Church Marketing

"Big Enough to Serve You, Small Enough to Care"

A local church's radio ad invites people to attend their worship service because their church is "big enough to serve you, small enough to care." Whether or not a church should "advertise" in the first place is a matter of a more thorough discussion, but the above slogan caught my attention because of the way that it sounds like some sort of service is being offered or sold. A quick Google on the matter, and you'll find several businesses with the same slogan:

Acres Power Equipment Company
Manry Rawls HR
Marquise Equipment Leasing
D. B. Withrow Painting Co.

Okay, even if you haven't thought through what the church is supposed to be, surely some alarms go off in your head when a church is advertising with the same slogan as equipment, painting, and HR companies. Truth be told, too many churches see themselves precisely in this light - as some sort of community service organization that needs to promote its 'services' to be successful.

Being salt and light in this world is one thing, but when the church loses the biblical understanding that it is the body of Christ, made up of believers who gather to worship and minister together, the church has ceased to exist. Just because a group of people gather weekly and call themselves a church does not mean that they really are. While the church in question may in reality be the most biblically-grounded body of believers that have just succumbed to a questionable marketing tactic, there are a 103 more out there in this city trying everything they can to promote themselves as an attractive group to join.