Question: Who are these outlets reaching?

In marketing we often talk about knowing your audience. If you know who you are talking to you can tailor your delivery of the message in a way they can relate to. In creating things like a Christian television program or amusement park, who are you talking to? What’s the purpose?

I’ve been in the meetings and have heard the fund raisers…we are told they are reaching the lost. I think we might be fooling ourselves, I think we would be wise to take a look at who our audience really is. It might be time for a change.

The people that are really listening/watching/attending are not the unbeliever. Christians listen to Christian radio, Christians visit the Christian amusement park. A recent statistic shows that 1% of Christian TV are unbelievers. I would guess the same number is true for all the others as well.

I’ll be the first to say that if we can really reach that 1%, that the stated vision and goal is to reach that 1…that’s certainly a biblically sound vision. But that’s not the vision. The stated vision is to reach unbelievers. Here’s a clip from one of these:

But above all, beyond the fun and excitement, we hope that you will see God and His Word exalted and that you will be encouraged in your search for enduring truth and the ultimate meaning of life.

Folks, if only 1% of your real audience are unbelievers that means that 99% have already found the ultimate meaning of life. If you really want to reach the lost you need to start with admitting you’re missing the mark a bit. If your goal is to reach the lost with these channels, it’s time for some change, you need to step outside of your world and see things the way those that don’t understand it see it because right now you are preaching to the choir. If you want to reach unbelievers much has to change, and we’ll talk about that in another post today I want to consider another option.

What if you just start to look at who your real audience is and speak to them. That might look something like this:

Christian TV and Radio: Equip the saints, teach them how to reach their world, talk to business leaders who have brought faith to the workplace, have practical conversations about living life as a believer. (side note: if you are in TV and need outside help do yourself a favor and call Mark or Joe)

Christian Schools: Drop your entire high school curriculum, and focus on taking the years of elementary through Jr. High to equip Christian teens to bring their faith to the public school system. Prepare them to step outside (remember we are told to be IN the world) and have their faith tested and proven.

Christian Amusement Parks: Stay away from unbelievers, they just don’t get it and are simply pushed away by the ‘weird church Disney world’, instead focus on strengthening the saints through experience and community.

Please, if you are in any of these markets know that I say all these things in absolute love and know that I simply want to speak excellence into your ministry. This whole post came after a visit with Chad Varga, who reminded me to not take my eyes off the lost which got me thinking about how we are trying to reach them and the need to be equipped to be the light in our dark world. Be encouraged and continue to press on…and share your thoughts, I’d really love to hear everyones feedback on this topic.