Is Church Marketing Biblical?

Church leaders want to make sure that everything they do is centered around the Bible. Many leaders want to promote their church to millions of people online, but they want to be confident that their marketing strategy is not only effective, but Biblical. This leads to the question “is marketing Biblical for churches?”. 

Marketing is not only Biblical, but a powerful tool that can be used to grow the church and share the love of Jesus! 

Marketing is in Every Church

Even the churches that don’t believe in marketing tend to use bulletins, word-of-mouth announcements, or flyers. These are all forms of marketing. Every church is practicing marketing, whether they believe it is Biblical or not. 

Marketing is simply a communication tool. At the heart of marketing is the desire to get a message to the target audience. All believers should be striving to get their message across to their target audience-everyone!

Paul’s Example

A great example of marketing in the Bible is the example of Paul.

In 1st Corinthians 9:20, Paul writes that “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, to win Jews….”. Paul goes on to share about who he became to win people to Jesus. Paul was willing to meet people where they were.

Today, people are online. Following in Paul’s footsteps, churches that choose to be intentional in marketing are going where the people are to reach them. Marketing is all about getting one’s message out to the target audience and presenting that message in a way that the target audience will understand. This is exactly what Paul was doing. 

Jesus: The Best Marketer 

Paul was not the only one that went where the people were and talked to them in a way that they understood. Jesus is the ultimate example of this. Jesus went where the people that needed him were and, then, he would speak to them in parables, which were simply stories that his audience would connect with (Check out Luke 19 as an example of this!). 

Digital marketing, social media posts, church websites, and search engine optimization are simply the modern way of showing up where the people are. Good church marketing offers people an invitation to get to know Jesus in a way that they will understand. 

People are Searching

People are searching online for churches. When someone doesn’t have a personal relationship with someone inviting them to church, they turn to Google. Google’s own keyword planning tool shows that over 800,000 people a month search "church near me" in the United States. Every year this number has increased by 22%. 

When people begin to type “church near me” in the search engine, they will find something. Church marketing guarantees that those searching will find a life-giving community and the hope of Jesus in their search results.

Church marketing is both Biblical and a powerful tool. Choosing to market your church ensures that you are getting in front of the people that need you. 

At Faithworks Marketing, we are passionate about helping churches and non-profit organizations show up in the search results so that they can be there for the people that need them. If you are interested in using marketing as a tool to grow your church, connect with us today!