The church today seems a lot off balanced. We have entered the age where we are trying to make our services appealing to sinners in order to get them to attend. Some churches have even passed out textbooks that teach them how to make their church a "user friendly" church.
But my thought is that if sinners are brought in with marketing, and if we try and make ourselves different in order to be accepted by the world, then we have greatly reduced our mission and our message.
Our mission is not to be loved by the world but to reach the world. And the way we reach the world is with the truth. And, having been in church my whole life, I've seen some gimmiks come and go and marketing strategies come and go but the one thing I've seen that stays constant and works consistently is when we don't try so hard to reach men's souls on a worldly level, but allow God to reach them through the consistent preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Not only does that work but it produces a Christian that is healthy, not one who is weak and shallow. We complain about discipleship within the church but the one great tool that's so seldom imployed is the pulpit and the persistent, careful, exegesis of Scripture.
Gimmiks and marketing strategies last only as long as the fickle crowd is interested. The Word of God remains forever.
But my thought is that if sinners are brought in with marketing, and if we try and make ourselves different in order to be accepted by the world, then we have greatly reduced our mission and our message.
Our mission is not to be loved by the world but to reach the world. And the way we reach the world is with the truth. And, having been in church my whole life, I've seen some gimmiks come and go and marketing strategies come and go but the one thing I've seen that stays constant and works consistently is when we don't try so hard to reach men's souls on a worldly level, but allow God to reach them through the consistent preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Not only does that work but it produces a Christian that is healthy, not one who is weak and shallow. We complain about discipleship within the church but the one great tool that's so seldom imployed is the pulpit and the persistent, careful, exegesis of Scripture.
Gimmiks and marketing strategies last only as long as the fickle crowd is interested. The Word of God remains forever.