Last Sunday, Pastor Jeff gave a sermon based upon a passage from 1 Corinthians 12:12-20... about the parts of the body as a metaphor for the different people that make up the church. This raised a question in my mind..."If we are intended to be a diverse body of believers, why are so many churches focused on niche marketing themselves to a few small segments of their community?" Rather, wouldn’t a more faithful idea be to be a church for the whole community? Is niche marketing Missional thinking?
As Pastor Jeff pointed out, many businesses make a great living off of marketing to a niche...but is that the role of the Church? Sure it makes it easier to pick one or two demographics and offer programs, music, etc. to serve those needs, but is that what God intended? These days, it seems like the Church is the only place where people of multiple generations and different socio-economic backgrounds intermix on a regular basis.
Over the past several years, I have stood in front of thousands of ministry leaders and proclaimed the wonder of demographics and their use in understanding the nature of a community. Is there a difference between programming based upon the demographics, ethnographics, sociographics, etc. of a community…and niche marketing? I believe that there is.
I believe that a faithful church is a community of believers who are dedicated to serving the community around them, who ever they are at any given point in time. This church does not plan ministries, simply because these ministries seem to work for some other church. This church is ALWAYS looking at how they can reach out in new ways – according to who God has brought into their midst. Much like Pauls visit to the Greeks in Acts. Paul took his time to see who was around him, then presented the Gospel in a way that made sense…and got heard.
On the flip side, I have seen many churches that simply pick a demographic and run with it…forever and ever, amen… this is niche marketing. Over time, perhaps many years, as the community changes, these churches will likely find themselves out of touch and marginalized.
So… niche marketing, bad…. Missional marketing, good. (perhaps that is a cheesy plug for my 9 to 5… but it just came out that way.)
I think this blog is going to be a good place to store reflections… and once in a while, someone may read it.
Peace…
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