Tuesday, January 27, 2009
On Denominations - Precisely The Wrong Approach
MMI links to a post on congregations hiding their denominational affiliations.
Now, the idea of church expanding its offerings is, in my opinion a fine one. As culture has left church behind as an expectation, rather than reach out, church has relied on para-church. To pull para-church into the fold is a good thing, but it is still going to be a different division. Pepsi may have bought Gatorade, but there is still a bunch of people working very hard to make and sell Pepsi. They did not turn Pepsi into Gatorade.
That's the problem here, most churches in the effort to expand the offering do not add, they mutate. They turn the Sunday morning worship into the Sunday morning evangelism meeting; they quit offering Sunday School and start offering Bible study - they ought to be offering both. If nobody participates in the "old school" then it seems clear to me there is a breakdown somewhere. If people want to stay at the evangelism meeting and never advance to the worship service then we are not doing what need to be done to advance people in their faith.
Hence the first break down in this discussion.
Second concern - church is not about taste, it's about truth. People's taste does in fact change all the time, truth does not. One cannot change the marketing approach without changing the product. It just does not work that way. Marketing, in a real sense, defines a product. Hence when we market evangelism meetings we get evangelism meetings.
Now, what does all this have to do with denominations? This guy wants to contend that they are brands, or something analogous. They are anything but - they are theological traditions and accountability structures - they make us part of something larger than ourselves.
If there is anything the church needs to teach today it is that we are a part of something larger than ourselves, not label, a thing.
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Granger is just one among many churches in our connection that don't emphasize (or even outright avoid) the United Methodist name, logos and branding in their church identity and marketing.OK, he apologizes, but keeps right on going, which seriously questions the sincerity of the apology, but let's look at this thing for a minute.
[...]
So how have the big cola companies dealt with their flagship brands falling out of favor? They've developed new soft drink brands, including sports drinks and bottled water. Pepsi and Coke have broadened their corporate focus from a single brand of cola to multiple beverage brands. In our denomination, our "product" is ultimately not the United Methodist Church, it's the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Please forgive me for these marketing analogies. I understand that Jesus isn't a consumable product or brand name.) If Pepsi and Coke had gone into "protection mode" years ago when they were losing sales to specialty beverages and sports drinks, that would have been an unwise move, and soft drink sales surely would've continued to decline. Instead, Pepsi and Coke developed their own "competing" brands and products. They adapted to market conditions.Today Gatorade is owned by Pepsi, and Coke has its own Powerade sports drink.
Now, the idea of church expanding its offerings is, in my opinion a fine one. As culture has left church behind as an expectation, rather than reach out, church has relied on para-church. To pull para-church into the fold is a good thing, but it is still going to be a different division. Pepsi may have bought Gatorade, but there is still a bunch of people working very hard to make and sell Pepsi. They did not turn Pepsi into Gatorade.
That's the problem here, most churches in the effort to expand the offering do not add, they mutate. They turn the Sunday morning worship into the Sunday morning evangelism meeting; they quit offering Sunday School and start offering Bible study - they ought to be offering both. If nobody participates in the "old school" then it seems clear to me there is a breakdown somewhere. If people want to stay at the evangelism meeting and never advance to the worship service then we are not doing what need to be done to advance people in their faith.
Hence the first break down in this discussion.
Second concern - church is not about taste, it's about truth. People's taste does in fact change all the time, truth does not. One cannot change the marketing approach without changing the product. It just does not work that way. Marketing, in a real sense, defines a product. Hence when we market evangelism meetings we get evangelism meetings.
Now, what does all this have to do with denominations? This guy wants to contend that they are brands, or something analogous. They are anything but - they are theological traditions and accountability structures - they make us part of something larger than ourselves.
If there is anything the church needs to teach today it is that we are a part of something larger than ourselves, not label, a thing.
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