As a church, if we had a better understanding of psychology - particularly if we knew how people react to what we say, and what we do. If we understood modern marketing techniques and became better at them, then we could radically improve the reach of the gospel, and more and more people would come to church, and our churches could really grow.

But is that our goal? Our purpose? To grow bigger and bigger churches?
Even if they’re full of people who just like going to church, but who aren’t saved, and who aren’t living for Yeshua?

Let’s be blunt, nobody ever became a Christian because of marketing.
Nobody was ever talked into it by a slogan or a feeling they got from a marketing message.
100% of Christians became Christians when the Holy Spirit did something amazing in their heart.

So instead of becoming better marketers, we should let the Holy Spirit lead our outreach, we should let him run the whole church, and just be available to him to do whatever he directs us, regardless of the outcome.

Regardless of marketing, we could resolve to just listen to what he says.
We would talk to the people he sends us to, or sends to us.
But NOBODY else. What’s the point of talking to someone whom the spirit isn’t drawing? It’s literally a waste of our time.
Even worse if we fill our church with them, and spend all our time dealing with their issues when he’s not drawing them.

We should let him worry about who becomes Christian.
Let him worry about whether our church has 100 members or if it has 10,000.
(Let me be clear, that I’m not against big churches. If the spirit draws 10,000 people to your church, that is fantastic. If he is building a big church through your church ministry, then praise God. But if he isn’t, then be satisfied with the church that he is building there).

I had one friend from Bible college who went to Crete as a missionary for 5 years. He was committed, dedicated, prayed all the time, totally depended on the spirit to direct his ministry. And after 5 years he had built a church of 4 people - him, his wife and two children.
Not one person became a Christian through their ministry. Not one person came to join their church.
But he was faithful, and that is all that Yeshua is asking of us.
Your reward is not based on how many people attend your church.

We are explicitly told in Romans 12, to not do things the way the world does.
We are meant to be different.
Even when it looks like it might work.

As that very famous verse in Proverbs says, “Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding”.

James told us that the body apart from the spirit is dead. He meant our physical body, but this applies to the church as well.
The church is often described as the body of Yeshua on Earth. But that body without the spirit is dead.
James finished that sentence with “and faith without works is dead”. But the opposite is also true. “Works without faith is dead”.
If we try to use our own logic, and the “worldly wisdom” of marketing to do our evangelism, it will be just dead works.

So let’s leave marketing for businesses, and let’s rely instead on the Holy Spirit, and just focus on listening to him and spending our time and efforts reaching those whom he is leading to us.