Integrity Matters

Over on the Church Marketing Sucks blog, author Anne Jackson responds to a question about how churches can ensure they have effective marketing and communications without burning staff out. In her response, Anne writes about the importance of integrity in church communications. She tells the story of a time she refused to design a mailer for a church because they insisted on projecting an image of their church that wasn't true. She lost the job as a result, but she kept her integrity.

This topic resonates with me because of Christians who have recently accused me of slapping photos of children on promotional materials to raise funds for missions the easy way. Our missions department does have a humanitarian ministry that meets the physical needs of many children, but we are careful to not convey a message that isn't true. If an offering isn't going to meet physical needs, we don't use images or language that would convey a lie. To do so, as she writes, would be a sacrifice of integrity incongruent with a holy life.

In addition to the overwhelming spiritual reasons to not mislead people about your ministry, such a strategy is also likely to backfire. Misleading your audience will confuse them. They may not recognize that the materials are for your ministry, or they may begin to associate your ministry with something else. Moreover, as your audience begins to discover that you have misled them, you will lose their trust. Once you have lost trust, good luck raising funds or recruiting volunteers.

Yes, a dishonest approach to fund raising may temporarily meet your needs. But it's not worth the long term consequences - to your ministry's credibility or your personal integrity. I find it interesting, too, that Anne suggests that dishonesty in church communications is one way to lead to staff burnout. If you don't want to burn out, don't lie.