Does Your Movement Slap People?
by Tyler Zach
How can our movements be more relevant to people at all spiritual levels?
Richard Reising says in his book Church Marketing 101, “…oftentimes we do something to a client that is the equivalent to a slap in the face and that when it happens, the client forgets everything else – even the good that happened before the slap.”
We have to realize that we slap people without even knowing it. After taking some Catholic students to a Christmas conference, they felt slapped after experiencing some amazing (from my perspective) worship with drums, electric guitars, and the whole works. Why? Because it was foreign to them. Whether or not worshiping with rock instruments is OK with God is not the point. The point is that they got slapped and everything they had experienced up until then was forgotten.
A few days ago I got the chance to speak to a campus Greek adviser. She had just graduated from another campus that I’m working on. I asked her what her perception was of the main Christian organization there. She told me that if a student wasn’t willing to shout about their faith from a mountaintop, then they wouldn’t feel comfortable there. I know the leader of this organization personally and I know that what she said is distorted. But, the fact remains that many students on that campus feel slapped because of that perception.
Things might look good when you are standing at the door – looking in at all the Christians who are attending your meetings and going to small groups. But the bottom line at the end of the day is how we come across to the person in the seat or the person outside of the room. What does the campus think of us? In my mind, it does matter - since we are Christians who carry the name of Jesus.
Does the perception of your movement hallow Jesus' name? Or does it hollow His name because you've become irrelevant to the campus?
“Paul encourages the Corinthians to pursue certain spiritual gifts over others as it was important that if ‘there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?’ (1 Cor. 14:23). Paul was once again concerned about what the visitor will think. …’Let all things be done decently and in order’ (1 Cor. 14:40), was an attempt to keep visitors from getting emotionally slapped in the face with something that made no sense to them.” – Church Marketing 101 (pg 117)
The temptation is to gear our meetings towards the mature Christians and not the lost. Why? Because the mature Christians are paying more for their seats. For most movements, they make up the majority of the seats as well as run the show. The mature Christians desire spiritual meat, not milk. So the temptation is to plan a meeting that meets their needs the best. But, this goes against our mission of reaching the lost.
One of the most common concerns, according to the book, is that most Christians think that making our movements lost-centered will require watering down the message. But, a strong movement or church must have a ministry that is focused on both the lost and the mature. You just have to remember to pass out milk and meat in the same meeting. And the most important thing you can do is hand out the milk first!
*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101
How can our movements be more relevant to people at all spiritual levels?
Richard Reising says in his book Church Marketing 101, “…oftentimes we do something to a client that is the equivalent to a slap in the face and that when it happens, the client forgets everything else – even the good that happened before the slap.”
We have to realize that we slap people without even knowing it. After taking some Catholic students to a Christmas conference, they felt slapped after experiencing some amazing (from my perspective) worship with drums, electric guitars, and the whole works. Why? Because it was foreign to them. Whether or not worshiping with rock instruments is OK with God is not the point. The point is that they got slapped and everything they had experienced up until then was forgotten.A few days ago I got the chance to speak to a campus Greek adviser. She had just graduated from another campus that I’m working on. I asked her what her perception was of the main Christian organization there. She told me that if a student wasn’t willing to shout about their faith from a mountaintop, then they wouldn’t feel comfortable there. I know the leader of this organization personally and I know that what she said is distorted. But, the fact remains that many students on that campus feel slapped because of that perception.
Things might look good when you are standing at the door – looking in at all the Christians who are attending your meetings and going to small groups. But the bottom line at the end of the day is how we come across to the person in the seat or the person outside of the room. What does the campus think of us? In my mind, it does matter - since we are Christians who carry the name of Jesus.
Does the perception of your movement hallow Jesus' name? Or does it hollow His name because you've become irrelevant to the campus?
“Paul encourages the Corinthians to pursue certain spiritual gifts over others as it was important that if ‘there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?’ (1 Cor. 14:23). Paul was once again concerned about what the visitor will think. …’Let all things be done decently and in order’ (1 Cor. 14:40), was an attempt to keep visitors from getting emotionally slapped in the face with something that made no sense to them.” – Church Marketing 101 (pg 117)
The temptation is to gear our meetings towards the mature Christians and not the lost. Why? Because the mature Christians are paying more for their seats. For most movements, they make up the majority of the seats as well as run the show. The mature Christians desire spiritual meat, not milk. So the temptation is to plan a meeting that meets their needs the best. But, this goes against our mission of reaching the lost.
One of the most common concerns, according to the book, is that most Christians think that making our movements lost-centered will require watering down the message. But, a strong movement or church must have a ministry that is focused on both the lost and the mature. You just have to remember to pass out milk and meat in the same meeting. And the most important thing you can do is hand out the milk first!
*content was gleaned and contextualized from Church Marketing 101
posted by Tyler Zach at 6:06 PM
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