Basic message can get lost in glitz

It seems in recent months I’ve heard the words “relevant” and “relevance” in a variety of settings. It’s been years since these words were used to describe the ways of communicating in meaningful ways. But last week, I saw a feature article in this newspaper that brought “relevance” rushing back to me.

The article’s headline was “Churches increasingly market services to young media users.” Above that headline was the photo of a billboard in downtown Spokane that asked the rhetorical question: “Have You Tweeted Jesus Lately? “ (I hope it was only rhetorical.)

My mind wandered back to 1964 when Marshall McLuhan electrified (some of) the world with his slogan “The Medium is the Message.” This was his way to say how a message is communicated can greatly influence the message itself. That truth-piece was valid before 1964 and is still valid.

The article on church marketing techniques also reminded me of another long-ago statement. In 1965, my first seminary preaching professor discounted a goodly number of preaching styles in that day with “Any damn fool can fill a church.” I see that observation is still valid today in too many instances.

I want to believe most efforts to draw people into churches are very well intended. But I also see we can too easily succumb to focusing so much on clever media we use, that we don’t spend enough time focused on the message being communicated.

When current and prospective church-goers are titillated with coffee bars, various “Christian” exercise classes or any number of ways to cater to (especially younger) adults’ lifestyle preferences, those very people can too quickly become religious “consumers.” I know that isn’t the intent of churches. Yet it can become the result.

No one is a consumer first. But when the medium subtly communicates that, the faith-message can subtly become focused on “Me! Me! Me!” The faith-message of being loved by God is in danger of being greatly diluted through self-absorption. Faith can be subtly experienced as starting with “me,” not God.

I realize my skeptical tone is contrary to a great deal of church “marketing.” Thankfully, I no longer am in that business.

The root meaning of “evangelism” has to do with sharing “good news,” not filling churches. I believe every religious tradition has its own “good news.” How that is communicated is unique to each tradition.

I just wonder if American Christianity is communicating its deep-down message. It seems our focus may be over-balanced on ways to attract people to churches. That can lead to superficial marketing methods.

Attracting people to any endeavor effectively may include “marketing” in some way. But there is so much more.

The most effective attraction happens not on billboards or social media or any number of methods that next year will be outdated. People really don’t want to be seen as “targets” of marketing. They are real people with needs that can be addressed primarily with honest, authentically caring relationships.

The church, synagogue, mosque or any place of worship and faith does best when it keeps remembering what its basic message is. I trust that always includes the genuine worth of human beings, plus how that worth is nurtured in relationship with other people.

A faith-tradition medium is most relevant or meaningful when it invites people into those kinds of healthy, life-affirming relationships. If that message is made superficial or manipulative by the medium in any way, I think it’s time to re-think and re-shape the medium.

The message is always more important than the medium.