I have a short-list of books that I use in discipleship and mentoring relationships. “Radical” is now at the top of the list.

In fact, this is one of those books that needs to be read by every American who claims to be a Christian, whether Protestant or Catholic, evangelical or liberal. I want to give a brief review here because it actually falls into all three major topics of ChurchETHOS: making disciples, planting churches, and engaging culture.

David Platt was a doctoral candidate at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary when I met him. He was the teaching assistant for Dr. Jim Shaddix at the time so he presented a couple of lectures if Dr. Shaddix was absent.

A few years later I worked with David at a conference in New England for young adults. I was the conference coordinator and we asked David to be our speaker. It was the most powerful conference I have ever participated in. During one of the sessions, David quoted Romans 1-8 entirely from memory. At certain moments, people were standing and cheering for what we were hearing. It was amazing!

I was so moved by the conference that I visited David in New Orleans to recruit him to become a church planter in New England. However, he was already in the process of accepting the position at The Church at Brookhills in Birmingham, AL, a 4,000 member church. At the time, this made him probably the youngest megachurch pastor in the US. Since that time, he has mobilized that church to serve God in Birmingham and around the world.

Many of the stories he shares in the book are stories I was familiar with from knowing David in other contexts. However, he does a compelling job of weaving those stories together to make a case for radical commitment to Jesus.

Rather than do a thorough review of the book in one post, I’d like to begin a series of posts that will unpack some of the themes of David’s book (but for less than $10, you really should just go ahead and buy a copy). However, I do want to highlight the last chapter which is entitled “The Radical Experiment”.

The Radical Experiment

This book is more than a collection of stories, Scriptures, and quotes. This book is a manifesto for American Christianity. The subtitle is “Taking back your faith from the American Dream” and the last chapter provides some practical steps that anyone can take to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus. Of course, the five steps in this last chapter are meant to be a starting point to help launch someone onto a path that looks more like obedience to Jesus than self-centeredness and it by no means is enough. The challenge is to do five things for one year to see how God blesses your obedience.

“I dare you over the next year to…”

1. Pray for the entire world;

David writes, “In a world where more than 4.5 billion people are without Christ and more than a billion are on the edge of starvation, we have to begin somewhere.” He recommends a resource I’ve used before (and my wife and I are using now) called Operation World. You can find it online or at Amazon for pretty cheap.

2. Read through the entire Word;

This needs no explanation, but I love the stories David tells of traveling to China and Indonesia and elsewhere where people are so hungry for God’s Word that they are willing to risk their lives to come and learn more. David writes, “God has chosen by his matchless grace to give us revelation of himself in his Word. It is the only Book that he has promised to bless by his Spirit to transform you and me into the image of Jesus Christ.”

3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose;

The idea here is not to just give out of our abundance, but to really sacrifice. We have more than we need but it’s all those things we want that keep us from radically giving and sharing with others who are in desperate need (around the world or next door). David asks: “What if you took the next year and set a cap on your lifestyle? What if you sought for the next year to minimize luxuries in your life? This might involve selling present luxuries or withholding the purchase of future luxuries or intentionally sacrificing resources you already have.”

Keep in mind that this challenge is encouraging you to spend your money on something that is gospel-centered, church-focused, and that meets a tangible need.

4. Spend your time in another context;

Volunteer weekly at a soup kitchen. Spend a week in a foreign land with a mission team. The point is to get out of your comfort zone and see how others are living their lives. John Ortberg once preached a message where his only point was to “get out of the house!” Allow God to open your eyes to the need around you and spend your time meeting those needs.

5. Commit your life to a multiplying community.

This is where the other four challenges converge. This is where you will find accountability. This is where you will find encouragement. We can’t fly solo when we follow Jesus. He didn’t allow his disciples to do that and he isn’t calling any of us to go it alone either. If we are going to follow Christ through radical obedience, then we need others who are committed to the same thing.

The back cover of the book says that Jesus followers would “leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily… but who do you know who lives like that? Do you?” By God’s grace, I pray that my life will continue to conform to the image of Jesus and that I will encourage others to live a radical life of obedience.

What are your thoughts? Do you live more for the American Dream or for the Kingdom of God? Who is King in your life, you or Jesus? If you’ve read the book, what insights do you have to share?

Further Reading:

• Shocking Stats from the book Radical
• Stuff I Like
• The Great Commissions: John

ChurchETHOS is a collection of thoughts about making disciples, planting churches, and engaging culture. So let me share with you who I’m reading that informs my own thinking on these three topics. (These may or may not be the topics that the blogger chose for his or her own blog. In fact, some should be listed in all three topics. However, I chose to put them in these topics because they are the MOST helpful TO ME in that particular area.)

Making Disciples

Doug Hunt – Doug was a mentor of mine while we were both living in Boston. He is now the BCM director at Clemson University. Put him on your feedreader because he doesn’t post every day…he’s too busy making disciples!
Lewie Clark – Lewie is a disciple maker in Chicago. He really seeks to live like Jesus and he is truly seeing the reproduction of disciples as he invests in others.
Floyd & Sally McClung – Floyd & Sally are passionate about making disciples, training leaders, and planting churches. I especially love their insights on making disciples from an international perspective.
David Watson – David is another church planter that I’ve put in the “making disciples” category because I’ve really valued his insights on discipleship even more than his insights on church planting. (Tip: Making disciples leads to new churches and David gets that!)

Planting Churches

JD Payne – I heard JD speak at a meeting of church planters and I appreciated his fresh insights into Biblical church planting. I’ve also read his book [affiliate link] and follow him on twitter.
Tim Morey – Tim has written one of my favorite books [affiliate link] on church planting and I’m glad he has started blogging as well.
Doug Foltz – Doug has been blogging a series of posts recently about church planting launch teams that has been especially helpful but all of his other stuff is awesome too!
Ed Stetzer – Who is planting a church in North America and hasn’t benefited from a stat, a book [affiliate link], a post, or a tweet from Ed Stetzer?

Engaging Culture

Jon Acuff – Jon Acuff, from “Stuff Christians Like” asks the question “Does the stuff we like ever get in the way of the God we love?” Jon answers that question with satire and wit on his blog and now in his new book [affiliate link]. Get ready to horse laugh!
Mike Wittmer – I recently did a series of book reviews on Mike Wittmer’s book Don’t Stop Believing [affiliate link] because Mike does a great job of showing us how to be both theologically sound and culturally engaging all at the same time.
Church Marketing Sucks – This site helps your church communicate its message in a non-sucky way. Whether online or offline, the church needs to do a better job of utilizing our God given creativity and talent to share the gospel with our neighbors.
John Saddington – John is the genius behind ChurchCrunch, a blog about all things church and technology. John helps me think through the use of technology as I engage the culture around me.

So these are just a few of my most trusted resources as I think about making disciples, planting churches and engaging culture. I’m always looking for new sources of good info so feel free to recommend some in the comments section.

Further Reading:

• Marketing Your Church Plant: Biblical Foundations
• Book Review: The Passionate Intellect
• Shocking Stats from the book Radical

This is the third in a series of posts that is looking at each of the Great Commission statements of Jesus. Interestingly only one of these is in the imperative and that was in Matthew (“make disciples”). So, once again, when we come to the Johannine Commission, we find an indicative.

John 20:19-23

In the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because of their fear of the Jews. Then Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” Having said this, He showed them His hands and His side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” After saying this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Context: Same context as Luke, but from John’s perspective. In other words, this is the same day as the resurrection and Jesus is, for the first time, revealing Himself to all of the disciples. The text tells us that this was the first day of the week (Sunday) and that the disciples were cowering behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews.

Here are a few insights from this passage:

• We know Jesus now has power over the temporal world because He is able to enter a locked room. However, we can’t make too much of this as some sort of new ability of Jesus and tied exclusively to His resurrected body. Rather, this is typical Jesus in that He is able to do whatever needs to be done to bring glory to God. For example, is walking on water any more or less spectacular than being able to enter a locked room?
• “Peace to you!” might have been more of an attempt of preventing heart attacks than it was a typical greeting. What would you do if someone you thought was dead appeared in a locked room?
• After proving His identity by miraculously appearing in a locked room and then showing the disciples His wounds, Jesus says, “Peace to you!” again. The disciples must have been jumping up and down and falling all over themselves after seeing that this was, in fact, Jesus!
• The phrase Jesus speaks that is often referred to as the Johannine Commission is “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” So, how did the Father send the Son? The first thing that I’m reminded of is how shockingly miraculous AND humble Jesus’ first days were in the flesh. What other thoughts do you have about how the Father sent the Son?
• Jesus sends us in that same way! We are a part of a divine plan. Does this give you a sense of purpose? It’s the greatest story ever told and we are participants in that story!
• When Jesus breaths the Spirit on them, this is not Pentecost. That happens several weeks later after Jesus’ ascension. Instead, this could be a promise of the Spirit.

Conclusions: The Johannine Commission is stated very simply yet it is extremely profound. There are a lot of similarities in how we are sent and how Jesus was sent. Jesus invites us and commissions us to go into the world and be a part of reconciling the world to God. It’s our purpose. Jesus may have sent us to our job site, but He sent us there to do what He was sent to do, and not just pull down a paycheck each month. We are sent to our family, our co-workers, and our friends with a purpose. Of course, other parts of the Gospels explain more about a) how Jesus was sent and b) what our task is as a result by being sent, but this one statement lets us know that we won’t be complete if we are just living a selfish life. It’s time to join Jesus’ purpose and live sent.

What insights have you gleaned about the mission Jesus has called us to from John 20:19-23?

Further Reading:

• The Great Commissions: Matthew
• The Great Commissions: Luke
• Disciples of Jesus Multiply

Luke 24:44-49

Then He told them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He also said to them, “This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.”

Context: This commissioning took place on the same day as the resurrection and it happened in Jerusalem with the 11 “and those with them” including Cleopas and his friend who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. When Jesus appeared in the room they were startled and thought He was a ghost. So He confirms His humanity by asking for some food. He also confirms that the cross wasn’t an illusion by showing them His scars.

Here are a few insights from this passage:

• Jesus first says that everything that has happened is a fulfillment of prophecy.
• He opens their minds to understand the Scriptures. By doing this, Jesus is confirming the role of Scripture in the life of the disciple. (Note: The Matthean Commission also points us to Scripture when it says we are to teach disciples “to observe everything I have commanded you”.)
• Jesus’ teachings are then summarized by Luke: “This is what was written…” 1) The Messiah would suffer, die, and rise in three days (meaning that a child of God cannot deny the resurrection of Jesus). 2) Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplishes forgiveness to those who repent (meaning that a child of God is one who has repented from sin and has received forgiveness from God). 3) This repentance and forgiveness are to be extended to all nations beginning in Jerusalem.
• There is no command here, just a simple statement that “You are witnesses of these things.” You can’t be a witness of these things and not experience transformation. Unlike the Matthean Commission, the Lukan Commission focuses on who we are as a result of walking with Jesus. There’s no need to remind them, at this point, of what they should be doing, instead, there is simply a reminder of who they are: witnesses.
• To those who are witnesses of these things, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit because He promised to do so. Meanwhile, the disciples are to “stay” in the city until they are empowered from on high. In our hurry to “go”, Luke emphasizes Jesus’ command to “stay” and wait on the Spirit. In fact, “stay” is the only imperative in this passage. This staying resulted in the Day of Pentecost when they were truly empowered to be witnesses. In other words, it’s not enough to just be a spectator, we also need God’s Spirit to give us words to say, to draw people to Himself, and even to give us opportunities to “bear witness” to that of which we are witnesses.

Conclusions: One of the intriguing things about Jesus’ mission and the subsequent commissioning of His disciples is that his birth, life, death, and resurrection were all the fulfillment of prophecy. But until it actually happened with witnesses, it was only a future hope. The resurrection inaugurated an “already but not yet” era that would be corroborated by His witnesses. That present reality still exists today by those of us who are also witnesses and disciples of Jesus.

What insights have you gleaned about the mission Jesus has called us to from Luke 24:44-49?

Further Reading:

• The Great Commissions: Matthew
• Church Planting is People Planting
• A Going Church

In this series of posts I want to look at each of these Great Commission texts to mine them for insights into the mission that Jesus gives to us to complete.

Matthew 28:16-20

Matthew is a good place to start since Matthew is the first Gospel in our New Testament. However, that doesn’t mean that the Matthean Commission happened first. In reading through these various commissionings of Jesus, it’s clear that Jesus spent the forty days between His resurrection and ascension “commissioning” and teaching, and training His disciples on a number of matters. He spent time teaching them and explaining to them their task. Since Jesus spent a lot of time with His disciples, the chronology of these Great Commission passages aren’t as important, though I do hope to share a bit of context for each one as this series unfolds.

So let’s take a look at what Matthew records starting at verse 16:

The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted. Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Context: On the mountain in Galilee. It says that when the disciples first saw Him in Galilee, they worshiped, “but some doubted”. These first words of Jesus upon seeing the disciples in Galilee were meant to establish His identity and allay their doubts. Jesus had spent His entire ministry making disciples and now He is telling those disciples to carry on the task. Note that this is not the first time they’ve seen Jesus alive, but they still have doubts.

Here are a few insights from this passage:

Conclusions: When we engage in disciple making, we must realize that we have not made a disciple if they are not trained or are unwilling to make disciples themselves. The Great Commission passages are about reaching the nations through baptism, teaching, and multiplication. If we aren’t engaged in these sorts of activities then we are not obedient to Jesus’ primary will for His followers to fulfill the Great Commission. If we are engaged in activities that don’t result in baptism, teaching, and multiplication of disciples then we need to rethink our activities and maybe loosen up our schedule. Thankfully, Jesus provides a model for making disciples and we have God’s Word, and God’s Spirit to guide us. So get started!

What insights have you gleaned about the mission Jesus has called us to from Matthew 28:18-20?

Further Reading:

• The Great Commissions: Luke
• Church Planting is People Planting
• The Great Commissions: John

Sadly, there are a lot churches that are really good at addition, subtraction and division, but not multiplication.

It’s easy to settle for addition, because at least it is positive growth. Addition is safe. Addition is comfortable. But addition is often the result of a lack of vision and mission. Church leaders get bogged down in caring for the urgent and the existing members are happy because the attention is all on them. Sometimes people move into the area and just naturally look for a church. Put out a sign and we can probably grow through addition.

However, addition is just a step away from subtraction. People start to withdraw from the church when the church has no purpose. I bet more people leave the church out of boredom than from being called to fulfill the Great Commission.

Let’s not even talk about division…

Multiplication requires vision and leadership. Multiplication requires sacrifice and commitment. Multiplication is what disciples of Jesus are doing. Multiplication takes much prayer and a lot of hard work. Multiplication requires evangelism and a passion for making disciples. Bill Hull says,

If the church fails to make disciples, it fails to multiply. If the church fails to multiply, it fails.

We all know that division is failure, but so is subtraction and addition. Multiplication brings glory to God. It is what we are commissioned to do. If it’s division, subtraction, or addition, it may or may not be from God, but if it’s multiplication and it brings Him glory, there’s no doubt it’s of Him!

My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples. (John 15:8 HCSB)

Further Reading:

• Church Planting is People Planting
• The Great Commissions: John
• The Great Commissions: Luke

One of his thoughts in his first post is about how the disciples went into town to get some food but really didn’t want to be in Samaria. They could’ve used the opportunity to give “living water” to the residents there. However, when the woman realized who Jesus was, she went and told the entire town about Him! Dad writes,

I discovered from this biblical passage that I would rather witness like the woman than to witness like the disciples. She went back to the village and said “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah? (John 4:28)

When Jesus truly transforms our lives, it’s worth telling people!  I’ll let you read the rest here.

Further Reading:

• The Great Commissions: John
• The Great Commissions: Matthew
• Disciples of Jesus Multiply

But that’s okay! The good news is that anyone can be a people planter!

Regardless of whether or not we are starting a brand new church or are a part of an established church we can be involved in people planting. Every church leader can invest in people. Every church member can invest in people too! Another way to say that is, we are all called to obey the Great Commandment and fulfill the Great Commission.

Plant a seed. Pray! Water it. Pray! Watch it mature. Pray! Repeat!!

Our neighbors need to know about the good news and all of us are called to share it with them. People planting is about investing in the lives of our neighbors. We need church planters to be people planters. We need established church leaders to be people planters. We need church members to be people planters.

He is like a tree planted beside streams of water
that bears its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:3)

Are you a people planter? Are you equipping others to be people planters?

Further Reading:

• The Great Commissions: Matthew
• The Great Commissions: Luke
• Disciples of Jesus Multiply

But, does the Bible say anything about marketing? After all, modern marketing techniques didn’t exist when the Bible was written. So, maybe we should ask, “Would Jesus create a website? Would Paul? What about a direct mail campaign or creating a logo? Would they have invested money in spreading the Gospel? Or would they just invest time? Is one more holy than another?

Since there were no facebook ad campaigns in Jesus’ day, we first have to ask, “what is accomplished through a marketing campaign?” I’ve come up with a few reasons why we should use modern marketing concepts to help us reach our neighbors.

1. Church Marketing is Creative

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” As His image-bearers, we are creative creatures. God’s children enjoy using their creative abilities to glorify God and it’s no different for those who are versed in graphic design or are able to create a catchy slogan for an invitation. Just because we aren’t using paint or marble, doesn’t mean we can’t use our creative juices to do our best on a website or a postcard.

This is also an argument for bringing excellence to everything we do whether it’s a bulletin, a website, a banner, or a banner ad, but that’s a different discussion. In short, let’s use our creativity as we reach out to our neighbors!

2. Church Marketing is Proclamation

The purpose of sending a mailer, creating a website, or hanging door hangers is to get the word out. We had a new family come to our church this week just because we have a website. Of course, those are the ones looking for a church, but you never know when someone is going to start looking, right? Would we have reached them eventually? Who knows, but we definitely reached them through our website.

Romans 10:14-15 says, “But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!”

Do these verses only apply to word of mouth? Or can it refer to sign language, billboards, semaphore, braille, html, and ebonics? Somehow, I get the feeling that we are to use all means at our disposal to reach our neighbors with the gospel! Didn’t Paul say something about that?

Which leads us to the next point…

3. Church Marketing is Contextual

Paul did indeed say that he had become all things to all people that he might by all means save some (1 Corinthians 9:19). Most people in my community work from 7 to 7 so that they can afford the homes they live in. People are more and more anti-social. We want the church to be a communal gathering where we can fellowship but most people don’t know what that’s like.

Modern marketing methods are a form of contextualizing the gospel. My neighbors don’t want to answer the door, but they will watch TV for 3 hours each evening. How will we reach the people who are withdrawn in their own homes, isolated from society except the occasional beer buddy? Well, if they are going to be online, or watching TV, or checking their mail, isn’t it reasonable to find ways to reach them so that we can develop a relationship?

The church should be about relationships, but sometimes people need to be given permission to have relationships. When we use our creativity to love and serve our neighbors, and when we use our creativity to get the word out about what God is doing in our community, we are using contextual methods that work here and now through communication sources that are recognizable and embraced by our neighbors.

4. Church Marketing is Responsible

Church marketing can be creative and contextualized proclamation, but it is also an exercise in stewardship. In “philosophical foundations” I talked about how time and money should both be seen as resources we have been given to use wisely. There are some things that well spent money can accomplish and there are others that can only be accomplished through time. Then there are still other things that use a mixture of both resources. It’s important to note that not all marketing campaigns are a wise investment, but I’m simply making the point that just because it is marketing doesn’t mean it’s not biblical.

In the Parable of the Talents, we see Jesus teaching a spiritual truth using the example of money. The first servant is entrusted with 5 talents and he wisely “puts them to work” and makes 5 more. The second servant is entrusted with 2 talents and he makes 2 more. ”But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.” (Matthew 25:18)

Want to hear his reasoning? “Then the man who had received one talent also approached and said, ‘Master, I know you. You’re a difficult man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed. So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours.’” (Matthew 25:24-25) This man didn’t take a chance with the money entrusted to him and the master returned and called him evil and lazy and suggested that he should’ve at least put it in the bank so that he could’ve collected interest.

Do we believe that our money and our resources will multiply just like we expect our time to multiply? Good stewardship of time, money, and resources in an effective marketing campaign can be blessed by God and bring glory to Him. This is being responsible with a portion of our resources to announce an event, a Bible study, a sermon series, etc.

5. Church Marketing is Seed Scattering

Jesus also tells the Parable of the Four Seeds. I was always frustrated at the less than economical way that the sower goes out to sow. Why didn’t they just put all the seeds in the good soil? In this parable, really only one fourth of the seeds that were sown were effective. The rest were eaten by birds, scorched by the sun, or trampled under foot. Seriously, was it that hard to keep the seed off the path?

On the other hand, I wonder if part of the imagery is just to get us to sow the gospel as broadly as possible. Jesus taught huge multitudes and from those crowds, some became disciples. Sure, he also focused a lot of energy on His twelve closest followers, but there were hundreds of committed followers because Jesus sowed broadly. People need to hear and it’s not our job to limit that to just the ones we think want to hear. After all, Matthew 9:38 tells us that we are to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into “His harvest”. It’s His harvest and we are simply sowing seed. Even the seed that falls on the path, among the thorns, or on rocky ground serves a purpose.

As I consider the seed that fell on good soil, I sometimes wonder what it would be like if the sower had spent all his time checking every inch of ground in advance to make sure it was good soil. Would that have been a better use of his time? I believe this parable is giving us permission to use our resources to rapidly and broadly sow the seed so that all of the good soil is found and all of the bad soil is at least invited.

Do you think that some marketing methods today can be a creative, contextual, and responsible way of announcing and broadcasting the gospel?

Further Reading:

• Marketing Your Church Plant: Philosophical Foundations
• Stuff I Like
• Church Planting is People Planting

Creative commons image courtesy of flickr user au_tiger01

Would Paul use modern marketing techniques if he was planting churches today?

Did Jesus need a direct mail campaign to establish the Church in the first place? The Church was established and spread through the power of the Spirit and by word of mouth so why would we waste money on telemarketing or a smokin’ website? Why should we waste time developing relationships with social media? Is it a lack of faith? Besides, even today in the Majority World the Church is spreading much in the same way that it did two thousand years ago.

With all the talk today about “viral marketing”, we can only hope (and pray) for the kind of movement that swept through the Roman Empire in the days of Jesus and Paul. In the West in general and the US in particular, it seems like the main technique is to market a worship event through mailers, calls, websites, and tweets. The church that invests the most in these techniques will be the most “successful” (at least numerically, but there are numerous churches who used these techniques and are genuinely making healthy reproducing disciples).

A Simpler Church?

Others in church leadership are calling for a simpler approach; one that rejects all the artificial means of propagating the Gospel and focuses only on personal, intentional, authentic, and meaningful relationships. If truth be told, I lean more toward this as an extreme than to the one mentioned above. But generally these aren’t extremes. In fact, I really don’t know anyone who exclusively starts churches with mailers and billboards and I don’t know anyone who exclusively starts churches with twelve people in a living room who only go deeper and deeper together while never sharing with others outside the group.

So these are the two polar extremes that pull us as we consider how to reach our neighbors. Let’s call them the Market Driven Church (MDC) and the Relationship Driven Church (RDC). Again, no one is exclusively starting an MDC or an RDC. I only mention them here because many church starters are somewhere on the continuum in between. For example, many of the church planting books talk about the ROI (return on investment) of bulk-mail campaigns and telemarketing and offer them as tools that can be used to reach the community. However, those same church planting books spend a lot of time talking about personal evangelism and small groups and preaching and teaching, etc. The relationship focused church planting books will talk a lot about building relationships but they also talk about getting the word out to others.

Developing A Marketing Plan

But is there room for both personal, relationship evangelism and developing a marketing plan that won’t be a waste of God-given resources? More importantly, as you pray about how to reach your neighbors has God made available certain marketing techniques or is He leading you a different direction?

Just like with most things, a healthy balance of both is how many of us will answer that question. As much as I think my pull is more towards the RDC, I don’t know if ethically I could discount at least some marketing ideas.

Would anyone be opposed to having a free ad in the telephone book, a free press release for the local newspaper, or a free business listing on google? The only thing that separates those free and simple marketing tools from, say, sending a bulk mailout announcing the launch of your church is money. But money isn’t the only resource we have available to us.

So, it seems to me that we should prioritize our marketing plan around the cost, the time spent, and the expected results. Let me illustrate with a few simple graphs.

Relationships are always worth it!

To begin with, it seems that there are some things that are worth ANY amount of time spent. Relationship evangelism that is focused on getting to know people and their needs, caring for them and even sacrificing for them is maybe the highest of priorities and is highly reproducible for any follower of Jesus. Jesus spent a lot of time with the Twelve but He also spent a lot of time with the crowds! Consider the different ways that Jesus made disciples.

Marketing is sometimes worth it!

Are there some things that are worth ANY amount of money spent, though? Maybe not, but there are probably things that are worth SOME money spent, right? Consider how much it costs to throw up a website with no images and very little creativity (emphasis on “throw up”). Would it make a difference in my neighborhood which is filled with young professionals who are very successful, well-educated, and technologically savvy? Who am I trying to reach with a website? Maybe you wouldn’t even bother with a website in the first place? Even if a large majority of people go to work and then come home and watch TV and surf the internet and never interact with their neighbors?

Marketing is most useful when it’s targeted and relevant!

There are some marketing ideas that cost very little money and takes very little time such as creating a facebook page or listing your church on google maps. These sorts of “techniques” create very little controversy because they are free. On the other hand, facebook ads or google ads are just as easy to create, with very little time spent, but they cost a little bit more and yet, they are more effective at getting the word out than a static facebook page. Would you consider investing in a facebook ad for your church? What if I told you that you could target that ad to only be seen by people who are searching “church” in your zip code and you only pay when someone clicks through to your church website? Does it make it more valuable?

What About ROI?

ROI (return on investment) is something else to think about. Consider the following illustrations:

Time AND money are commodities that have limits!

In this grid, relationship evangelism does take a lot of time but maybe not so much money. The ROI is high because the quality of the relationships that have been formed is high. In this case we are investing in people who will eventually be mobilized and equipped to invest in others. Growth is exponential (we pray). Again, we can’t underemphasize the importance of relationships as we consider how to reach our neighbors.

The ROI may be similar whether the main commodity used was time OR money!

But is it possible that spending less time but more money could bring about similar ROI? For example, if your church spent $5,000 on a direct mail campaign and you mailed a postcard to 5,000 homes. Assuming only 1% responds, that’s 50 people who came to your weekend gathering where you’ve just started a sermon series entitled “The Case for Christianity”. You spent 10 hours setting it up and now people in your church have a chance to follow up with 50 people. Say only 5 of them respond favorably to the Gospel and become fully mature, reproducing, followers of Jesus. Was it worth it?

Additionally, now all 5,000 households in your neighborhood know there is a church in the area! If you are advertising a practical sermon series with your direct mail campaign such as Financial Peace University where you are hoping to help your neighbors take control of their finances from a Biblical perspective isn’t the ROI even higher if people now have a more positive appreciation for your church and that you genuinely care about their needs? As a result, you now have 5,000 households that know about your church, 50 contacts for follow up, 5 new disciple-making disciples, and an increased favorability rating among your neighbors (I’m not talking about a popularity contest here, I’m talking here about your “good reputation among outsiders” – see 1 Timothy 3:7).

Final Thoughts

In my next post I want to talk about “Marketing Your Church Plant: Biblical Foundations” but I wanted to talk about philosophical foundations first to get us thinking reasonably about this issue. In other words, I’m trying to use logic to get us thinking about the issue so that we can talk about biblical principles in the next post. So, am I making sense? Do you see a way we can strike a balance between relationship-only outreach and market-driven outreach?

What sorts of marketing techniques would you consider using to broadcast your message to your neighbors?

Further Reading:

• Marketing Your Church Plant: Biblical Foundations
• Radical Faith or the American Dream?
• Stuff I Like