Marketing the Gospel and the Church. . .

While perusing some journals and magazines in the stack, I happened across an article by a liturgical pastor on "Marketing Principles" to promote new growth.  The journal was at one time rather staid and stuffy but apparently has expanded its horizons.  In fact, the article was an unabashed promotion of business marking for liturgical churches and gave a personal testimony of how it had been used to fill the pews in one spot.  The premise was that churches had not adjusted to the changing times (some of them the fruit of the pandemic and others the result of culture shifts).  Bottom line is that people have fallen out of the habit of attending on Sunday, have shorter attention spans, and are focused on other things instead (like kids and sports and stuff).  The key statement is this:  Churches are simply a 19th century habit suddenly confronted by a 21st century post-pandemic world...

The suggestions were many.  First was the idea of scrubbing the liturgy to shorten, streamline, and make it move.  Permissive rubrics were the first appeal. In other words, may has come to mean omit.  Two abbreviated readings suffice for the lectionary instead of three.  The choir anthem stays (interesting since it is entirely a may rubric) but hymns are down to one (with fewer stanzas sung).  The Psalm stays but it is used during some down time (like the distribution).  Readers are on site to start reading right away (without a solemn walk up, reverence to the altar, and any dawdling.  Acolytes have also had it drummed into them.  Efficiency is the byword.  Everyone cheers when they get done in 55 minutes (even with 300+ communing).  Their contemporary service struggled because, believe it or not, contemporary Christian songs are often quite a bit longer than a hymn!  Problem was solved with the switch to Morning Prayer with communion on the side from the reserved.  Preaching is limited to about 8 minutes.  QR codes and online giving methods have also streamlined the liturgy.  Prepared and wrapped foods have kept the coffee hour without a delay or those irritating delays getting a sausage biscuit.  Sounds great, right?

I am sure it does sound good to people and, if it makes people the mystery to 55 minutes and get rid of the liturgy as if it were a speed bump on the road to success?  And what exactly does success look like?  Get them in and through and done and out the door as fast as possible does not seem to correlate with previous ideals of success or faithfulness.  So, who is wrong?  Should we be doing this?  Is the liturgy like a seven course dinner you can pare down to fast food?  Is the Word of God worth a few extra minutes or not?  What are we telling people by paring down the service to make it as efficient as possible?  I am not sure that Jesus ever addresses efficiency as a criteria for the Church or the Gospel.  If He had, He might have created a more effective governance system and something more efficient than Word and Sacrament.  If Jesus is not concerned by inefficiency, should we be?  Does heaven rejoice over even one sinner who repents or when the liturgy can be said in 55 minutes or less?

The point here is not to dump on this pastor and this parish trying to appeal to people who find worship and church unappealing.  No, the point is rather to ask ourselves why we think we have outgrown the whole idea of liturgy and why we would judge an hour and twenty minutes or son a royal waste of time?  It a more streamlined liturgy and shorter sermon the answer to the problem or are we the problem?  Have we become the problem because we no longer value or esteem the things of God as highly as we do our screens or our leisure time or our sleep?  Maybe the answer is to give up in person worship and simply pump out a good digital platform for folks to view in the pjs and when they choose?  If God does not like it, at least the people will.