World have taken as their slogan "Truth in Advertising," and paradoxical as it may seen, churches and preachers should tell the truth just the same as big business.
II. THE CHURCH HAS SOMETHING TO ADVERTISE
It is in this matter that the ideas of people seem to me, to run in a very peculiar channel. The idea seems to be that the church, because it is a divine institution, has nothing to advertise to the world. The reason for this kind of thinking is, that we fail to realize that the most logical, reasonable and important matter in the world is that which concerns the spiritual life of the race and prepares humanity for that immortality in which the human race has universally believed. Yes, the church has something to advertise. This is the first idea you have to get in the minds of church officers and members when the minister starts a program of church publicity. I well remember an incident illustrative of this very thing. I was taking the pastorate of a badly divided, discouraged and dying church. They were heavily in debt and had lost all hope of ever coming out of what seemed to them an utterly hopeless condition. One of the first things I asked of that church was the privilege of spending a certain sum of money for advertising. True, it was money they did not have, nor did it seem possible for them to get the money to spend in this way. I was repeatedly refused the appropriation, until I promised them that if they would try the experiment for a period of three months, and if after that experiment they found that it had not been successful I would personally pay the entire bill. You can well imagine the result that came, for by the close of the three months not only had the advertising paid for itself several times, but the church had been filled with interested people, and the years of prosperity for that church had begun.
The strange part of this matter of advertising to me is, that there should be any objection to it, when we remember that the church has been advertising during practically all her history. Church bells, tower chimes, steeples, and physical equipment were the methods of advertising in the past, and many who have accepted these ancient methods without a word, criticise the modern plans of church publicity. In a certain church in the city of San Francisco, great consternation was caused a few years ago, when certain members led by a progressive minister, proposed the placing of a large electric sign on the front of the church. If advertising brings results to the business firm, it is certain that it will bring benefit and uplift to the church. It would appear that the business world had gone to extremes in advertising, yet they know their efforts have been rewarded. I am reminded of the man who was making a journey across the waters. They were coming near the section where the Rock of Gibraltar could be seen and the passengers were on deck ready for the first view of that historic rock. My friend who told me the story said, as they approached that great rock, the thing that impressed him more than any other thing was, that on the face of that great stone was to be seen the familiar advertising slogan of Mr. Heinz, the man of pickle fame. Heinz "57" varieties. It is really shameful that the business world has had to teach the church these lessons that should have been started by the church.
NOT ALL SENSATIONAL
Another important observation is that church advertising must be dignified. In the March issue of the Ladies Home Journal there is an article under the title, "Advertising the Church" with the subtitle, "Sensationalists are cheapening religion by grotesque methods." The article is interesting but is not true to present conditions for several reasons. The author presupposes that all such advertising means sensationalism, which is by no means true. For example, the week be fore Easter a few years ago, I advertised in half-page ads in the local papers the
[ 15 ]
