…so I thought it would be interesting to speculate on the phrase that could have followed that statement:
(a) “…can you believe that!”
(b) “…for crying out loud!”
(c) “…and I don’t know what the church is coming to.”
(d) “…great God Almighty!”
(e) “…our pastor is such a forward-looking man of wisdom and insight.”
All but the last would fit with the tone and expression of the speaker. The context was the general malaise of the church, lack of pastoral care, and seriously diffused focus.
I’m curious if having a marketing committee (or team, and I’d speculate that calling groups of church workers committees are so uncool to the ecclesiastical marketeers) is something commonly done in SBC churches these days?
Some of the churches I pastored had “publicity” committees which suggested ways to publicize the church, VBS, revivals, and other events. I recall that the committee always seems to have the same ideas that had been utilized for the past decade or two.
But a marketing committee would be tough for me to swallow. It just looks like a full and complete admission that one’s church is a business entity with a product to sell and we need to figure out how best to package it, get it on the community shelves, get approval from YEAH! Local, our consultants and persuade people to close the deal and buy it.
Reminds me of the time in my church when numbers were languishing and a deacon said, “It’s like we’re selling ice cream and people prefer to buy the ice cream from the store down the road so we better take a look at our flavors and find out why we aren’t selling.”
Of course, I was present. I only have half a tongue because of how hard I bit it to keep from an indignant explosion. The deacon was a good man just parroting something he had heard.
If my church had a marketing group exactly what would it do? Check the packaging of the Gospel? Suggest that the preacher drop the tie, always have a stubble on his face, shirttail out, roam around like a dog on a long leash, bark more and louder? Get rid of the pulpit, the pews? Hire a marketing consultant?
It seems to me that we men-of-the-cloth decided long ago that we were in the entertainment industry. I would just hate to admit it so openly. Same for being in the product sales industry where its all about packaging, pricing, and marketing.
Great God Almighty!
[First commenter who declares that his church has a marketing committee, team, or staff member get to say, “Dude, your day is seriously past. Go fishing or something. We’ve got this.” Just to humor and old codger, explain what I am missing.]
