between the tribes of Africa, but give them the message of the gospel and in a decade the business standard is raised. Church advertising is nothing more nor less than business methods applied to the work of the kingdom of Christ on earth. Some months ago, I attended a screen production in one of the local movie houses. It was the famous and excellent book visualized, “The Inside of the Cup.” One of the scenes was that of a working man’s home on Sunday morning. You can easily imagine the scene if you did not see it. the wife preparing the breakfast, the man sitting in the cramped-up kitchen reading the morning paper, and as he read his eye fell on the page of church notices and the display advertisements here and there and then with a sneer he remarked, “They advertise to get a crowd just the same as other people.” But, believe me, the emphasis was on the wrong word. They did advertise to get a crowd and it was highly commendable that they employed this high business method. Some churches and a few ministers have seen this new day come and have advanced in a tremendous way. Others have closed their eyes to what I believe to be the chance of a life time.
With this somewhat lengthy introduction I want to direct your attention to a few outstanding facts in the realm of church advertising and to try to justify the action of any church or preacher who insists on applying this splendid method of business to the church and its work.
I. THE CHURCH’S NEED OF GOOD, SANE, TRUTHFUL ADVERTISING
In a recent article in one of our church papers there was a splendid outline of the ages of the world and the contention of the author was that the present age was a “Man’s Age.” He insisted that the present demands of strenuous effort in the business world, the fact that the war had demanded the strength of manhood in its supreme effort and the great demands of reconstruction, all had combined to bring out real manhood in its most wonderful strength. You may say he is like the Greek professor who said there were two classes of people in the world, namely those who studied Greek and those who did not, yet I am inclined to think the contention was well taken. This being true, the demand for real men in the ministry is evident. The day of the “nicy-nicy,” “namby-pamby,” “frock-coated,” “kid-gloved” preacher, is gone, and gone forever. The minister must be a man among the business men of a community, and his work is vastly different from what it was in years past, for the demands of the age are different. This sterling, dignified, masculine sort of Christianity is appreciated by the business world, and if church advertising does nothing else, it begets confidence in the church and in the ministry on the part of the business world. It takes the church out of the sphere it has occupied for so many years, that of a benevolent institution only, into the field of big, broad, business achievement.
CHURCH UNDER-ADVERTISED
There are few churches in the world today that get returns for the money invested in the physical equipment. You will keep in mind that I am speaking now of the business side of Christianity, and that I am well aware that this is but one side of the issue and is by no means the most important, yet it is important, for on it the spiritual depends. A building, for example, costing $100,000 often spends little or nothing on advertising. What would we think of a business concern that did such a thing? The assistant advertising manager of a Portland department store told me less than a month ago that they spent in the year 1922 $400,000 for advertising, and big business spends $600,000,000 annually, in the United States alone, in advertising. If the church would spend a little money in advertising the great work it is doing, it would bring tremendous results.
It is important that you remember that I have said “truthful advertising.” The Associated Advertising Clubs of the
