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Nonetheless, some dissonance remained for me. I was not willing to turn
church over to marketing department—denominational, local or parachurch. Something smelled wrong about it, but what was it?
Then it came to me in a flash.
Church members (or visitors) are not customers to church, any more than family members (or children) are customers to their respective families. The church is not a business, it's a family. Now, that does not mean that business and marketing principles cannot be successfully and effectively applied to churches. They can! But how they are applied makes all difference in world. There is nothing wrong with name tags and signage, parking and accessibility, friendliness and follow-up in and of themselves. Nor is there anything wrong with new church music.
However, church is a service organization, not a sales organization. The purpose of church is not to serve its members, but to serve Lord Jesus Christ. Members are not to be objects of service, but vehicles of service. The difference involves a shift in philosophical or theological perspective.
If old adage that "customer is always right" is true, then church members cannot be customers, nor can church visitors be construed as customers. Rather, God is only customer of church. God is only Person who is always right. And God is One to receive service, whether it's a worship service, a prayer service or service to community. It is done for Lord, not primarily or directly for His people. We are to satisfy God, not ourselves or our church visitors.
This insight about church practice comes from study of Bible and its use and interpretation through centuries. The traditional understanding of church practice was that church is to be God-centered, not people-centered. God is object of our service, not ourselves or each other—nor even wider community.
With that fundamental insight application of marketing or business principles can indeed be applied to activities and practices of churches. But such application must always take a back seat to prior concerns of God's Word, historically understood and practiced.
In fact, concern for church history is essentially a business marketing principle itself. Businesses keep records, and reports are made from those records. Any business worth its salt will know how it has performed in past, so that it can endeavor to make improvements. And no business will simply abandon its past practices, but will only make well-planned, small, incremental adjustments to its activity or practice. History is a key element for business success, and is an essential element of Christianity.
The essential insight is that worship and life of church are not to be centered around needs of its members, visitors, or wider community, but around service to God as defined in Bible. The people who attend worship are not themselves to be served. Rather, we worship as a service to God, just as we pray as a service to God, and reach out to a lost world in service of God.
However, bulk of Church Growth Movement and its materials do not reflect this perspective. Rather, Church Growth Movement has succumbed to marketing creep. Secular Marketing principles and practices now dominate Church Growth Movement, and have eclipsed biblical call to faithfulness. Faithfulness, not broad community appeal, is highest priority of Christians and their churches.
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Phillip A. Ross has more than twenty years of Christian ministry leadership, extensive experience in administration, conflict resolution, writing, design, marketing, public speaking, has been a business owner for several years, and is an author of several books.
