Church Shopping Website Launches

Posted on September 21, 2010
Viewed 1333 times
(22) comments

You know I love press releases. Here's one I received yesterday. My question. Great idea or one of the worst ever? You decide...

Here's the press release:

Visionaries and owners Chad and Stephani Olson explain that with the Internet becoming the standard for gaining information, churchshoppers.com helps American families find the most compatible home church based on important areas of preference, including, denomination, location, preaching and music style, ministries offered and more.

Using sophisticated search engines, Churchshoppers allows searchers to enter criterion based on a variety of preferences. Search results are provided from a base of over 100,000 churches and ministries of all denominations. Their results provide complete profiles of the churches, including web addresses, photo images and even a video welcome message from the Pastor.

In addition, churches may make use of Churchshoppers directory at very affordable rates. Services to churches include a detailed church profile with audio and visual capabilities, quarterly traffic inquiry report upon request, monthly E-zines on church marketing and growth, Google mapping features, as well as special online forums on church marketing “Our mission is to match individuals and families to the church that best fits their personal preferences and spiritual compatibilities and in turn see Bible believing churches grow and flourish. We are not the typical Church Directory, but more like a match making site, pairing the right people to the right church,” says Olson.

Visitors to churchshoppers.com will find the site easily because of its high visibility through national and local search engine phrase/optimization, along with a host of community link sources which provide visitors to the site with a user-friendly means of searching for a church.

Churchshoppers.com’s focus is to help those people who are away from home, re-locating to a new area, or simply need a fresh start, narrow down the field from hundreds of churches to a select group of churches with whom they share deep levels of compatibility.

So... great idea or horrible one?

Would your church utilize or pay for such a service?

Would this service be more for people looking to change churches, or seekers looking to find a first-time church?

Todd

Comments

if you want a Globally Recognized Avatar (the images next to your profile) get them here. Once you sign up, your picture will displayed on any website that supports gravitars.

Ron Amundson on Tue, September 21, 2010

As a guy who was on the road a ton… such a site could have been a major blessing. Otoh what could be, and what seems to be proposed appear a bit at odds. Ie, consumeristic factors are generally not a concern for the transient… but the Word of God is, and how that Word is handled most definitely are. In a lot of ways, I think such could end up leading to a whole lot more church hopping than less shopping. Perhaps I will be surprised though, press releases are often at odds with real life.
Lee Gunter on Wed, September 22, 2010

There are already dozens of sites trying to do the same thing. A “pay to be listed” site can not succeed in meeting this need. It lets money influence the listing instead of the actual intended characteristics of the church.

There are things that are better to bo done “old school.” however, every church that wants to be part their community in the 21st century should have a web presence, however modest it may be.
Alan on Wed, September 22, 2010

This is really much simpler than mThis is really much simpler than many folks want to make it:

Those who complain about services like this and “consumerism in the church” are those who know deep down that they lack the talent (or “gifting”) to attract and “lead” people who are free to choose otherwise.

As a matter of fact, these complainers, if they’re being honest, are unhappy—even angry—with God for not equipping them to be good at what they do.

Here’s what you folks truly NEED to understand—once exposed to better talent and environments, the people’s standards are permanently reset higher.

It’s not their “fault,” and they are NOT “sinning” or doing any of the things you’re griping about. It is simply the way our brains are DESIGNED to operate—once we learn “better,” we don’t go back to “inferior.”

Those complaining or trying to say otherwise are just trying to invent intellectual or—worse!—theological reasons why they’re covering up their weaknesses and are in “fight or flight” survival mode. If that’s you, you might think about doing what you KNOW in the back of your mind simply MUST be done—shut your church down and find another career. Your various forms of projection, justification, and excuse-making are more than just getting old…they’re becoming VERY transparent to even casual observers.

Bottom line, I don’t know of a single gifted pastor or strong church that makes these complaints, and that should tell EVERYONE what’s REALLY going on.
John Burton on Wed, September 22, 2010

It’s not that churches shouldn’t be excellent… they should… absolutely. We can’t be OK with anything less.

But, the problem is when we kick into seller/shopper mode.

People shouldn’t choose a church based on excellence, but based on where God is calling them to serve. In fact, it may be the churches that need improvement that would be a better fit for someone looking for excellence. They can serve that church into excellence.

Leaders should pursue excellence, but they shouldn’t be tempted to focus on that, or to compromise the core call… and that is a call to service. Don’t tell potential visitors how much they will receive when they attend your church as much as you tell them how much they will give.
Marcus Lynn on Wed, September 22, 2010

Alan, Way to show love brother! I’m glad you’ve been given prophetic gifts to determine which people are “angry with God.” I’m not! How could I be angry with God for all that He’s done for me?! God has called me into ministry and God doesn’t call the equipped but equips the called. I am happy and satisfied and fulfilled by the ministry given to me. How can you presume to know these things about people you don’t know? May that describe some people? Absolutely. But let’s not paint with such a wide brush. How do you know I don’t pastor a strong church? Have you been here? I know that I will certainly advertise ourselves that way from now on! I can’t find “another career” because this is the one God has called me to. And I put His opinion over that of mere man’s.
Lee on Wed, September 22, 2010

“you KNOW in the back of your mind simply MUST be done�shut your church down and find another career.”

Wow, Alan. Way to put words in peoples’ mouths and assume their motives. Last time I checked, there was still a commandment against bearing false witness.

Also, your quote above reveals the very problem when you suggest “shut your church”. The church is not mine or yours, it belongs to Jesus Christ throughout history and throughout time.

The congregation I serve was founded 120 years before I was even born and barring the second coming, they will be there 120 years after I’m dead and still doing what Christians have done since the time of Acts: gathering to here the Word, sharing God’s meal together and being sent out to proclaim the Good News to others. Even if the congregation I serve doesn’t survive as a congregation in the future, it still lives on because the church is not just the building or congregation, but the entire body of Christ. When Christians were killed and outlawed in Japan in the 19th Century, the church survived because the Holy Spirit gathered them together and sustained them with the Word (albeit mostly orally because printed Scriptures were destroyed). It survived for generations and it wasn’t because they had an add in the yellow pages. They survived because they were and are Christ’s, his Church and by the grace of God they acted like his Church.

Therefore, Alan, my “anger” is not at God or at mega-churches or self-denomination churches; my anger and concern is over the shallow-ness of my generation (I definitely struggle with this sin along with the rest of us) that somehow confuses entertainment and shallow emotional manipulation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Peter Hamm on Wed, September 22, 2010

Alan,

Well our church seems to be doing okay, and I still think it’s a bad idea. And I’m not angry at God because I think he’s done a fine job of equipping the folks I have around me.

I do however harbor a little bit of anger, I confess, at people who manage to tell me what I’m thinking or feeling, even to the point of telling me I should give up on what God has called me to do. That kinda gets my goat, to be honest.

Blessings,
Peter