The holiday season is a time for many to share in religious traditions by attending a house of worship. However, a growing number of Americans don’t attend church across all denominations for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from not having time to attend to not having faith anymore.
The so-called cultural wars play a significant role in fewer people in the pews because of religious conflicts with social issues like the role of women in the church, abortion, and LGBT acceptance.
I am one of those people who doesn’t attend church anymore not because I am not faithful, but because I practice my faith in other ways. I don’t feel the need to be in a church to be a good Christian. I am very active in my community supporting my local library and making my neighborhood a little better for everyone. I think how you conduct yourself in your everyday life as a Christian is more important than if you show up for church Sunday mornings.
Nonetheless, fewer people in the pews is not good business for any church. Because of this, houses of worship are taking desperate measures to get more people back into churches. A lot of churches are using targeted marketing jargon like “progressive” and “modern” to attract new people, but in reality, they still hold very conservative and traditional beliefs.
Case in point, I have a gay friend in New Jersey who started attending a church in her community two years ago. It is one of these new hipster church startups where the minister and most of the church staff and members are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, and they dress casually for Sunday service. She always felt very welcome in the church by other members, and she even met her current girlfriend there. Of course, this church uses “progressive and modern” terms on its website and social media. Unfortunately, she recently found out how the church really feels about her.
She applied to become the head of the Sunday School program when the position opened. She thought she would be a shoo-in for the job, as she is an assistant principal at a local elementary school, and she was the only person to apply for the job.
She was soundly rejected from the job. Why? The minister told her that it would be against God’s teachings to have an openly gay person and a woman running the program. Of course, she was taken aback. She asked other church members about this, and they didn’t seem to know about this rule either. Then she realized that only heterosexual men held all the leadership roles in the church. Now she is contemplating if she should continue worshipping at the church.
Mind you; all churches have a right to set their own doctrines and believe what they want to believe. However, they don’t have the right to deceive people. I would have more respect for a church that boldly claims their beliefs, even if I don’t agree with them, than a church that lies to get more attendees.
True people of faith stand in their truth. If you believe women should have a limited role in the church and homosexuality is an abomination, fine. Say what you mean, and mean what you say! It is neither modern or progressive to say that someone can’t have a leadership role in the church because of their sexuality or gender today. I don’t have to agree with a church’s doctrine, but I can respect it. But, I can NOT respect churches that lie.
Churches should be more honest and transparent about their beliefs. Preferably, a church’s belief system should be declared on its website. At least, in that case, my friend and others can make informed choices to attend.
Unfortunately, deception and desperation go hand-in-hand today.
Preparing your marketing strategies for the end of the year will help you start the new year on the right step. Here are some steps to take now:
1. Review your monthly and annual performances: What worked? What didn’t work? Review all your marketing tools – emails, newsletters, social media, website, etc. Use analytical tools like Hootsuite and Google Analytics to look at specific monthly or quarterly performance rates and trends.
2. Review your budget: Did your current budget fulfill your marketing plans? Did you overspend or were under budget? Would better marketing technology or vendor sources have helped create different results?
3. Do a content audit: We talk about content audits all the time here! The primary purpose of having a content strategy is to make sure the information you are presenting online is consistent with your organizational messaging and brand identity. It’ a good idea to do audits to keep your content regularly and especially at the end of the year to stay on point.
If you have any questions about how your company can end the marketing year right, contact us!
Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude, but we should also remember the real story behind the first Thanksgiving. I found this very thought video on YouTube.
Happy Thanksgiving, but let’s make sure we keep it real on the historical items.
