Not only do congregations accept it, they PROMOTE it! As a former Associate Pastor of a large church in Lakeland, Florida, there was the constant pressure from the deacons, leaders and congregation to “perform” – or illicit “results” if you will. Unfortunately church members and leaders (as do many pastors) based success on the same thing as the world – growth and numbers. Unfortunately, we live in a world where a pastor’s normal life-span in a church is two years. If the pastor hasn’t created numeric growth in that time, in most established “old school” churches – they are sent packing. Therefore, “marketing” for results is largely to be blamed on the congregation itself. That’s not to say that a pastor’s ego doesn’t drive it also!

Hmmm. How about, “You are invited to Die?” as a headline. I said that to a group the other day. We are invited to die to ourselves and everything that gets in the way of the reign of God. If I really want to live, I must first die. That sucks. I much like motivational sermons and life in the suburbs. Too bad that is not the message that Jesus proclaimed by his life. That is why I say, I don’t have the guts to follow Jesus, so I settle for being a Christian.

Peace. Great post!
Rick

Now I’m not saying that marketing your product is wrong – I’ve seen lots of churches use multi-media, the web, direct mail, etc., to get their message across. But when the message is shaped by the market, that’s why the three words often used to describe Christianity are “boring, irrelevant, and untrue.”