals out of tune, drums and bass a little off, web pages were more for vanity than any other purpose and the print materials…yuck!

There has been great improvement in the area of excellence yet now I am disgusted, yes disgusted is a good word, because we have gone too far. Church lobbies look no different than a swap meet with EVERY ministry trying to pitch their stuff. People are given handbills at the main door and then again at all the other doorways. Lord knows we can’t miss even one person with our marketing materials. Flat screen TVs at every angle, video announcements, pre and post service slides, and yes, ads on the bathroom walls! The very same marketing tactics that are used at a baseball stadium are used in our places of worship.

I hope you watch the video in the post below this because it is a good example of what the world thinks of us. Does an external impression matter or is it more important to fill seats and raise money? Funny because when we use these gimmicks we are doing far more harm than good and it actually has the opposite effect.

Today I received an email from a church pitching a church “value card” as an invite tool. There is a picture of the card and it is modeled after a credit card with a big $10 graphic. It also says “unlimited use” so that $10 must really go a long way.

Here is some of the copy. I just cut and paste as is. The bold text is their doing and just perfect:

Promote your church and save money at the same time with our new value cards! Present this card at some of your favorite local restaurants and receive tons of incredible deals! Plus it’s a great witnessing tool. Each time you hand out your card, you’re inviting your server or cashier to church. Buy one for your family, or give them out as gifts! Value cards go on sale this week, August 17th, for only $10, so make sure to get yours soon!

Think about this for a second. You are a waiter. Already Christians are known to be cheap and horrible tippers. A party of 4 comes into your restaurant. At the end of the meal they hand you this card and say “we get a discount. by the way, come visit our church”. INSANE!

Gimmicks like this suck and damage the perceptions people have about Jesus. An invite card with a fat $10 on it! Jesus must be about money – right? Invite people and save money. Wow! Gimmicks like this are why church marketing sucks!

And you wonder why your church is not growing! Next time before implementing a gimmick think of the big picture and the long term effect! A debt campaign (give us your money to get out of debt – whacked) may have immediate financial increase yet playing a video before, between and after service, along with talking about it and handing out print materials at every door will have a long-term negative effect causing great loss.

Gimmicks are mainly used by companies or organizations that don’t have integrity or are desperate. Do we have to give Jesus the hard sale? Today people are not only aware of tricks they are sick of them. The very best marketing tactic to help fill your building is to simply love on people just the way they are. Try being real and authentic and teach your people compassion instead of how to save a penny.

Let’s all start thinking about how we really portray Christianity.  Jesus is not the “Crazy Larry” guy on TV slashing prices yet that is how we represent Him when we use gimmicks. The church is entrenched in religion, rituals, pride, arrogance, ignorance, and….MONEY – so I understand this change will not be easy. But we have to start someplace and it has to happen now.  The world hates us and for good reason.  I am still an optimist and believe we can change and that change starts with you.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 5:45 pm and is filed under My Big Mouth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.