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Title: A Step-By-Step Guide to Church Marketing Breaking Ground for the Harvest by George Barna ISBN: 0-8307-1404-9 Publisher: Word Publishing Pub. Date: June, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Good Marketing, Poor Theology
Comment: Barna is marketing expert and very good at it. However, applying this to church growth is tragic error.
I find no support Biblically for the positions he makes. Further critique may be found in my book, Testing the Claims of Church Growth.
Dangerous principles to be brought into the church of Jesus Christ.
Rating: 2
Summary: Helpful, but compromises too much
Comment: This volume begins with a defense of church marketing principles that includes some references to scripture. Then Barna jumps into the basic steps of marketing a church, beginning with data collection, and moving to development of a vision and construction of a marketing plan. The appendices at the back give specific examples of the materials and work involved, from surveys to marketing resources.
Good: This book is a very easy read. Instructions are clear and plenty of charts are used to give a good understanding of the process, including a sample marketing plan. Bad: Much of the criticism church marketing has received is justified, and the faults are seen in full force in this book. Barna basically pastes business promotion principles to the church and justifies it by proof-texting carefully selected scripture passages. If the church caters to the felt-needs of the larger culture its values will become just another reflection of the culture. Rather than transforming the world, it will be transformed by the world (Rom. 12:1-2).
Opinion: There's lots of useful information for church outreach in this book, but ultimately it compromises too much. Jesus never took surveys of the culture He ministered in. The danger Christianity encounters when working in a capitalistic culture is the temptation to become customer-service oriented. Barna completely caters to that mindset: surveys are prescribed to determine what the public desires, and a "marketing plan" (which hinges on a business-type of "vision statement" and "mission statement") is created to meet these desires. This book may be helpful if referenced by church leaders, but only with a strong measure of caution.
Rating: 5
Summary: A must read book
Comment: Is a very good book, since it presents marketing concepts as they apply to ministry and making ministry a more effective operation. Some small or new churches lack the marketing knowledge and may wonder around without a clear mission or vision of how to grow. This book presents these key concepts for the development of a marketing plan. The book also provides insight to the status quo, the resistance to change, calls reader's attention to this fact that limits many times the growth of a church. One more time, this is a must read book.
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Title: Marketing the Church by George Barna ISBN: 0891092501 Publisher: Navpress Pub. Date: September, 1990 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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Title: Marketing for Congregations: Choosing to Serve People More Effectively by Norman Shawchuck, Philip Kotler, Norman Shawchuck, Bruce Wrenn, Guslave Rath ISBN: 0687235790 Publisher: Abingdon Press Pub. Date: September, 1992 List Price(USD): $31.00 |
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Title: Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them by Thom S. Rainer ISBN: 0310236487 Publisher: Zondervan Pub. Date: 01 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Purpose-Driven® Church, The by Rick Warren ISBN: 0310201063 Publisher: Zondervan Pub. Date: 18 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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