Even the Divine Needs Marketing

Organized religion has been concerned about declining membership and attendance (and a growing indication that spirituality isn't necessarily connected to religion in recent research).  As with so many things, the issues related to the relevance of the "product" to its markets and an ability to connect with them.

Looking back in history, the church had a powerful and unique selling proposition:  the church was the only path to paradise and, on the flip side, without the church there was a risk of eternal damnation.  While compelling, this isn't the most appealing position in an increasingly secular society that doesn't see that "the wages of sin is death."  Compounding this, the mainline churches have focused on issues such as social justice, equality, community, and feel-good psychology that, while noble, are not the exclusive domain of the church.

Compounding the problem even further is the tendency of the mainline churches to communicate and operate in ways that are out of step with contemporary society.  I'm not at all suggesting that churches change their beliefs (be not conformed to this world is a tenet of Christianity).  What I am suggesting is that the church understand how to market itself in a changing world.

One element of this is, simply, quality.  So much of what churches do is simply abysmal in terms of quality.  I was recently at a church conference in which the video presentations were completely amateurish.  And the programming at the conference was poorly planned and, frankly, boring.  This, in a world of high quality you tube videos and slick presentations at conferences. 

It also seems that the church hasn't discovered the tectonic changes in society.  At this same conference, there was much discussion about going out into the neighborhood - into the "community" - to market to people.  That might have worked when communities were homogenous.  In the distant past, like minded people from similar ethnic groups settled in defined neighborhoods - and the church was a central point of connection.  In today's eclectic and diverse neighborhoods, it doesn't seem likely that one can find a common thread to attract people.  Instead, with the internet, it is far more likely to find a "community" of like minded people with similar interests across a wide spectrum of geography.  When these communities are found and identified, the church then needs to determine how to inject its differentiating benefit ("the gospel" if you will) so that it has a unique claim to the interests of the community - which can't be duplicated by a secular alternative. 

There are many more examples that indicate the mainline churches think they are immune from the realities of marketing.  

It is sad to see established religion decline not because it isn't relevant - but because it hasn't discovered how to communicate its relevance effectively.