Marketing the Gospel?

I recently came under fire for suggesting that a local church focus on their target market. I am not sure if my sin was applying business language to a spiritual concept, or the pre-supposition that I was somehow excluding people from the gospel message. Below you will find three reasons why I make no apology for a focused approach to evangelism.

1. The early church used target marketing. The gospel went first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. Paul was called as an apostle to a specific, targeted group (the Gentiles). Even early evangelists went to the synagogues to preach (i.e. they took their message to areas where their target audience regularly attended).
2. Targeting a sector of a community (any community) is not an effort to exclude, but to practice effective ministry. We have programs in every church that target specific segments of the community. Marriage classes exclude singles, financial management classes typically appeal to those with money management issues, even in our church families we have singles programs, youth programs, classes divided by age and interest. All of this so we can practice effective ministry. Why, when we apply the same approach to the community is it anathama.
3. Finally, knowing our target audience allows us to more effectively present the gospel message. Take a few minutes and contrast the two sermons in the book of Acts. In Acts 2, the message is being preached to a Jewish audeince. The old law, prophets and writings are used to lead people to Christ. In Acts 17 Paul is preaching to a very different, pagan audience and addresses their false polytheistic view of God, quotes thier own Greek poets, but his objective is the same, to lead people to Christ.

I am not sure why people get a bee in their bonnet when you talk about marketing in a church context. We all do it at some level. I am confident that the motives of most are pure - spread the saving gospel of Christ. I would even suggest that Christian stewardship demands that we pursue the most effective, practical, biblical approaches to bringing souls to Christ.

Back to Basics

Like most people involved in ministry, I try to read the right books, stay on top of the latest technology and be on the cutting edge of of new trends. With all the research, ideologies and methodologies that are available, it amazes me how often the most effect concepts can be find in basic principles we all know. Allow me to share a few:

1. Love one another. It was Jesus who reminded us, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). People may not understand all the tenants of the Bible, they may struggle with their perceptions of God, creation, and even moral standards, but one thing they can identify with right off the bat is a loving community. When people know they are loved, then we can teach them, lead them and guide them in their understanding and relationship with God.

2. Do Something. I have seen so many congregations crippled by their inability to act. "We tried that before," or "that won't work in this this congregation," keeps members from doing anything productive. I don't recall who said it, but the quote goes something like this: "Those who never make any mistakes, never make anything." Jesus understood this when he said, "We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day: night is coming, when no one can work" (John 9:4).

3. Watch your tongue. The tongue is crippling in a congregation. It is the single most powerful force for good - or evil. James calls the tongue, "a fire, a world of iniquity" (James 3:6). I recall a situation where I was visiting a congregation in Texas. I was fashioned in all my sartorial splendor, when a good sister came up and said, "You must be a visitor because no one wears a suit around here." Now I was able to laugh it off - but imagine making a visitor feel unwelcome because of what they wear.

All of these things are basic truths we should all know. What a diffrence it makes when we take the time to remember the basics.

The Great Experiment

Democracy is often called the great experiment. Some very learned men took the best of ancient and modern political systems and tried to build on a foundation of morality and Christian principles to build "one nation under God."

When I look back at the early work of the Spring Meadows Church of Christ, I see some similarities. I wouldn't venture to say that those of us involved had the wisdom or education that many of our founding fathers had, but it was a great experiment in this regard. There were decades of "church experiences," that played a role in what we tried to accomplish at Spring Meadows. Most of us had experienced periods of wonderful congregational growth and the tragedy of division and discouragement. We took those experiences into consideration as we planned.

As we drafted our by-laws, talked about our services and prayed about reaching the community of Spring Hill with the gospel of Christ, we were very intentional in the things that we did. Most of us understood that every step we took set a precident for the future. We did not want to establish human laws that were irrevocable and we wanted to insure that we preached the whole counsel of God. To date our experiment seems to be a success. I do however have some questions I would like your help with:

1) Can you take the lessons learned in a new church plant and implement them in an existing congregation? (i.e. How do you bring about positive change in a struggling work?)
2) As we grow, how do we avoid falling into unproductive patterns?

I believe that most works (new or established) have two fundemental challenges: 1) Not allowing standard practices to become unchangable traditions; 2) In an effort to stay fresh, not chasing every new trend and philosophy that comes down the pike. That takes deliberate prayer and planning. I am not sure what all the answers are, but I would love to hear from the readers about how to bring energy and enthusiasm into an existing work that is struggling and how to keep a good work on track.

A couple of quick items:
1) Please forward this blog to others for response.
2) Please leave your thoughts on the blog for others to see, or if you prefer for them not to be public, please send them to me at trent.wheeler@charter.net

Five Critical Mistakes of Church Planting

Planting new congregation's of the Lord's church is a labor of love. For many it can start with great ambition and vision, but when it comes down to implementing your vision, mission and values it is real work. That is one reason I believe that the term "church plant" is appropriate. You have to prepare the soil, plant the seed, nourish the young plant and consistently work the soil if you wish to reap a harvest.

In my 25+ years of ministry I have been involved in several new church plants in the U.S. and overseas as well as working with revitalizing struggling congregations. During that time I have made more than a few mistakes and watched as others make their share. Here are five critical mistakes that mission teams make in trying to plant new churches. These are in no way comprehensive, but I believe they are a pretty good start.

1. Lack of adequate planning. Too often most of the planning centers on two objectives: 1) Finding a place to meet; 2) What will our worship service look like? Those who wish to expand the kingdom and plant new churches need to consider how they will minister to the church and community, where the necessary finances will come from, what will the culture be within the family and what is their vision for ministry and evangelism?

2. Copying the efforts of others. It is a good idea to study successful church plants, but it is a mistake to copy their formula verbatim. Ministry and evangelism has a cultural component. I am not suggesting that we change the gospel, but that we build our ministry around the needs of the congregation and community (contextual ministry). Each new congregation needs to research the needs of their community and their approach to evangelism within that context.

3. Failing to be flexible. During the planning stages congregations write mission and vision statements, plan their outreach and ministry programs, define their times and methods of worship only to discover some of their initial efforts don't work. Don't be afraid to make changes. I have worked with congregations where we changed our mid-week service to Tuesday night, held workshops in community centers (rather than at the church building), and failed miserably in our initial evangelism efforts, only to improve the process over time.

4. Installing formal leadership hastily. To take a phrase from Jim Collins in his wonderful book, Good to Great; "you need to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus." While there is a place for everyone to serve in the Kingdom (I Cor. 12, Rom. 12), putting the wrong people in leadership can destroy a church plant (or any congregation). At the Spring Meadows congregation we spent months discussing the "how to's" of installing leadership before we ever established the congregation. So far God has rewarded our efforts with godly shepherds and faithful servants.

5. Under-estimating God. One of the memorable lines in our current work came from one of our elders. After nearly doubling a contribution goal we set one Sunday our good brother said, "We are not very good at goal setting." We must always remember that God is in control, that God must recieve the glory and that our efforts are to expand HIS Kingdom. Paul reminds us that "He is able to do immeasureably more than we can ask or imagine, throught the power that works in us" (Ephesians 3:20).

What are some of the mistakes you have seen in planting new churches?