Tyler Wigg-Stevenson writes about Market-Driven Evangelism and in this Christianity Today Article (available here), he poses the question whether we can change the medium of communication, i.e. adopt marketing techniques, without affecting the message of the Gospel. He puts forward that marketing is not a values-neutral language but rather it is the vernacular of a consumerist society. He goes on to say that evangelism should be a simple and earnest re-telling of what God has done in the lives of His people, backed up by the Community of Faith - the Church.
He lists four key areas where the market-driven evangelism conflicts with the Christian Life; they are as summarised below:
1. "I am what I buy" vs. the Lordship of Christ;
- Market-driven techniques creates spiritual consumers which focus on on how Christianity would fulfilled their own vision of themselves and this will inhibit the growth of a God-centred, neighbour-focused disciple.
2. Discontent vs. the Sufficiency of Christ.
- Market-driven techniques also which create consumers discontent. This carries two pitfalls - First, our perpetual quest for comfort and happiness-inducing products actually kills any chance of satisfying our wants. Second, we cannot handle discomfort any better. Consumer discontent runs contrary to our leaning to need less and less to be content. We are to be satisfied in one thing - God!
3. Brand relativism vs. the supremacy of Christ.
- Market-driven techniques lead to loyalty to a brand. Genuinely passionate faith is rooted in recognizing who Christ actually is. Brand zealotry, by contrast, is self-centered, because the supposed superiority of one brand over another depends on the brand devotee's enthusiasm.
4. Fragmentation vs. unity in Christ
- The success of Market-driven techniques depends niche segmentation. This creates problems for the church where Christian unity is a biblical value. Niche segmentation will result in two unacceptable outcomes: utterly homogenous churches representing consumer-based "clusters," and homogenous groupings within larger churches.
The way forward is then to remember the true nature of the Church and to live faithful to it.
I thought that this is a fair commentary and critique of the Market Driven Strategies that are inevitably or sometimes deliberately employed as we "do" church. I had often struggled with some of them and had thought too, that these strategies are often not values neutral - that the means sometimes employed obscure at best, and distract and confuse at worst, the message of the Gospel. It again reminded me of the need to both study and understand the Word first and foremost, and to study and understand the culture we find ourselves in.
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Grace and Peace
Ollie
Jan 2009
He lists four key areas where the market-driven evangelism conflicts with the Christian Life; they are as summarised below:
1. "I am what I buy" vs. the Lordship of Christ;
- Market-driven techniques creates spiritual consumers which focus on on how Christianity would fulfilled their own vision of themselves and this will inhibit the growth of a God-centred, neighbour-focused disciple.
2. Discontent vs. the Sufficiency of Christ.
- Market-driven techniques also which create consumers discontent. This carries two pitfalls - First, our perpetual quest for comfort and happiness-inducing products actually kills any chance of satisfying our wants. Second, we cannot handle discomfort any better. Consumer discontent runs contrary to our leaning to need less and less to be content. We are to be satisfied in one thing - God!3. Brand relativism vs. the supremacy of Christ.
- Market-driven techniques lead to loyalty to a brand. Genuinely passionate faith is rooted in recognizing who Christ actually is. Brand zealotry, by contrast, is self-centered, because the supposed superiority of one brand over another depends on the brand devotee's enthusiasm.
4. Fragmentation vs. unity in Christ
- The success of Market-driven techniques depends niche segmentation. This creates problems for the church where Christian unity is a biblical value. Niche segmentation will result in two unacceptable outcomes: utterly homogenous churches representing consumer-based "clusters," and homogenous groupings within larger churches.
The way forward is then to remember the true nature of the Church and to live faithful to it.
I thought that this is a fair commentary and critique of the Market Driven Strategies that are inevitably or sometimes deliberately employed as we "do" church. I had often struggled with some of them and had thought too, that these strategies are often not values neutral - that the means sometimes employed obscure at best, and distract and confuse at worst, the message of the Gospel. It again reminded me of the need to both study and understand the Word first and foremost, and to study and understand the culture we find ourselves in.
-----
Grace and Peace
Ollie
Jan 2009
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