Leadership Journal

Church growth experts brought marketing techniques into church life almost two decades ago. First they aimed at boomers. Now it's Generation X. Some highly successful churches have shown that targeting age groups can work. But should it be the norm?

Yes,
So That All
May Know
James Emery White
The Chevy Nova was a good seller. Encouraged by their success in the U. S., Chevrolet began to market the car throughout the world. In Mexico and other Latin American countries, the Nova bombed. Additional ads were ordered, marketing efforts were stepped up, but sales remained stagnant. Sales directors were baffled.

Why wasn't it selling? The answer was embarrassing: in Spanish, Nova means no go.

The business world is full of such stories. Perdue Farms converted its popular slogan, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," into Spanish in hopes of expanding its chicken business. The results were less than desirable. Why? The translation came out, "It takes a virile man to make a chicken affectionate."

Not exactly what Frank Perdue had in mind.

Unless we spend time thinking about who we are trying to reach, and then target our efforts accordingly, we will not be successful in accomplishing the Great Commission.

Targeting is at the heart of New Testament evangelism. When Jesus encountered the woman at the well, he started talking about water; with fisherman Peter, his subject was fishing; with the tax collector, money. Clearly, Jesus adapted his message of God's saving grace to the context of his listeners.

Paul shared this approach, writing that he became "all things to all men so that by all possible means" he "might save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). The New Testament shows that the message of the gospel is unchanging; but the method of communicating changes to fit the audience.

Targeting is effective. No single church can possibly reach out with equal success to every conceivable person. The church becomes more effective as it clearly defines who it's trying to reach. No wonder that, from the first century, it has seemed to please the Holy Spirit to birth a wide variety of churches in order to reach a wide variety of people.

Targeting is a missiological issue. Every church finds itself in a unique context, a unique mission field. A spirit of exclusivity, or separation on the basis of prejudice, should be deplored. But this is different from acknowledging the people God has uniquely gifted, impassioned, and positioned you to reach.

Targeting is not the refusal to take the gospel to the whole world. Nor is it ignoring the diverse range of generations within the church. Instead, it is acknowledging the characteristics of the place where your church resides and developing your outreach accordingly. As a Texas pastor said to me, "We target baby boomers because that is Plano. To neglect targeting this group would be to deny the reality of our mission field."

A wonderful model for incorporating such insights can be found in the ministry ...