5.22.2006

The Business of Church

Are churches selling worship like BMG sells records?

From Jordon Cooper: Worship as a commodity

In this way, the religious 'industry' has done the same as the music industry and has moved to being established and in need of revenue to keep going which seems to be a horrible way of thinking about the church and worship.

3 comments:

Mark Baker-Wright said...

"Worship as business" has been an issue for quite some time. I expect that it is a natural outgrowth of the need, not just to be financially sustainable, but to be faithful to our call to gain new converts.

However, clearly "worship as business" is a bad model. My only proposal to combat it, however, is simply to suggest that we ourselves get to the "business of worship," focusing on giving God what God is due, rather than worrying so much about how to bring more people in.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it has anything to do with the 'religious' industry needing revenue to keep going. Most major Christian labels are owned and under major secular labels such as EMI and Warner Music. Whatever the market will bear is what I say...there is obviously a need, and it's being filled. The revenue brought in by a worship album is lining the pocket of the record execs that the Britney Spears album is bringing in.

By the way, I have this great worship song that I think can sell millions of records. someone call me......

Igford said...

A businessman once told me that if you're not growing, you're dying. He applies that his business, but when he told it to me he was referring to my personal life. I think that motto applies to a lot of facets of life, including our communities.

"Selling worship a a commodity" sounds horribly wrong only because of the way it is phrased. But is the idea really that wrong? Some may call it "selling out", but if being more relevant to the needs of the "market" in order to attract new people is the best way to grow the church, then I don't see anything wrong with it. Now, if a church started focusing it's marketing outreach to wealthy retired neighborhoods, I may start to have a problem with that.

What's most important is that we keep the right mindset. We may be attracted to the contemporary music and fancier services, but it's not the reason we worship. We worship God for God. We tithe because we believe in our Community and want to see it prosper.

But I don't really know what I'm talking about. So here is a quote from someone smarter than me:

"What would happen if we accept God's gift of tithing when we accept God's gift of money? If we give off the top, we claim our place as 'givers' before we admit that we are 'consumers.' That puts our priorities in order and establishes a framework of gratitude around the rest of our financial affairs."
-Henry Morris