I heard the strangest radio advertisement last week. It caught my attention because it was a local church marketing itself as the choice for Easter Sunday. That’s okay. I’ve run plenty of articles on ChurchCentral.com about marketing and branding for churches. But here was a new twist in the church advertising. This particular congregation asked would-be churchgoers to join them on Easter and enter to win a Disneyland vacation.

Honestly, this is appealing. I considered for a couple seconds foregoing my own church on Easter, since it is a guaranteed mess of congestion on the most well-attended Sunday of the year. (Note my poor attitude.) I wouldn’t mind going to Disneyland instead. But I hadn’t even seen Mickey yet in my imagination when I considered further what an outrageous idea this church had in promoting itself via the Magical Kingdom.

First of all, what if it works? What if a couple hundred people show up just for the chance at winning Disneyland tickets? What if people actually base their church choice on the goods to be offered?

Granted, this may be the rationale many congregations have in placing an array of musicals, Easter cantatas, special services, meals, sunrise worship, Easter breakfasts, egg hunts, etc., on the menu for Resurrection Sunday. Maybe churches are trying to create their own Disneyland to attract guests?

So why not go all the way and offer one lucky guest a chance to go to the real Disneyland? I guess whatever guise gets someone into the sanctuary is justifiable because once there redemption is available?

I don’t think so. To me this is the ultimate example of how far churches have bowed to consumerism in America in order to attract a congregation. In my humble estimation, it’s a little too far. The pity is what happens when all these Disneyland seekers are actually enticed to a church for the wrong reasons. Then, if they ever do get the opposing message of Christianity—namely that your life is a living sacrifice rather than a pleasure cruise—they are sure to react badly to it. They were promised an amusement park after all.

Anyway, this is really out there and I thought you should know. I’m curious, too, what church leaders think about this approach and how far you would go to attract visitors to your church?

Blog here: http://rebeccabarnes1.blogspot.com/