In an era of declining attendance, churches across the country are scrambling to embrace modern marketing tools: Web sites, podcasts, billboards and the like. But a backlash is forming, as critics argue that while these megachurch-inspired tactics fill the pews, they sometimes lead to a weakened Christianity and ecclesiastical bait and switch.
At the center of the debate is a Web site attacking church marketing. With more than 40,000 unique visitors per month, the site aims to "frustrate, educate and motivate" churches into communicating effectively. But it’s also a little tongue-in-cheek.
"If churches were doing what they’re supposed to be doing, they wouldn’t need advertising," said the site’s founder Brad Abare. He contends that if churches were more active in the community and addressing its needs, they would grow naturally from the original form of marketing — word of mouth.
Hundreds of megachurches have sprung up in recent decades, marked by at least 2,000 members each, charismatic preachers and a generally evangelical, nondenominational tone.
While mainline Protestant denominations are shrinking, evangelical churches are booming in what some call this century’s first Great Awakening. Growth has a higher purpose for megachurches; to spread the faith, they often employ large-scale advertising campaigns that permeate their community.
Director of communications at the central offices of the evangelical Foursquare Church in Los Angeles, Abare said many smaller churches are ineffectively copying the marketing tools of megachurches, using bland or misleading advertisements to appeal to a broad base. "There’s too much marketing that is not being authentic in its approach — it’s trying to sell something that doesn’t exist."
As examples, Abare points to churches with older congregations that say they cater to the whole family or churches that use hip advertising to attract youth when the Sunday service is traditional. "People can cut through that pretty quickly. Advertising should come once you figure out who you are as a church and why you belong."
When the average American sees as many as 3,000 advertisements per day, churches don’t know how to brand themselves, said Phil Cooke, media consultant and author of "Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Nonprofits Impact Culture and Others Don’t."
To fix this, Cooke said churches need to focus on how they’re different and preach to their niches. "Jesus didn’t reach everybody. There were people who walked away from Jesus, and you are not going to reach everybody."
Cooke said that megachurches have thrived because they can tell a good story, which has always been the strength of Christianity. With a comprehensive, cohesive media package, they have learned to compete in corporate-driven America and developed a branded Christendom.
Smaller churches can learn from this but need to find their own substance and not just mimic, he said.
James Twitchell, professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville and author of "Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From in Your Heart to in Your Face," said churches’ adoption of marketing fads will hurt in the long run. He calls megachurches the "triumph of the generic" and said that by copying that approach, mainline Protestant churches are speeding their own numerical decline.
"One of the reasons we’re having an ‘awakening’ is because megachurches have found an innovation in marketing, but they can go up in smoke in a minute," he said. "It’s not that these churches are offering a different product, it’s that they’re offering a different sensation through gross consumption." (RNS)
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