Marketing Discipleship
Pass the cheddar if you want your church to grow!
I’m all for free market capitalism but I have to ask, why are some well known pastors charging a small fortune for their “kits”? If you are in church work, you know what I mean. There are kits on how to grow your church, kits on how to retain visitors, kits on the biblical discipleship of others, and soon I’m sure we will have kits on how to make kits!
I don’t begrudge someone for selling an idea they came up with but how am I going to benefit by spending $200-$300 (or more) on a “kit” to retain visitors? Aren’t their some good books on this topic already available for under $20? If these well-known pastors were truly wanting to grow the kingdom this way, wouldn’t the kits cost under $100 so that any church could afford it? If I were offering my stuff that I wrote myself, I would likely go the Anthony Coppedge way and charge under $10 for an ebook or something of that nature. I guess I’m just thinking out loud as I read my blogs. One pastor whom I’ve followed for years has gradually built up his “brand” and is now selling his stuff while his name is hot. Good for him. I really mean that. I just wish that we could see a more “open source” type of market for this stuff. I mean really, it was all drawn from the bible anyway so who gets the royalties there?
I write many bible studies, discipleship studies, and follow up lessons for new converts. I’ve looked at others’ materials for this and have written and adapted my own unique sets for each area. I guess I could fancy these up on CD and provide full-color graphics and sell them as kits but it seems they wind up on my thumb drive and I give them away to other pastor friends while loading up some of their stuff. This “open source” sharing is ideal for spreading ideas. Even on this site, I have a limited copyright for my writing as long as it’s not repackaged for profit by somebody else.
Better still is the work it takes for you to research and write these types of materials yourself. Read your bibles daily. Pick up a guide like Jerome Smith’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible and use it thoroughly to research topics and write your own material. That’s what I did. This July, I will be taking a few weeks away from the pulpit to focus my writing (no vacation!) on new lessons we will be teaching on how to use our bibles and related study tools more efficiently and effectively so that our congregation’s collective biblical literacy will rise. Along with this, my church and a few of my friends’ churches are meeting to consider the idea of a “Bible Summit” day long conference that will focus on this very issue. Our hope is to offer the material and seminar for free or a love offering only so that we can share ideas, build relationships, and grow our churches without paying a small fortune.
What kinds of materials could we put together if we worked collectively on such ideas? I would be willing to hear your ideas on an “open source” site to share such “kits” and help each other. Perhaps “thinking out loud” has its benefits. I’ll be looking forward to your response.
i am sure you are familiar with craig groeschel and lifechurch.tv. everything they produce is available for free to any church that will use it to grow God’s kingdom. they even prefer that you do not give them credit. all of it is very well done.
John Collier
June 17, 2009 at 11:27 am
John,
Most definitely! I refrained from mentioning names either way in the article for fear of making one camp or the other angry. My thoughts are more with the cost factor and also with “open source” sharing of our work. I would agree that Lifechurch has some incredible resources available. I’ve personally used their “baggage” series for a group of messages I preached a few years back.
Thanks for dropping by the blog!
Scott Cheatham
June 17, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I think the whole idea of “Marketing Discipleship” struck me when I was working in a church and in charge of finding a good children’s curriculum. Anything that seemed even halfway decent was WAY out of our budget (and we had a decent budget too). I finally found something that I thought would work and even though it was a bit pricey, I ordered it. When I received it, I realized it was nothing like what I expected. Instead it was just an overpriced promo kit to buy additional products.
I believe the idea of mixing business leadership into the church is not all bad. There’s definitely principles we need to learn. But when products are so expensive that only the large, wealthy churches can afford them, it makes me wonder why the product was even developed in the first place. Do we really want people to use our products to help facilitate discipleship, evangelism, and church growth…or are we more concerned with making a buck?
David Jones
June 17, 2009 at 12:28 pm
You must be reading my mind! Discipleship is all-important. You can get the directions right out of the Bible itself.
I placed cross references for this very topic at Hebrews 6:9 in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible for the key words “things that accompany salvation.” More complete still is the note I placed in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge at Hebrews 6:9.
The Bible-based outline includes such topics as:
1. CARING about spiritual things
a. neglect not our great salvation, Hebrews 2:3
b. care for our own steadfastness, 1 Corinthians 15:58; 1 Thessalonians 3:8.
c. our grounding in the faith as a guard against apostasy, Psalm 1:3. Matthew 7:13-27. Luke 8:13. Ephesians 4:14. Colossians 1:23. 2:7. 1 Timothy 4:16. 2 Timothy 3:15-17. 2 Peter 3:18.
d. the steadfastness of others, Hebrews 3:13. Don’t miss the note given in The New Treasury on this text.
e. Our steadfastness in fellowship, Hebrews 10:25, balanced by careful reference to the many cross references I assembled for Romans 15:7, a MUST READ!
f. guard against the danger of willful sin, Hebrews 10:26.
g. cast not away your confidence, Hebrews 10:35-39.
2. OBEDIENCE. Hebrews 5:9. Matthew 7:24-27. Luke 11:28. John 14:15, 23. Romans 1:5. 6:17. 15:18. 2 Corinthians 10:5. 2 Thessalonians 1:8. 1 Peter 1:22. 1 John +2:3. At this last passage I have listed the commands of Christ at length and in detail in a note in the New Treasury; I have placed only the cross references to the commands in the Cross Reference Guide.
3. TEACHABILITY, humility, and contriteness: 1 Samuel +25:17. Psalm +25:9. Isaiah 57:15.
4. Qualities underlying SPIRITUAL MATURITY, Matthew 5:3-12.
5. FRUIT of the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22, 23.
6. Development of the composite qualities underlying TRUE LOVE, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
7. Progress along the STEPS TO STEADFASTNESS, 2 Peter 1:3-11.
8. Regular PRAYER: 2 Chronicles 7:14. Psalm 119:18. Daniel 6:10. 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
9. A CONTINUING HUNGER FOR and increasing knowledge of THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD, Job 23:12. Jeremiah 15:16. Matthew 5:6. John 5:39. Acts 17:11. Colossians 1:10. 2 Timothy 3:15-17. 1 Peter 2:2. 2 Peter 3:18.
10. DAILY STUDY of God’s Word, Joshua 1:8. Psalm 1:2. Acts 17:11.
The “+” symbol means “find more here” for a major study of the topic by means of cross references.
In The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge I share in a note on Hebrews 6:9 exactly how one may profitably learn to read and study the Bible, and I suggest where a person may want to start.
11. The Bible is the true standard of faith and practice; the danger of false standards, Isaiah 8:20.
12. The Bible teaches that it is a written revelation from God that is written to be understood, Psalm 102:18. 119:104, 105. Proverbs 8:9.
13. The Bible is understandable for each individual is deemed competent to recognize false doctrine, Galatians 1:8, and even judge the truthfulness and correctness of the teaching of the apostles, Acts 17:11.
14. We need to learn thoroughly what the Bible teaches about itself, covered in topic numbers 1014-1121 of The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
The ideas I’ve quickly outlined above really do work and produce the lasting results in lives for Christ that we seek, for I used them successfully in public school, in a Bible discussion club, and in my own Sunday school class.
I think it is high time that we all get working on majoring on the majors instead of the minors. I shudder to think what opportunities are missed in our churches and Sunday schools for teaching for discipleship. God has presented so much valuable truth and instruction for us in the Bible. Why is it that almost no one is effectively communicating this truth into the lives God has set before us?
Even the mainstream news has headlines lately on the alleged demise of the Evangelical church, the terrible two-thirds dropout rate from our Evangelical Bible believing Sunday school ministries once young people progress beyond their teen years, and a headline where a former President claims the United States is no longer majority Judeo-Christian.
This ought not so to be!
I’ll quit preaching while the quitting is good before Pastor Cheatham bans me from posting on his blog!
Jerome H. Smith
June 19, 2009 at 8:11 am
Not at all Mr. Smith. Your comments are always welcome!
Scott Cheatham
June 19, 2009 at 3:52 pm
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