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Recently I read an article by Mary Maraghy, a reporter from Jacksonville, Florida. The title was, “Churches turn to PR experts to get a Boost.” It detailed what turned out to be a growing trend. Churches are hiring Public Relations experts to help them market their ministry. Below are portions of the article I read as well as a few of my comments.

“More and more church leaders across the country, are turning to the world of public relations to help them package themselves and boost attendance said Kristal Dove, assistant manager of the National Church Marketing Institute, a non-profit organization that helps churches devise marketing strategies. Calls have poured in to the institute, which opened eight months ago in Centreville, Va. Church leaders are realizing that, like other business leaders, they must use marketing, public relations and advertising to attract clients, said public relations agent Robin Wilson of Ponte Vedra Beach, who owns and operates the Wilson Agency.

The Rev. Ted Corley, said Wilson tells him when to speak out on a public issue and when to remain silent. She is knowledgeable about issues, Corley said. We don't do much without contacting Robin first." Some theologians warn that pastors can become too consumer-oriented. "It is easy to get caught up in the limelight of television cameras and getting your name in the newspaper," Adkins said. "I try to warn my pastors to continue to become people of integrity.”

While the scripture admonishes us to be, ‘wise as serpents, and harmless as doves’, I do not think hiring a PR agency to make sure, was what the Lord had in mind. As I read this article I was stunned by the wantonness that these church leaders used in treating the sacred Church of the Living God like it was a secular business. But this is common. Can you imagine our Lord ever referring to some sinner as a potential client? God deliver us from this non-sense! Imagine checking with the PR agent before we speak out on some issue? Imagine how disgusted all those saints who have gladly laid down their lives for the sake of the Gospel must be! Let’s get this straight – a pastor is not a business leader he is a church leader and the two are not the same! Our job is not to attract clients it is to honor and obey the Word of God, build up the saints and reach SINNERS WITH THE GOSPEL! Surely the apostasy is deepening.

Trumpet Editor