I) Marketing at WMPL

This past week, the World Mission Prayer League Board had a special in-service meeting. It was on "marketing" - how to tell their story better. It made me stop and think a bit. The leader, a solid Christian who has worked a great deal in secular marketing said that marketing a product, a church or a ministry comes down to answering two questions for the "customer." Now, the "customer" is the prospective member, or the person you want to have become involved in your work. The two questions were: |:What's in it for me? Why should I care?:|

The Prayer League faces a crisis as it moves into its fourth generation. As the WWII generation, who has faithfully supported them, moves over to cheer on the Other Side, how will a new generation be raised up to support the work? The past three months its missionaries have not been fully paid. The challenge is to find a way to interest the next generation by giving them information that answers: |:What's in it for me? Why should I care?:| And indeed, those are the questions of American marketing. To gain people's interest, whether you're selling toothpaste, automobiles or a presidential candidate, those are the questions consumers ask: |:What's in it for me? Why should I care?:|

II) A "Consumer" Church?

For the Church, or for a ministry, there's good and bad in those questions. The good is that we need to be aware of the needs of the folks around us. We need to share our message in a way that somehow matches the lives and times of those around us. The World Mission Prayer League needs to get better at telling its story; I am fairly aware of my surroundings, and fairly aware of what's happening in the Lutheran Church- and I never heard of WMPL until I was 34 years old! It's a secret that needs to get out.

But the rules of marketing, focusing on who we tell the story to, in terms of "What's in it for me? Why should I care?" Has also created a consumer mentality in the American Church. Instead of the church being a body of believers to whom you belong, to whom you give yourself, and build real life-long relationships; instead the church is sometimes marketed as a place where we go to 'consume' a particular 'product' for awhile. I like the singles program over there, so I go to Woodland Hills for awhile. Then the music is better at Open Door, so I go there. And there's great program for young marrieds over at North Heights so I go there for a couple years. But Bloomington Assembly has a better kids' program so I go there for a few years, until it's time for my kids to be in junior high, so I go to Hosanna in Lakeville. If you think I'm joking, you should talk to the mega-church pastors I talk to. They take a 'busman's holiday' on a Sunday off, visiting the 'competition' - and all they see are former members!

And at one mega-church, with tons of great programs for all ages, a friend tells me that their Sunday School teacher absentee rate is 50% on any given Sunday. Not exactly the definition or commitment or servanthood! Can we truly build a church based solely on: What's in it for me? Why should I care? It's all about me! (To be fair, many of these churches have great disciple-making programs, and do a great job. But the 'body-hopping' from mega-church to mega-church as consumers really scares me.

It's good God has many ways to reach out to folks; but I'm not convinced that a consumer mentality builds the church into what God intended it to be. I think that for the past 2,000 years the church has been a place where people developed lifetime friendships and laid down their lives in taking care of each other. Sure, in the big cities, there were always big, clergy-dominated cathedrals; but a tiny portion of the people lived in those places. Most people lived and died within ten miles of their birthplaces. Most people were surrounded by a network of folks who knew them and interacted with them cradle-to-grave. These were folks who farmed with them, worked with them, celebrated with them, cared for them when they were sick, and served as a huge extended family.

Let's make a distinction here. There is good and bad in marketing. If constantly presenting the Church in terms of "What's in it for me?" becomes the center of why the Church exists, we produce weak Christians who are self-centered and see the role of the Church as being there to be focused on me, me, me. I am the center of the universe, and my role in the Body of Christ is to take, take, take. I become like the four-year-old who runs to the door every evening screaming, "Daddy, what did you bring me?" It's consumer Christianity. I think that would be pretty unrecognizable to the Apostle Paul. Christians are called to be disciples, who are called to lay down their lives and invest them in each other and the world.

But if marketing means presenting the Christian message in such a way that it makes sense to people, that's good. If marketing means aligning a church's ministry so that it is focused not on itself, but on the needs and hurts of the world around us, that's better. To say we as a church EXIST for the sake of reaching out to the unbelievers around us is what the Great Commission says, "Go therefore, and make disciples." That's Jesus' "so send I you." But if we turn it backwards, teaching people that the purpose of discipleship is on their self-centered narcissistic needs, we build a weak, "consumer" church. America is getting full of them.

III) Jesus' Method

Let's listen to our Gospel lesson again:

After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. [2] But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, [3] Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. [4] No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." [5] For even his own brothers did not believe in him. [6] Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right

When the disciples come to Jesus, and begin to lecture him on how to become famous, they just don't get it. Jesus had some clue as to what he was supposed to accomplish! He was to obey the Father. He was to lay down his life for the world. He was to do everything exactly as he "saw" the Father leading him.

The disciples, for a bunch of ignorant fisherman, were a pretty worldly-savvy bunch. John writes us this, poking fun at himself as

well. "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. [4] No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world."

Sure, that's what people do. That reminds me of a great poem of western literature:

"First thing you know, old Jed's a millionaire, Kinfolk said, "Jed, move away from there. Said 'Californy is the place you oughta be, so they loaded up the truck, and they moved to Beverly...Hills, that is."

The world is full of people and their rules. The world is full of people who will tell you, "That's what people do."

Knowing what people do is fine. Using the right fork at dinner is nice; so is combing your hair every once in a while. But knowing God is best. Knowing God's will is best.

40 years ago "people said" you need to move this congregation to the suburbs. That's what people do. 10 years ago my neighbors and a few pastor friends told me that there was no future in this "crack" neighborhood and I was wasting my time in the inner city. Some of your families and friends said the same thing. But, we said, as we said 40 years ago, "Where is a church needed more?"

Not everybody will obey the call to drive past 20 churches to give your life away to hurting people. But that's our call. What else do we need? If that was good enough for Jesus, might it be good enough for us?

We don't need to "show ourselves to the world." If we are faithful, all who need to know, will know what we're doing. We aren't calling attention to ourselves, nor are we seeking to glorify our ministry- but some are beginning to notice. Articles are being written. People are seeking us out on the Internet. The worst thing now would be for us to put any focus on that. Our work is progressing, and Jesus is being lifted up. That's all that's important.

The world tells us to play by rules of numbers, fame, pizzazz and flash. That's not our call. We are called to be faithful. That's what our forebears did in 1872, in 1964 and that's what we'll do tomorrow. But the call is first to be faithful. We face challenges, we face hassles; our God is bigger than that.

Mike Fehrenbach quietly set our agenda last fall. He reminded us to consider "How big is your God?" "Is your vision as big as your God?" We have an able God, who calls us to be faithful and bold. The world tells us to ask: What's in it for me? Why should I care? Jesus simply asks: "Follow me." Invitation; Amen