I was thinking alot about these church growth techniques designed to get people in the sanctuary and they reminded me very much of the techniques that new car manufacturers (and/or dealers) are now using to get people in the showroom.

Incentives/rebates The church growth people have used raffles for super bowl tickets, 10.00 Gas cards to the first twenty-five people, etc. to bring people to the sanctuary. The car dealers have used rebates, low interest rates, guaranteed trade for push-pull-or drag, drawings for college football tickets, groceries at the grocery store with a purchase, etc. to bring people to the showroom.

Threat of competition One church offers ten dollars to the first twenty-five ‘guests’ for showing up and listening to a sermon. Another church upon seeing the success the church down the street had offers twenty dollars to the first fifty ‘guests’ for showing up and listening to a sermon. One car manufacturer offers a 5 year 60,000 mile warranty and their direct competitor countered with a 5 year 100,000 mile warranty.

Demographics One church wants to be known as a ‘family worship center’ or wants to attract the ‘upper-middle class’ people with affluence. A car manufacturer hires a supermodel to tout their products to appeal to the college educated professional females or shows an Asian driving the car to attract potential Asian customers.

Service After The ‘Sale’ The church growth people stress in their techniques along with attracting new members to offer a certain amount of support for members who need counseling when a crisis occurs. The car dealers stress in their techniques along with attracting new customers to stress service and warranty support for customers who need warranty repair when the crisis of a broken down car occurs.

Survey Facts The church growth people use survey results such as ‘one of the ten fastest growning congregations in America’ to attract visitors. The car manufacturers use surveys from people like J.D. Power or Wards with facts such as ‘one of the best cars in it’s segment in terma to overall quality, customer satisfaction, and resale value’ to attract customers.

Hiding The True Cost Many church growth people compromise the Gospel into a easy believeism to where the pre-Christian does not realize the true cost of being a follower of Jesus. Many car dealers attempt to confuse the customer by changing the interest rate and adding hidden fees (see the fine print of the contract) to where the customer does not realize the true cost of the car (or they say the terms at a very fast rate to the point of near incoherence on their television commercials).

The Trade In Value The church growth people will try to convince you that your previous church/lifestyle is not worth as much as you think and encourage you to trade life at your old ‘worn out’ church for a ‘new, improved’ church. The car dealers will try to convince you that your old car is not worth as much as you think and encourage you to trade the old worn out car for a ‘new car’.

…and I could continue…..