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Christianity Today, December (Web-only), 2008 |

Soulwork

Get Thee Behind Us

The Devil's latest marketing guise.

Mark Galli | posted 12/18/2008 09:02AM

"Church Check, a division of parent company Guest Check Inc., announced today the immediate availability of a new service offering, widely differing in scope from its current client base within the hospitality ...

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M J Spaulding

Posted: December 30, 2008 4:27 PM


This is an example of where the church is going wrong today. We go to chuch to worship God, to confess our sins, the fellowship with other Christians and to learn. I am totally with the author. Get behind us Satan, go away.

Rogers M

Posted: December 27, 2008 7:41 AM

Sad to realize that there is a company that offers "Secret Shopping" experiences out there... and there will be churches that use it. Noting also that there are mega churches (one in Chicago in particular) that were started because of marketing surveys and the answers that were received. It's ironic that this worldly view of seeking information is trying to help churches become something that they are sometimes not called to be... warm and fuzzy all the time. Sometimes we need to hear things and see things differently in God's worship service to get the picture.

mel	Posted: December 24, 2008 2:04 PM


well to be honest I dont think that is wrong. of course the reality of the Spirit must be there but also I have seen lots of people lost because of mismanagement on the church's leaders' part

Joe	Posted: December 24, 2008 11:39 AM


The gist is that many churches believe the primary audience of worship is "people". As long as this is the presumption, then "marketing" is the natural solution. But the Bible tells us that the primary audience is God. With this understanding, we just need to assess whether God is pleased with our worship and whether He is in our midst.

EvangelismCoach.org

Posted: December 24, 2008 5:54 AM

Bruce puts forth a great counter balance to this article. There is some value in improving your first impression. The goal of first impression is to get a second visit. The goal of the second visit is a third. The goal of hospitality and welcome is not evangelism. This is where I think the two are confused. The goal of evangelism is conversion, the method is proclamation. The goal of hospitality is welcome and the method is removing barriers to hearing the proclamation. Too many churches have substituted one for the other. While hiring a marketing service may not be the most cost effective or even the best way, the idea of having a unconnected visitor make a visit and learning from it is still a good goal. Hospitality doesn't happen on its own. Chris Walker http://www.evangelismcoach.org

John	Posted: December 23, 2008 3:24 PM


www.ExposingChristianity.com The pen is mightier than the sword. - Everything in Christianity has been stolen from religions predating it by hundreds to thousands of years.

Bruce Wrenn

Posted: December 23, 2008 10:46 AM

Please allow me to suggest a different perspective on this topic. Some marketing theorists have maintained that the goal of marketing is to "remove barriers to exchange". That is, to eliminate those obstacles that would keep someone from giving you something they have that you value in exchange for something that you have that they value. The Church Check service may or may not be of use in helping you remove barriers to an exchange, but searching for things that can get in the way of congregates receiving the blessings they seek from a corporate worship experience is not inherently a bad thing. Making our sanctuaries wheelchair accessible is one obvious way we have removed barriers to exchange, but maybe there are other less obvious things we could do too. Creating an environment conducive to worship without distractions could be consistent with many of the posters' goals. Anything we can do to that end is helping to build up the body of Christ.

Kevin

Posted: December 23, 2008 5:33 AM

Let's face it...whatever your denomination, ministerial fellowship or association, the only real gauge that a church is deemed "successful" by is numbers. If you don't have the right numbers (people, dollars, programs, etc.) you aren't successful in today's church culture. So it is no wonder so much attention is given to the "creature comforts" in the typical U.S. church. Hospitality is very important. Sadly though, we tend to think about the hospitality towards visitors above being hospitable to the honored guest--Jesus Christ. "Behold I stand at the door an knock..."

Redfox

Posted: December 22, 2008 9:48 AM

Reality check - we gave up on 'real' Christianity in the fourth Century. Almost every church uses a variety of cheap gimmicks (cheesy slogans, bumper stickers and temporary signposts) to gather the 'faithful'. Websites, advertising and efforts to draw in the Christianized are all merely versions of secular techniques borrowed by the church. The Christian faith is shrinking quickly in most western nations (Europe and the UK as well as the US), so let's be honest - we are not suceeding at the command to 'make disciples', at least not in the west. Perhaps asking unbelievers how they perceive our church would give us a better handle on what would be most succesful at keeping them in the community long enough for relationships to begin to form. No one debating this doubts that only Christ can bring the lasting 'new creation' in sinful mankind - but, primarily He works through His body the Church. The Church has long been a servant to secular techniques and methods - almost everywhere.

H. D. Schmidt

Posted: December 20, 2008 7:37 PM

American Christianity in general has fallen pray to Satan's scheme of loving money more than to love millions upon millions, now as reported over a billion of hungry people the world over, as even Communist China is considerated in reality a Godsend, so more toys and cheap stuff has to fill more and more personal storage places springing up all over America, right? America even spends now more than 40 billions on its dogs and pets. Over 4-5 billions in celebrating that Holloween so satanic festivity. And so on and on while pulpits by and large in America, no matter basically the Denomination, the sermons tend more and more, the entertaining type, while even erecting huge Studio like Churches with music and with ever so costly instruments to also entertain a sick and hungry world outhere, and doing so claiming to speak for Jesus himself, as the only hope. Yes, he is the only eternal hope, while his mandate was to bring hope with food and medicine while waiting for the final event!

Glenn

Posted: December 20, 2008 10:59 AM

This is indeed frightening. If all we are doing is playing to the least common denominator (or the most common denomination?), then we are simply speaking what their itching ears want to hear. If the "guest" who enters our doors never hears of sin or repentance or redemption, then that is a sorry church indeed, regardless of what the marketing gurus may tell us. I honestly feel we must pray for those churches who feel they need this "service" to keep their churches strong. Let us bring their needs to the Almighty God, so that He can work the kind of Spirit-fueled healing only He can do.

+Joseph Thaddeus, SSJt., Ph.D.

Posted: December 20, 2008 7:19 AM

Obviously the root, ground and base of all things truly CHRISTIAN is abandoned for Synchrestic ecumenism which adopts a man-made type of christianity (little "c") when Jesus actually chased the money changers out of His Father's House (the temple is the "Church") of today... but Jesus would disagree with your financial flow-chart mentality because "Worship" has become an "entertainment" mentality.

Jeff Ward (Registered User)

Posted: December 19, 2008 4:35 PM

I agree 100% with all that you say, except for one idea implicit throughout your article. You seem to make business and ministry as antagonists, rather than as partners, as if business is antithetical to ministry. I think this is mistaken, and somewhat akin to saying that science is opposed to religion. It is, I think, more true to say, certainly more accurate to say, that when churches make man the center of its focus, then it ceases to make God the center of focus. Business and ministry are not antithetical, what is antithetical is focusing on man, when we should be focusing on God. Sharing the Gospel is engaging in marketing, we are marketing the good news. However, we cease to share the Gospel when we make man the focus and not God, because we begin to change the message. We begin to market news that people want to hear, rather than marketing what God would have us market. American churches market to man, when we should be marketing FOR God, sharing His message, not man's.

David Helmick

Posted: December 19, 2008 3:25 PM


Very sad state of affairs!! We trade the Truth that changes lives for cheap marketing gimmicks!!! God forgive us!

Larry Witzel

Posted: December 19, 2008 1:19 PM

Let's be clear about something. This is a secular marketing company trying to "break in" to the "church market" without having any understanding of what church is really about. Secular marketing has no role in the church, because secular marketing is all about economic transactions. You simply can't shoehorn Kingdom activities into the secular marketing framework, because God and money cannot share the throne. However, many secular marketing practices are adapted from biblical principles, and I believe it is appropriate to look for ways to redeem those practices for the local church. Trying to get into the shoes of a guest and seeing your church experience from that perspective is a healthy exercise. I regularly visit other churches to do just that, because that helps me experience the "newness" and remind me of what to look for in my own church.

Paul Wilkinson

Posted: December 19, 2008 11:27 AM

As a taxpayer in a small town, I get real upset when money is spent needlessly on consultant studies. That's what you're dealing with here; hiring outside consultants to tell you something you can find out for free by (a) bringing a visitor and thereby seeing your service through their eyes, or (b) going to one of the websites [Churchrater, Ship of Fools] where they do this sort of thing for sport instead of profit. I also have strong feelings about churches constantly taking surveys or having their own people sitting with clipboards critiquing the service. It shows both personal and spiritual insecurity. It also leads to the "paralysis of analysis." On the other hand, as a Christian bookstore owner, I often read the "Mystery Shopper" articles in one of the trade magazines. I can learn valuable lessons from how others react to various environments. But when it comes to church on Sunday, I can't imagine the early church hiring these guys... or even having a suggestion box!

Arkady N.

Posted: December 19, 2008 11:19 AM


"the other one states, we'd better wait until we do a little market research...well, I'm sayin no-way!" Full credit to the Newsboys~Not Ashamed... Shame on any church that gets sucked into this ridiculous ploy! I NEVER thought I would see the Secret Shopper concept get morphed into Secret Worshipper...unbelievable.

Sherri

Posted: December 19, 2008 8:27 AM


The church must teach the word of God as absolute truth, and if it does, it will prosper. The problem with many churches today is that they are too concerned about offending people. They are worried about losing financial support. Again, if the church sticks to the word of God, He will take care of the rest.

Mike	Posted: December 19, 2008 8:13 AM

The thought that we need a service like this really does make me sick to my stomach, and it does say a lot about the state of affairs in our churches today. I am a youth pastor in a small presbyterian church who doesn't have many visitors, but would love it if there were more. We are a close little community who don't always get it right when visitors come, but we try. I think that one of the biggest problem that is facing our churches right now is selfishness or self-centeredness, and that was alluded to in the article. We go to church as consumers, asking what we can get out of it instead of coming to church ready to give of ourselves to God and to others. If we come like Jesus, ready to serve rather be served, than this professional service they are advertising would never be needed. And as a response to Pres Nowlin, the author didn't say that close community churches have it all together. There's no such church. But a close community should be the goal.

MP	Posted: December 19, 2008 8:00 AM

Well done, Mark. What I find so troubling is that many pastors have neither the theological or moral wisdom to discern as you have. Your comments are deeply informed by the faith and life of One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. But the contemporary church (with the times) no longer is able to see things from this larger and longer perspective. This is just another manifiestation of self promotion, which, ironically, produces an "invisible" church, as the Body of Christ in the world. I have read about such services. Its hard to imagine a person being truly converted, or led to a substantive "change of mind" (repentance) in any way when the primary focus is on the bathrooms, the lighting, parking, etc. Of course these things matter, but they do not constitute the church as Body of Christ. One wonders how trivial we have to become in North America for God to awaken us.

Bruce Bader

Posted: December 19, 2008 8:00 AM

The Christian Church is an organism, the body of Christ, not an organization. So if we replace Biblical directives (for example preaching both when popular and not popular) with business tools (for example designing worship to meet the marketplace's felt needs) we are acting more like an organization than and organism. Business tools can be useful but must never be what we lead with in our ministry. This applies to management tools as well as marketing tools. For example I have a personal mission statement which is a business tool and I am a person, an organism so to speak. Unlike an organization which is controlled by a mission statement I am the person who owns and can over rule the mission statement when I need to do that.

Doug Knox

Posted: December 19, 2008 7:26 AM

Jude’s warning, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who...deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4), takes on ironic portent as churches themselves invite them into their midst. What happened to the biblical gospel whose stand on authority was both counterintuitive and antithetical to the culture around it? Two examples from Paul’s writing illustrate the point. To the Thessalonians he wrote, “And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Spirit” (I Thessalonians 1:6, NKJV). The autobiographically related call in Philippians is like it. “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things....Brethren, join in following my example...: (Philippians 3:8a, 17). If we have to resort to marketing technique, we’ve abandoned that gospel of grace. Thank you, Mr. Galli, for an excellent analysis.

Deb	Posted: December 19, 2008 6:19 AM


Well, this is one way to get poliytal correctness into our churches as well as it has been instilled in our school system.

Augustine Umukoro

Posted: December 19, 2008 4:25 AM

At anytime when Jesus is not the focus, at anytime when the authority of the whole Bible is called into question, at anytime when "carnal mindedness" find its place in our "reason-laden" generation, anything is possible. There is still one way to God and the Door is wide open, the hands of God are wide open and His consumate will for all to be saved is no secret. Reinhard Bonnke once said " if we do what the apostles did we will see what they saw." In this case we will not need professionals to evaluate our church- a complete prerogative of Jesus who we see in the first two chapters of Revelation evaluating His Church, His Body and the very groud and pillar of truth.

Mark Salmon

Posted: December 19, 2008 3:43 AM

As a reader from the UK in our diocese we have an advisor on evangelism & mission who will send trained evangelists & mission worker as Mystery worshippers, to assess how good we are at welcoming individuals, but there is no money involved, merely a passion for getting our witness & worship to be as accessible as possible. With many UK churches stuck in maintenance mode it's a useful tool to help focus the gaze of the congregation outwards! There is also a "Mystery worshipper" section of the "Ship of Fools" website which does random Church checks but not in an organised way, still, they make an interesting read!

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