Continuing the Richard Reising insights… Marketing is biblical. At various times it says, ‘Jesus perceived their thoughts / reasoning in their hearts – and said….’ What was he doing? Managing their thoughts. Reshaping them where neccessary. We have to have a finger on the pulse of what people think about us. We have to be aware – and adjust. (that’s not ‘people pleasing’). A great example occurred at Pentecost. Acts 2 – in the midst of crazy charismania, when people were thinking, ‘What on earth is this?” Peter stood up to manage their perceptions; ‘We’re not drunk as you perceive, this is what the Bible says, let me explain…’ Peter was sensitive enough to know, ‘I have to manage this perception.’ Result? Thousands were won to Christ that day! In fact, God is the ultimate marketer. If you’re a Christian, it’s because He did whatever it took to reach YOU. He knew exactly what to do. Everything the church does ‘markets’ for good or ill. Someone will quote 1 Sam 15:7 where it says, ‘God looks at our heart.’ Well […]
Month: March 2012
The Management of Perception
Richard Reising visited Ivy today, and gave some great input which I’m going to be pretty much directly quoting from my notes on and putting out as a series of posts on CHURCH MARKETING… I know, I know… Marketing is a dirty word in church circles but marketing principles are not contrary to scripture – they pretty much come out of it! Marketing is NOT what you think it is. It’s not telemarketing people ringing and bothering you etc. It’s the management of perception. That’s pretty simple. It’s not the manipulation of perception! Management = to know were we are today, where we need to be and make the neccessary adjustments How is the church today perceived? How do we want it to be perceived? What do we have to do to bring about the change. If you ask people what the church is for, you’ll probably get an answer you don’t agree with. Your church has a perception. OR (worse) nobody knows about you! Everything you do that forms a perception of who you are – it’s marketing. Whether […]