Perfect Marketing--Repositioning the Kingdom
For those of us who struggle with "marketing" the church in order to reach more people for Jesus, these words may prove helpful...or at least food for thought. They come from a book I am reading that is made up of prayers and then after the prayers the author reflects on the topic of the prayer. One of the most helpful parts of this for me is not just about marketing, but about what the kingdom of God was meant to be even before Jesus came and what it had become. Makes me wonder what the kingdom has become in our hands today.
"No one has ever provided a better example of marketing than Jesus did. He inherited a situation in which his movement, the kingdom of God on earth, had been taken over by small-minded legalists who had reduced its majestic principles to a rigid set of codified behaviors. Its inspiring orientation toward the future had become a stultifying preoccupation with history and tradition. Its singular focus on right relationships with people and with God had been refracted into an array of social castes. Its image ranged from necessary nuisance to irrelevance.
In three years Jesus "repositioned" the kingdom of God so thoroughly in so many people's minds that when he physically departed, the movement raced on, expanding and maturing in its new form and direction. He accomplished this feat not through selling, advertising, or promotion but by investing heavily in strong personal relationships with a small group of dedicated persons whose thinking he profoundly reshaped. He consistently modeled the values of the kingdom, and he described its true nature. Above all, he always started with people at the point of their felt needs--their wants, fears, and hopes. Then he skillfully guided them to discover their real needs and see their potential.
The compelling new image of the kingdom attracted a vast new public. There were detractors, false advertisers, cheap imitations, and lower-priced alternatives, but the kingdom prevailed. That is perfect marketing."
"Leadership Prayers" by Richard Kriegbaum
"No one has ever provided a better example of marketing than Jesus did. He inherited a situation in which his movement, the kingdom of God on earth, had been taken over by small-minded legalists who had reduced its majestic principles to a rigid set of codified behaviors. Its inspiring orientation toward the future had become a stultifying preoccupation with history and tradition. Its singular focus on right relationships with people and with God had been refracted into an array of social castes. Its image ranged from necessary nuisance to irrelevance.
In three years Jesus "repositioned" the kingdom of God so thoroughly in so many people's minds that when he physically departed, the movement raced on, expanding and maturing in its new form and direction. He accomplished this feat not through selling, advertising, or promotion but by investing heavily in strong personal relationships with a small group of dedicated persons whose thinking he profoundly reshaped. He consistently modeled the values of the kingdom, and he described its true nature. Above all, he always started with people at the point of their felt needs--their wants, fears, and hopes. Then he skillfully guided them to discover their real needs and see their potential.
The compelling new image of the kingdom attracted a vast new public. There were detractors, false advertisers, cheap imitations, and lower-priced alternatives, but the kingdom prevailed. That is perfect marketing."
"Leadership Prayers" by Richard Kriegbaum
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