top of page

New & Improved

Writer's picture: Yoel BartolomeYoel Bartolome

New and Improved. Several years ago, I was listening to an influential pastor and author named Andy Stanley teaching on the power of momentum. While speaking to a room filled with pastors, he had on display products like toothpaste and other household items. His emphasis to the crowd of pastors was that the best way to create momentum in your ministry is to introduce things as “New and Improved.” He pointed out how ordinary products always have something new or different on their labeling to catch the attention of the consumer. Everyday products like toothpaste might advertise that the consumer now gets 20% more in their redesigned package than the old one. If they need to add flavor, color or just make the product seem bigger, companies will gladly do it because they understand that the consumer is looking for something that is “New and Improved.” Marketing and advertising are critical for many companies if they are going to stay profitable and keep their sales momentum going. Why were so many pastors sold on this message from Andy and others like him? Because they knew this approach would work in their churches. Pastors spend a lot of time and money chasing the best way to market their churches so they can create and sustain momentum in attendance and giving. It is no surprise that if your local church is spending millions of dollars on buildings, naturally its main method or focus of how to deliver the Gospel will be that building (an event center). Usually where you spend your money is where your heart is. The danger of the “New and Improved” approach is that it focuses on putting butts in seats more than it does on making disciples, and on activating and commissioning believers for the work of the ministry. This is why when you see social media posts from churches or pastors, often they are inviting you to come to their church for an exciting event or to hear a new message series. There is a reason why churches produce teaching series with catchy titles and themes… they are easy to market and advertise. Although there is nothing wrong with inviting someone to church, in this Honest Conversation I would like to discuss the marketing tool of the “New and Improved” when nothing is really new or improved, instead it’s all about creating momentum for people to attend church and give financially.


Just recently I heard a pastor tell his congregation that God Himself had downloaded that week’s message word for word to the pastor and they needed to hear it. The sad and funny thing about this self-aggrandizing statement was that I had spent years taking notes on many of this pastor’s messages, and I found that same message he proclaimed to have downloaded the night before… was recycled from years earlier. The “New and Improved” church has the pressure to package something as new from things that God calls eternal. Below you will find the “New and Improved” church calendar that many churches follow. This calendar is not all-inclusive but it would be surprising if your church is not doing any of these things. These seasons are important to recognize so we can begin to understand why most churches work the way they do. Or maybe it’s just time to have an Honest Conversation about why your church does what it does.

  1. Vision Weekend: This is when most churches share the vision for their church. This is usually a springboard to soft sell a future new capital campaign.

  2. Heart for the House: This is when there is a hard sell for a capital campaign. Churches employ this hard sell technique regardless of whether there is need or not because research shows that giving increases when people have something tangible to give toward. There is a church in the Pacific Northwest that purposely stays in perpetual debt so it can be used as an incentive for people to give.

  3. Team Night: Many ministries in churches are inward facing rather than outward facing. These ministries are designed to keep the ecologies of the weekend services moving along. Team nights are designed as shot in the arm to keep momentum moving. The sad part is that often team members are only remembered when they are scheduled to serve or needed for a weekend church service. These nights are also salt and peppered with distributing a book or some material on how important it is to serve the church. It often becomes about how important it is to serve the church.

  4. 21 Days of Fasting: Fasting is an important discipline. Many churches schedule this time at the beginning of each new year and then it’s not be spoken of again until the next new year. Isaiah 58:5-8 reminds us that God’s chosen fast calls us to action. It’s not to afflict our souls but to share our food with the hungry and to help those who are in need. Sometimes social media has made fasting more of trend rather than an opportunity to walk humbly before our God.

  5. Easter, Christmas, and federal holidays: Easter and Christmas are when we celebrate the essentials of Christianity. Unfortunately, some pastors only see it as an event to get MORE people to attend their churches. This attitude is what drives churches to constantly strive to outdo what they did the year before to attract ever more people. I never want to see another cringeworthy James Bond or Kanye West reenactment tethered to the story of Easter. Yikes.

  6. Baptism: Yes, even baptism has a “New and Improved” twist to it. Many churches schedule baptisms on the least attended weekends because they attract new visitors. Churches will often give out baptism shirts with their church name and logo featured prominently and provide photos areas around the church for people to pose for pictures which will hopefully get posted on social media, providing the church with free advertising.

  7. Conference Season: Depending on the size of your church this will be in the spring or the fall. These conferences are strategically put on the calendar for all age groups to drive attendance until Easter or Christmas.

  8. Outreaches: These are often back-to-school events or Halloween celebrations. These are designed to maximize exposure of your church’s name out into the community.

  9. Sabbatical Season: This is when a pastor is gone for 4 to 6 weeks during the summer. This was always a funny concept to me… can’t we just call it an additional vacation? I do enjoy hearing all the youth pastors speak during this season when the lead pastor is taking paid time off to relax. Another thing I think is funny…why is it after Easter or Christmas pastors go on vacation? All the volunteers that work hard on those overwhelming holiday weekends are usually there the following week.

  10. Legacy Weekend: This is when a guest speaker comes in and talks about how great your church and pastor are. The bottom line is that these are designed to maximize year-end giving.

None of the things mentioned in this New and Improved calendar list are inherently bad as stand-alone events. But they become problematic when churches market them as a “Word from the Lord” when really they are simply marketing techniques designed to maintain momentum in attendance and most importantly, giving. How do we help our churches and lead pastors get away from this “New and Improved” movement? I believe having a mature elder board in place where true pastoral accountability is expected and adhered to is probably the most essential piece. Many churches have gone away from this biblical model of oversight because it holds lead pastors accountable to shepherding people, rather than just creating an event center. Churches need to get back to appointing mature, full of faith, men and women of good reputation that are filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s time to put away the gimmicks and fads. People are hungry for a healthy community consistently growing in spiritual disciplines among each other.

Recent Posts

See All

Sincere Faith

A Sincere Faith. In ancient times when potters would examine their ceramics, they would look for deficiencies like cracks, chips, or...

Keep It Simple

For anyone who has been a parent you can probably tell stories of when your children broke or damaged something at the most inopportune...

Church Trends

Today’s Honest Conversation has to do with the topic of trends within the church. At first glance this idea of trends may seem trivial,...

Comentarios


Los comentarios se han desactivado.

Send us a message!

Thanks for submitting!

© 2024 By Yoel & Christy Bartolome

bottom of page