Church Branding

“...many churches are eager to adopt curricula or programming that has a certain seal of approval on it from a prominent megachurch or parachurch organization.  Christian publishers now see their marquee authors as brand entities; big-name authors are not just people or personalities - they’re brands, complete with brand managers who leverage the brands with ancillary products and extensions.”
This book is a great read and I recommend it to anyone who is part of any church.  Basically if you are American and go to church I think this book would be of value to you.  It's very readable.  Hsu is a wonderful writer.
Church marketing is big business.  Does that make a church a big business?  Are most churches done with innovation?  Are we just taking teaching from other places and making it our own?  Why would churches need to hire pastors or train Sunday school teachers if they just regurgitate information from larger (more successful) churches?
What's the goal of the church?  Is to have a lot of people show up for it's weekly programming?  Did Jesus ever talk about the church?  Is the church mentioned in the Bible?  What is a successful church in the Bible?  Does the teaching of the churches in Revelation have anything to do with the church today in America?
Absolutely.
Is a church only about spreading a message?  hmmm....



Comments

Joe said…
Like most things in the church world, the church has gone to the extreme. We focus on hype rather than truth, we are concerned about numbers more than people and we measure growth in bodies not souls. I see a real "trend" of going back to basics -- a focus on people connecting with a Savior - a desire to grow, learn and become even more of who our Heavenly Father desires us to be and become even more of what the Church is supposed to be! Keep on thinking through what needs to happen to help people on their life-long journey to Heaven.
November 4, 2009 at 8:30 AM
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