I am caught up in an odd predicament that I would suspect has seized many others as well.

1. I don't want our church or any church to be treated as just another marketing opportunity and be used in such a callous manner.

2. The day I heard about "Narnia," back while they were starting the casting process, I knew I wanted to go see it and perhaps even use it for sermon material.

We are currently using it for 4 sermons. In addition, we brought in a Bible college professor to teach on C.S. Lewis. We are encouraging people to read the books and I consider them to be a good base for training in certain Bible doctrines.

So, do I feel good about being caught in something bad that is using to something good; or should I feel bad about using something good even though it is hooked to something bad?

Feel bad. Or just avoid the marketing connection. Teach about Lewis, show how the books illustrate the Scriptures (right up to the Second Coming), show how Lewis skillfully integrated faith with imagination and art--something worth relearning for American believers. Don't mention the movie from the pulpit--you won't have to anyway, I'll bet--let your folks decide for themselves whether to see it or skip it.

What makes me angrier than than Disney promoting the film to churches in a such a desparate manner is the way that all sorts of Christian companies are doing the same thing. If I hear the phrase "the biggest witnessing opportunity since the Passion of the Christ" one more time I am going to puke. We don't need door hangers and postcards and flyers and giant posters and all sorts of kitschy "witnessing tools." Haven't we learned that the more we badger people about anything the less likely they are to do it? Just let the film be what it is. My constant prayer has been that people would learn that Mr. Lewis authored the original book and that they would begin to explore his huge body of work on their own.

But yeah, to go back to the article you mentioned - the church should be angry for thinking they could be bought that easily. Sadly, many already have been, as is indicated by the farce that was Come Together and Worship. Where is a phone number that I can call Disney to complain?

That said, I will be bugging everyone I know to go and see Steve Taylor's "Second Chance" when it comes out in February. Ah, Steve Taylor. Always a breath of fresh air.

I really don’t think this blog is about the marketing of Narnia. It’s simply about the medium of movies and a general dislike of Disney. The fact of the matter is that pastors all over the country led their churches in 40 Days of Purpose. For some reason, no one complained about it because it was a book. I actually received more promotional materials for that campaign than I have for Narnia.

I’m not suggesting that Zondervan stooped to the level that the individual in Philadelphia claims Disney did, but that doesn’t change the fact that pastors all over this country took their marching orders from a publisher for 40 days.

I recognize that a Christian book publisher is different than a major media corporation like Disney. But let’s stop using the term Disney or “the Mouse” as if their desire to keep their company in the black is different from other publishing companies. A Christian company owns the rights to the Narnia franchise. They control the content of the movies. Disney is the best distributor of children’s films on the planet. Let’s not take aim at a great movie for making a good business decision in choosing the world’s best distributor for their movie. I'm sure as pastors we will throw away more promotional materials from “Christian” companies than from the Mouse this week.

Wait! Hold on!

Who, beside the Philadelphia Inquirer has said Disney is sponsoring the sermon contest? Or paying for the trip? Let's examine the report's claims. Go to SermonCentral.com for yourself and read the contest details.

Note:

SermonCentral, along with MTS Travel, is sponsoring a Narnia Sermon Sweepstakes.

No mention of Disney sponsoring the contest. And note the disclaimer at the bottom of the page:

"The views expressed herein do not represent those of the Walt Disney Company, Walden Media, the C.S. Lewis Estate, or the filmmakers, but are rather the views of various organizations who have created these resources specifically for leaders in the faith and family community."

Friends, this looks like an example of SermonCentral capitalizing on the Narnia hype. I suspect if PreachingToday.com received some choice Narnia-related illustrations and sermon outlines they'd pay the contributors just the same as they do for any good illustration or sermon outline. Does that put SermonCentral in bed with Disney?

Let SermonCentral run their contest without guilt by association. It could produce some good stuff, helpful for the kingdom. Until Disney or SermonCentral admits to a connection, why assume there is one?

Rich

The trip is being offered at SermonCenral.com.

http://www.sermoncentral.com/narnia/sweepstakes.asp

For the record, I detested the Purpose-Driven Everything at my church. The fact that Warren's book hawks Purpose-Driven-branded merchandise (something like, "If you need to keep a journal, you can buy official 'Purpose-Driven Life' journals at your local Christian Bookstore") was enough to make me gag.

Now, there were clearly beneficial things about the series for a lot of people in my church. But my hackles are raised any time it starts sounding like money-changers in the temple.

I think this is a HUGE reason why people become jaded with Christianity. I'm often loathe to place judgment on other churches, but I seriously question the spiritual maturity of any pastor who allows a Chevy to be placed in their lobby or tries to win a vacation with his sermon--no matter who's paying.

Stuff like this is one of the few things that get me very angry, honestly. I think it's pretty simple: If what you do in ministry is motivated by material gain, you're in the wrong.

Nathan writes: "but I seriously question the spiritual maturity of any pastor who allows a Chevy to be placed in their lobby or tries to win a vacation with his sermon--no matter who's paying."

I agree with the Chevy, thing, for certain.

But, Nathan, are you implying that the only ethical preachers are those who accept no financial compensation for their work? Would you then say it's unethical to submit a sermon or an illustration to a sermon resource site like SermonCentral or CTI's own PreachingToday.com? Is it therefore always wrong to accept compensation for intellectual property--if it so happens that the intellectual property is a sermon?

Does it matter whether this happens to be a "contest" where the winner is randomly selected (and therefore chosen by God! ) and not due to merit or some sort of Disneyfied boot-licking?

If your work product happens to be photography used in your pastor's sermon-notes slide-shows, or if your work product is oil-on-canvas paintings hanging in the church foyer, is it therefore unethical to also enter those items into an art contest?

If you design churches for a living, is it immoral to submit your blueprints in an architectural design contest?

Why is it somehow more immoral for a preacher to use his intellectual property this way but other professionals and artists cannot?

Rich.

Rich,
I think that Nathan's point is clear. He is talking about GREED, not getting paid for one's work.
Tim

I am also concerned about all the people who will be immediately turned off from the message of Narnia and the works of C.S. Lewis.

I am allergic to over-marketing, and it always causes me to have a bad reaction.

But, maybe I am not the person they tried to reach. I did lead "400 Days of Marketing" at our church, but we used it as a tool for teaching our people and we adapted it to fit us.

On the other hand, I have not seen "The Passion" even though someone loaned us a copy. It just wasn't high up on my priority list.

Marketing is like the grass of the field, here today and tomorrow composted. The word of God lives forever. Where are your energies going?

Regardless of who is sponsoring the promotion, here's the pitch from their perspective:

"We want this movie promoted in churches, and we're willing to provide incentives to encourage that promotion. You can take it, or you can leave it."

They're not as caught up as you in the secular/sacred division between the outside and the inside of the church building.

So let's say that you take them up on it, and you get the free trip to London and the $1K cash. But instead of taking it for yourself, you use the trip or the equivalent monetary value, if it's available, for more direct kingdom purposes. You use the money to feed the poor, for example.

Feel better now?

I suppose what makes me sick is this idea that your pulpit is some sort of sacrosanct entity free of that dirty "secular influence." Oh, holy church. Never to be trod upon by the unwashed masses.

The sheer audacity of your statement that there should be an outcry over the "blatant attempt by a secular power to manipulate the preaching ministry of the church" is just beyond the pale. Oh yes, they're trying to work their sinister schemes into the life-changing messages you deliver to your docile flock, aren't they.

Good grief.

BTW, the idea of Nintendo sponsoring your children's ministry newsletter is freaking awesome. Someone should be calling Nintendo America right now.

Rick Warren's and Mel Gibson's successes prove that the church is a powerful marketing tool. Now the business world has this information and they have a marketing blueprint to follow. I imagine we can expect countless efforts to repeat the Passion and PDL success in coming years--each one more tacky than the last. I could make a funny prediction -- but I'm afraid it just might come true.

I agree with Steve May. We did 40 days, and I enjoyed it. But then it happened--Rick had my address, and they bombarded us constantly with 40 day mutations and paraphrenalia.
Should we rejoice now that America has noticed the church and the influence we wield?

In reference to the question of who is behind the contest that is being sponsered by SermonCentral.com. The company that is responsible for this and other marketing efforts to the "christian" market is Motive Marketing/Entertainment.

Motive Marketing was hired by the Walt Disney Corporation to help them reach the "christian" market. They position themselves to major motion picture studios as being a marketing firm with a unique ability to target the faith and family markets. They see a huge opportunity in that area and sell the opportunity in a strong way to studios:

 

"Motive’s central business premise is that the same 'Faith and Family' market that has been voraciously consuming faith-based and family-friendly books, music, TV and radio will likewise consume high quality faith-based and family-friendly films.

We believe the film/video product category is ripe for explosive growth within this market, mirroring the Christian music industry, which recently grew from a music 'alternative' to a booming industry supported by recording companies, radio stations, music tours, and more than $1 billion in annual sales.

The Faith and Family Market is a potential goldmine for films that can satisfy its demand for high quality entertainment and high moral values."

- Motive Marketing Website (http://www.moviemarketing.biz)

 

The site where they have launched many of these Narnia campaigns from is http://www.narniaresources.com. You can access all kinds of resources for helping to market the film from the site. Fans, ministries, retailers and more can participate to help make the film a success.

If you want to see the specific connection to SermonCentral.com, the page is at http://www.narniaresources.com/links/. Motive Marketing worked with these companies to create promotions that would create more awareness of the film. So, indirectly, Walt Disney is involved with the contest.

Those are the facts.

Here's my humble opinion:

In general, the church in America wanted to be an economic and political force. In the process, we have invited outside forces into our midst that should not be there. The church should not be so intertwined with commerce.

I believe that over the past 250 years, we have allowed "American" values to become confused with Christ's values. Now we are reaping the results. If we continue down this road, we should not be surprised to find a church that doesn't look any different than a niche market or a political interest group and not the body of Christ.

This marketing effort directed at the church is not Disney's fault. It was invited by the church. And there really aren't any church leaders speaking up saying "the church and commerce don't mix." Instead, it is being embraced by many outspoken church leaders.

Instead of asking, "how can we make things the rest of the world has for Christians," maybe we should be asking "how should we look different than the rest of the world?"

Tim, well researched and written. The motive marketing stuff turns my stomach. It states a sad fact - Christians have a capacity for consuming that rivals that of the world which we are supposed to be in and not of.

SermonCentral.com sponsored the contest. However, SermonCentral is an arm of Outreach Media and thus it appears that the sermon contest is indeed a Disney marketing strategy. Outreach has been hired by Disney for the promotion of the movie.

Tim, great research, and good job finding the real connection.

I stand corrected and chastened.

Maybe that'll make a good sermon illustration... (grin)

Rich.

I think this isn't an easy issue. I'm not a separtist--I believe the church has to engage the culture surrounding it, not withdraw from it. Yet we do trust in Jesus' teaching that no one can serve both God and money. How do you engage a culture that serves money, while still serving God?

I take a pretty conservative line on it, though I'm willing to work with and among Christians who don't have the same scruples that I do. For example, a church I once attended operated its own Christian bookstore. They didn't price-gouge, they didn't operate it for a profit to support the church (though many older architecturally interesting churches around the world DO have profit-making bookstores or gift-shops). But I was still uncomfortable with selling merchandise in church.

The church I currently work in (yes, I am paid) often holds fund-raisers for different ministries, usually simple things like dinners or craft fairs. I'm still uneasy about this, because of how it promotes a commerce-based mentality--we have to sell enough dinners to cover our costs.

I believe the healthiest scenario is a church that gives generously to support ministries, that gives generously to those in need, that collects and spends money for spiritual, not material reasons. Though it may not be a reality in very many churches, I believe it is something to which we should aspire.

Sure, people are making money off 40 Days and The Passion and Narnia, but why is that bad? The result of their work is that people understand more about Christianity.

In fact, I really hope Christian books and films continue to make tons of money--because then the best and brightest will continue to find new and creative ways to promote Christianity to the masses. Maybe they'll do a better job fulfilling the Great Commission than our dying mainline churches have been doing in the last 40 years.

Churches should be taking marketing lessons. We do lame things like give away coffee mugs (or cookies, bread, pens, or whatever) to our visitors, as a bribe, hoping that our visitors will return and eventually become due-paying church members. But what do coffee mugs have to do with expanding a visitor's understanding of the gospel? What if instead we gave away a DVD of The Passion to visitors? What if we gave each visitor a movie ticket to Narnia? That would get folks not only in through the church doors, but also expose them to what these movies and/or books have to offer as well.

And, really, we ought to turn the magnifying glass in on ourselves if we are to get serious about the evils of consumerism. At least here in Midwestern suburbia, churches are spending millions and millions of dollars on building projects. I don't think its that we are outgrowing our worship spaces so much as that we are trying to meet suburbanites' expectations of "nice" so they will be "comfortable" and somehow more "receptive" to the gospel. Isn't this just blatantly pandering to people's consumeristic tendencies too? Aren't there better, more effective ways of spending our churches' money in our efforts to fulfill the Great Commission? We ought to consider those things before we get too overly concerned about whether money is being made in the process of promoting Christian films and books that may actually do a better job reaching unchurched people and changing their lives than we in the church do.

What if God chose to use Disney for His glory as a way to exalt His Son? "the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, maybe?"

Do you have a better idea of how to connect secular society with the Church? Jesus went into the houses of tax collectors and sinners to break bread with them and His very presence saved some of them. I think this is a great oppertunity to take an evil industry's attempt to rake in profit's and expose them to people of faith. The influence of the Church on society needs to be stronger than the influence of society on the Church. What needs to be preached is; we have an oppertunity to get people of all or no faith aquanted with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What has been thought to be evil by the Church can be turned into good through the Grace of God! Don't let this oppertunity fall by the wayside, this is our chance to reach the lost.

How can anyone talk about this without unerstanding scripture? How can you change God into a Lion, accept "white" witchcraft in a sermon, corrupt salvation into "good works" by evil beings, etc.....

Read Romans 1 and forget Narnia.

Where are we drawing a line?

Is there a line, anymore?

I've been recently going through the book of Amos, and it's been grieving me over the state of our country... this post compounds matters and worries me more.

Who the heck cares if the churches want to promote a good clean film!? It is not only their choice but also not that bad a thing at all. Winning money or a trip to England for it is, but if any and all churches want to promote a movie without a single swear word, nude/sex scene, dead body and/or body parts, homosexual kiss, or worst in it I say More Power To Them!! Do you think it is better to let people who's children can't go to church learn about love and sacrifice and decency through other TV? Like Friends or Buffy The Vampire Slayer or South Park? I don't know about you but I want clean TV, I want Clean Movies and if I can only get it by letting the movie makers make their money it still sounds good to me. Don't you get it? This is the first step, If the money makers see that there is a large market for clean good films they will make MORE! This equals Less swearing, less nudity, less violence, less gore, and more hope, more decency, more honor, more real heroes in movies and some day regular TV too. All they need is to see how many of us don't want the crap in entertainment. So YES we should be promoting Narnia and all other films like it. Above all the religious talk remember this, It is a story and not meant to take a place in scripture. If people see a similarity between the fictional life of Aslan and the real life of Jesus it is because the writer of these books loved Jesus and wanted all children to learn at least a part of what he was and is without their anti-religion parents trying to stop them.