As the founder of the Center for Church Communication and the popular blog Church Marketing Sucks, Brad Abare is an influential voice among church leaders. He’s a prolific blogger, the Communications Director for the Foursquare denomination, an established marketing and communications consultant, and the subject of our second Blogger Q&A.
COLLIDE: What motivated you to start Church Marketing Sucks more than four years ago?
Brad Abare: It was April 15, 2004. I was at an offsite meeting with the Personality team (a consulting company I started in 1998) and we were lamenting over all the churches that wanted our help but couldn’t afford it. But more than that, it was all the other churches that didn’t even "get it" that we were really concerned about. The church has the greatest story ever told but not enough people are listening or participating in that story. That is in part due to a communication problem. That’s why Church Marketing Sucks (and the nonprofit Center for Church Communication) were started. To help churches communicate better. The Center for Church Communication is not a business or a product or a 10-step program to good marketing and communication. We’re simply a concoction of communicators that care about seeing the church be the church. We facilitate conversation and community among thousands of people all over the world for this very reason.
COLLIDE: What important lessons have you learned (about people, church, blogging) in your years of blogging?
Abare: I’ve learned that people really want community but they don’t know how to get it. They’re looking online for ways to connect and interact and socialize, but they’re still unfulfilled. It’s tempting to think that my Facebook friends list, Twitter following, or reader stats are a reflection of my community and/or influence. Not so much. That’s the downside of what I’ve learned through blogging. The upside is that the world has gotten a lot smaller and people are easier to access. Transparency is more appreciated because it’s more difficult to hide.
COLLIDE: I assume that, for the most part, the Church Marketing Sucks reader community "gets it." How do you reach those who don’t "get it" yet?
Abare: This has been a big challenge for us. Blogging and online platforms are great, but such a small percentage of churches are taking part in the conversation. And the ones who are, are usually the people that agree with the premise. We’re looking for ways to expand Church Marketing Sucks and the Center for Church Communication to really reach those churches who need communication help the most. To reach those that don’t "get it." We have a handful of things in the works, specifically around offline strategies.
COLLIDE: If you had the power to make local churches stop doing one thing—whether marketing-related or not—what would it be?
Abare: I would get rid of the church-as-organization mentality that cripples so many people, especially leaders. We must get beyond our structures and systems thinking. It’s time for churches to get beyond our weekend orgasms. Sure, they’re fun, but that is not the only way to be the church. I love to see churches that get beyond a "that’s how we’ve always done it" mentality and let their imagination lose.
COLLIDE: If you had the power to make local churches start doing one thing—whether marketing-related or not—what would it be?
Abare: It would be along the same lines as what I said above. I would love to see churches help people realize that wherever they are, they are the church. From eating dinner with friends to spending eights hours a day with coworkers, you are the church! You don’t need a sermon or a worship service or a coffee bar to "be" the church. When we approach church as something "other" than us, we remove the responsibility of what it means to be the church. If we go somewhere it also means we leave too. We must get away from church as a place and instead see church as a presence.
Keep up with Brad at churchmarketingsucks.com, cfcclabs.org, bradabare.com, and thinkpersonality.com.