How to market God
In a nation where, increasingly, belief in God cannot be assumed, and where Christianity is losing more and more of its sway in public discourse, what does membership in a church offer? Or, to put it another way, how might we say that church matters?
I’m curious how faith leaders might answer these questions because I recently ran across a very difficult sort of answer. In 1928, United Lutheran pastor Herbert A. Bosch published a book, Not Slothful in Business. According to James Hudnut-Beumler, Bosch was part of a movement of that era in which church leaders sought to embrace business practices (sound familiar?). Bosch, particularly, was interested in advertising and marketing.
Also around this time, the popularity of the Every Member Canvas took off. In an Every Member Canvas, teams of church leaders visit every member of the congregation to ask them to pledge money to the annual stewardship campaign. Attempting to find a new way of making “the ask,” Bosch suggested this approach as a guide for conversation:
