Is it right to market our church?

Our church has been praying about a possible change in outreach focus.  Our first 8 years we've been focused on reaching out to the new and younger families moving into the newer part of town...a common strategy of churches in my lifetime.  Now, we're considering a new focus on the needs of people living in downtown Buckeye, a more needy, urban environment.

If we make this change it doesn't mean that we no longer care about the new people moving to town, it just means when we make our decisions about location, programing, priorities, staffing, marketing, worship service, etc. we make those decisions through a different lens.

When we started the church I hired a very capable young couple from CA who had gifts in admin, design, marketing, technology, contemporary Christian music, and children's education.  They were a perfect fit for our strategy!  Soon, after we hired a youth intern who was a high energy creative young man who was a natural programer.  Next we hired a high capacity professional musician, and added a dynamic family from CA to lead small groups.  Along with these hires we spent thousands on slick marketing, developed programing for the whole family, opened a professional office, and hired a receptionist.

The type of programing and hiring, plus our quick move out of downtown Buckeye (at the earliest possible moment), and the style of marketing and worship service all indicated our focus.  Even our mission and outreach projects we chose to do were the kind that suited young suburban families.  This focus accomplished our growth goal as we were one of the fastest growing churches in AZ during our first 2 1/2 years and most of our growth was young families.    

Did that mean we didn't want anyone who wasn't a young upwardly mobile family?  Absolutely not!  The diversity of age, social, and educational diversity of our church from the beginning has been remarkable.  There have been many who are older, or not new to town, or don't have young children, or don't have a college degree, or don't own their home who still found something about our church that attracted them in those first 2 1/2 years (and since.)

It comes down to unity.  When a church focuses in one direction it helps keep unity.  When everyone has a different opinion about programs, money priorities, who to hire, where to meet, how to market, what the worship service feels like, etc. it will split a church if there isn't a focus.  That's why it's important that before our church makes another move (which we need to do because of our current size,) we need to settle whether God is calling us to shift our focus from families moving to Buckeye to the needs of the working poor in downtown Buckeye.

We would still want new families to join with us.  However, we would be inviting these new families to join us not because of what we offer them and their kids, but because we welcome their help to redeem a group of people who are struggling and hurting and need Christ.  Honestly, it's not a great strategy to grow our church quickly, but the journey could result in the richest spiritual growth you've ever experienced.







 

50 Shades of Grey

There's a lot of media buzz about who is going to be the lead in the soon to be filmed "50 Shades of Grey."  I didn't read the book but heard enough to know it and the upcoming movie aren't worth my time and money and definitely not worth my endorsement.  

Where do you draw your line when deciding what entertainment you'll participate in?  Everyone draws a line at some point, so where is your line and why is it where it is?

One of the marks of our discipleship is the convictions we hold.  

These convictions aren't "because my pastor says so" or "our church doesn't believe in ____" or "it's the way I was brought up."  

Our convictions are rooted in our study of the Bible and the wisdom God gives us as we attempt to wed scripture with real life decisions.  

Additionally, our convictions are influenced by: 

2.  The well formed convictions of other believers whom we respect.  These are convictions that aren't legalistic.  They're sincere, faith-informed, self-imposed boundaries that aren't explicitly found in Scripture but are faithfully obeyed anyway.  These convictions aren't imposed on us but are caught by us because we hear from this person their biblical rationale and we respect the consistency and passion we see in this person.  This is the "iron sharpening iron" influence of mentors, parents, pastors, friends, etc. 

3.  The pain we experience or witness that is caused by others who don't live by Godly convictions.  We wisely decide we're not going to go anywhere near the possibility of causing pain by making those same decisions.  

4.  A third criteria for our convictions is our conscience.   Paul tells the church in Corinth that they should take into consideration their own conscience and the conscience of others whom they love when deciding how to live.  1 Corinthians 8-10

5.  A final factor in forming convictions is the reality that certain decisions we make could be morally OK but, Paul warns the Corinthians, at the same time if it will hurt someone you love...then it becomes immoral.

Although I wouldn't think that I'd have to say this, if you're a Christ follower and planning to see this movie my question is at what point would you draw your line if not here?  Everyone, even non-believers, draw a line somewhere.  Your line is whatever God is saying to you and a mark of your discipleship is that you will see in yourself a growing set of convictions about righteousness & justice.