Ministry Leader Worried About the Rise of "Market-Driven" ways to Attract Unchurched

Many Evangelical Churches in the U.S. are attempting to approach unbelievers through the latest marketing techniques to increase their congregation.

The head of a Christian ministry in Oregon is concerned with the rise of using market-driven ways to attract the unbelievers.

Christian researchers like George Barna have stated that such a "Seeker-friendly" approach is essential in a market-driven society. But Christian author Tom McMahon is concerned by the trend. The executive director of The Berean Call says using gimmicks to attract unbelievers to church and keep them happy is not how the gospel should be preached.

For there is a saying, 'What brings them in, keeps them in.' If you bring them in with bells and whistles and all kinds of programs, then you're really appealing to their fleshly appetites, and you have to keep increasing that," McMahon says. "On the other hand, if you bring them in and preach and teach the Word of God - well, that's the way to go."

McMahon emphasised on teaching the Scripture as the foundation of faith. "Pastors should not be viewing their church as a center for the lost. The scripture tells us we're to be disciples in the Word; we're to grow in the word; therefore a pastor should train his people to be disciples and then go out."

He pointed out that the seeker-friendly approach can affect believers within the church in a negative way. "Once you have the idea that you're attracting the lost into the church, then you have to water down the message, you have to because you don't want to offend them, you don't want to bring them under conviction too fast. Well, that's a problem."

On his ministry's website, McMahon states the problem lies in attempts to fit the gospel and Jesus Christ Himself into a marketing strategy. But those two things, he says, are not "products" to be "sold," nor can they be "refashioned or image-adjusted" to appeal to the felt needs of a consumer-happy culture.

"For example, if the lost are considered consumers and a basic marketing 'commandment' says that the customer must reign supreme, then whatever may be offensive to the lost must be discarded, revamped, or downplayed," he says.

In addition, McMahon says many seeker-sensitive churches attempt to impress the unchurched by looking to and quoting psychologists and psychiatrists as experts in solving emotional and behavioral problems.

According to McMahon, "It is denying the sufficiency of God's Word when we have to look to all kinds of worldly ideas and worldly programs." And nothing in the history of the Church, he says, has undermined the truth of the sufficiency of God's Word more than the introduction of the "pseudo-science of psychotherapy."