"Marketing God –
Churches try new approaches"

Flip on Channel 93.3 on any given day and, along with the raunchy, angst-filled lyrics of Eminem and Staind, you're likely to also hear a 60-second radio ad urging you to re-examine your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Turn to your favorite cable TV sit-com this fall and, at the commercial break, you may find a slick, 30-second spot inviting you to join either the United Church of Christ or the United Methodist Church.

Check your voice mail, and you may even find a recorded voice, preaching the gospel and directing you to a Web site to learn more about Christianity.

Forget low-budget newsletters and word-of-mouth advertising.

Modern churches and faith organizations, facing dwindling attendance and waning interest among young people, are coming of age when it comes to mass marketing, experts say. Using money from collection plates and the philanthropic faithful, they're hiring professional marketing firms and turning to TV, radio, telemarketing and the Internet like never before to get their message out.

And despite the occasional grumbles of dissent, either from churchgoers who see it as crass commercialism or chafed secular listeners who feel their airspace has been invaded, many clergy say the marketing campaigns are proving extremely successful and there will be more to come.
"Jesus said 'I will make you fishers of men and women'," says Dan Hansen, pastor of Longmont's Faith Community Lutheran Church, which uses both cable TV advertising, and a prominent sign with pop-culture phrases, to lure new congregates. "Churches are looking for nets and bait that will effectively and faithfully capture people's hearts and get their attention. They say this is the information age. What are the vehicles of information? The TV and the media."

In 2001, after four years of conducting market research to determine why their numbers were slipping nationally, the United Methodist Church announced it was launching an unprecedented $20 million five-year advertising campaign, including TV, print and billboard advertising nationwide. So far, it has included advertising on a 22-story electronic billboard in New York's Times Square, and TV spots running on 17 secular cable TV networks nationwide. Steve Horswill-Johnston, director of creative services for the Igniting Ministry campaign, says the church's aim is two-fold: It wants to attract 'seekers' who, according to the church's market research, have very little understanding about what the United Methodists believe, and it also wants to "be a part of the moral discourse of the country."

"Right now, TV rules," says Horswill-Johnston. "TV is how the popular culture mediates its world and the church, just like any other organization or institution is trying to reach that population for our own purposes."

Come fall, the United Church of Christ is expected to launch its own $3 million TV advertising campaign, saturating cable stations nationwide with an ad featuring two burly-looking young bouncers standing outside a church with a red velvet rope between them and a crowd of Christians waiting to get in. A voice chimes in: "No matter who you are, no matter where you are on life's journey, you are welcome at a United Church of Christ's congregation."

"The bouncers are symbols of alienation," says United Church of Christ's Ron Buford, who is helping coordinate the national campaign from his Cleveland office. "We found that people who don't go to church are feeling extremely alienated, and we want them to know we are welcoming of all people."

Locally, Longmont's Faith Community Lutheran church has, for years, enticed passing motorists on Highway 66 with a large hand-painted sign, incorporating pop-culture slogans ("WWW.Jesus.God; The Server Who's Never Too Busy," or "Like a Rock").

Hansen says the sign, and the recently-launched cable TV spots, are necessary at a time when young families are less loyal to their denomination as they were years ago.

"Today, it is more common for parents to shop around, looking for a church they believe their children will also like."

Sean Dunn, a 36-year-old youth pastor from Denver and founder of the nonprofit Champion Ministries, says he is taking his message straight to the young people, targeting teens with a first-of-its kind "radio evangelism" campaign aired on mainstream radio stations around the country. Since first airing last summer, the 60-second ads have been running 25 times per week on Clear Channel's alternative rock station, KTCL, also known as Channel 93.3. They feature Dunn telling stories about young people in trouble: a teenage girl who burns herself to relieve emotional pain, a depressed teen boy, a woman "left behind" in an airport.

"Sitting in an airport for a few hours because you missed your flight is one thing, but what about the consequences of spending an eternity separated from God because you forget to make your reservations? You see, there are several people who will miss out on the promise of heaven because they don't secure their entrance by surrendering their heart to God."

At first, Dunn's radio ads were greeted with vitriol, with more than a dozen angry listeners calling in the first days:

"Pretty damn pretentious pushing your mono-theistic God on everyone!" wrote one listener in an e-mail forwarded to Dunn. "I listen to hear music, nothing more."

Mike O'Connor, vice president of programming for Clear Channel in Colorado, said most callers "were under the false impression that the radio station was endorsing the message." Since then, the station has begun running a disclaimer -- "The following Christian radio message does not necessarily reflect the attitudes and beliefs of this station." And the complaints have subsided, O'Connor says.

Dunn is now airing the ads on 287 stations on four continents. Because many of those stations overseas are owned by one Christian businessman who gives Champion Ministries free airtime, Dunn's nonprofit pays for ads on only 10 stations. It anticipates it will spend roughly $90,000 on advertising on secular stations this year.

"We are not saying things like, 'if you don't believe what we believe you are going to go to hell,'" Dunn says. "What we say is, 'God loves you.' When we say 'God loves you' people get offended by that. I don't understand that."

Radio and TV aren't the only marketing venues faith groups are turning to.

Early this year, several thousand Lyons residents picked up the phone to be greeted with a three-minute recitation of the Christian gospel via an automated telemarketing system. The message ended by directing people to newlifetoday.com, a Web-based worship site loaded with warnings about the consequences of leading a 'sinful life' and links to other faith-based Web sites, books, and products.

The Colorado attorney general's office said it has gotten no complaints about the calls, and because the sender is a nonprofit, it is exempt from Colorado's telemarketing no-call list.

Mark Bradford, the Colorado resident who sent out the calls for myfaith.com, at the time says he did so for a simple reason. "I personally like sharing the message of the Gospel whenever I can."

Rick Sterling, president of Sterling Rice Group, a Boulder-based marketing firm, says he believes various denominations of the Christian church could greatly benefit from distinguishing themselves from each other -- something they haven't done well in the past -- through advertising. But they must be careful how they market themselves:

"It's a tricky one. To be effective, they have to be really sensitive: How do you deliver a message that is inclusive and doesn't sound judgmental? That really truly invites someone in."

So far, according to follow-up research churches have done, the campaigns are hitting their mark.

First-time attendance at United Methodist churches nationwide is up 19 percent, overall attendance is up 9 percent, and national leaders voted in March to extend the TV ad campaign through 2008.

Dunn's groundwire.com reported 30,000 hits on its Web site -- where listeners are directed to go after hearing the ad -- in April alone. And attendance at Hansen's Community United Lutheran Church -- where the roadside sign currently says "Free Ticket to Heaven; Details Inside," has blossomed to roughly 400 people during summer services.

Some listeners and viewers are clearly put off, or skeptical.

"I think the money is misplaced if the Christian groups are trying to gain followers there," says Tyler Mangin, an 18-year-old Boulder High graduate who often stumbles upon Dunn's ads on KTCL. "I just change the channel.

But Dunn and others like him are praying they aren't tuned out.

"What the church has been doing has not been effective," Dunn says. "We used to be able to hold the younger generation's attention. Now, we are losing a lot of them before we even get to speak with them. We realize, they are not going to come to us. We have to go where they are."