I had dinner with a family who is new to the church on Monday. They both grew up Catholic and had tried connecting in with the Catholic Church in the area but had some problems. They made a new year’s resolution that they wanted to go to church. They had received a series of direct mail cards from the church and were intriqued. The cards gave the impression that the church was a casual and fun place to explore God. So they gave it a try.
Many complain that direct mail is not appropriate for church. I’ve often heard the excuse: What you win them with you win them to. The underlying complaint is that direct mail is an attractional/consumerist way of getting people to church. I like to make numbered lists so here we go.
- Yes it is an attractional/consumerist way of getting people to church, but so were miracles and great branding words such as Messiah and Son of God. The crowds were attracted to Jesus by the 1000s. Before you lench me, yes I understand that miracles were not done to attract people (Jesus said don’t tell anyone), however many people were attracted to Jesus for that reason.
- No one is won over by a postcard. I’ve never heard anyone say, “I love my church because they have the greatest postcards.” Postcards are the invitation. If the new family I met with had come to church only to discover that it wasn’t a casual and fun place to explore God they would never have come back the second time. If they hadn’t made genuine connections with people they would have been gone. If they hadn’t started to grow closer to God, they would have been gone. They were won with the Gospel, with relationships and with relevant styles of worship services.
- If you haven’t noticed 99.999% of Americans are consumerists. Its our culture. Direct mail is a way to speak their language in a relevant way.
- Branding and marketing is all about communicating a message. Even if no one buys the product today marketing is considered effective if that message is communicated. Why? Because when the time comes the message has already been ingrained and the consumer will go buy it. One pastor put it to me this way, “direct mail is a way to pastor to someone before they know they need it.” If you consistently communicate your message, when life takes a turn and they think about God they will already know where to look.
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[...] Shame, shame, direct mailing is actractional. Check it. [...]
I agree with you on nearly every point and belong to a church that uses direct mailing and other forms of marketing, but I have an honest question.
If we market and brand the church, using marketing strategy that most successful businesses do—using consumerist language to attract consumers—should we be surprised when people act like consumers in the church and become disgruntled/leave when the church doesn’t ‘meet all their needs’?
Is this a very subtle ‘bait and switch’? Is there a problem with my logic?
Chris,
Great thought. Jesus spoke using language common to people of his day. Gospel was not a church word, but a word used by the Romans to communicate the “good news” of Caesar. Kingdom was used by the Romans as well to communicate the idea behind the Roman empire. Christ was a title used of Casesar. Jesus was basically saying you think it means this, but I’m telling/showing you what these words really mean. He did the same thing with the religious leaders. You have heard that it was said… but I say… If we use the methods and language of consumers and then teach them to act like consumers then yes, we’ve missed the mark. Will some leave when they find out that we offer something different? Of course. There were those that didn’t stick around for Jesus also. But those that do stay and are discipled will make it worth while.