The Deconverted Man

November 26, 2020 There comes a time in every young man’s life when he realizes that the church is a business, whether he likes it or not. Church pastors, leaders, and staff understand that the church is a business very well, but they either refuse to use that nasty, capitalistic “B” word or delude themselves into thinking that, while the church has certain business functions that are needed for it to exist, the church isn’t really a business in the traditional sense of the term. They’re wrong. The church is a business the same way that McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and CNN are all businesses. A business is a person or group or company that provides value to a target market in exchange for payment. The value that is offered can be literally anything, as long as the target market is big enough (and buys enough of that value) that enough money comes into the business so that it can stay in operation. McDonalds provides cheap fast food. You may hate McDonalds and never go there, but enough people derive value from McDonalds that they continue to spend money there. Wal-Mart provides inexpensive, one-stop shopping. You may hate Wal-Mart and never go there, but enough people derive value from Wal-Mart that they continue to spend money there. CNN provides 24 hour breaking news. You may hate CNN and never watch it, but enough people derive value from CNN that they continue to watch it (and thus advertising generates income for the network). The Product What value does the Church provide? A lot, actually, and it’s in very high demand. Spiritual guidance. Encouragement. Life Advice. Answers to life’s big questions (where did we come from and where do we go when we die?) As a Deconverted Man, you can easily look back on the church sermons and see them for what they were: motivational speaking, self-help guidance, and encouragement. This is not a unique product like the Church thinks it is. You can find self-help and motivational material literally anywhere. There are entire sections of the bookstore dedicated to it. There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to it. Even this blog and my book fall within this category as well. The Church doesn’t understand that they’re selling a non-unique product because they think their product is holy and divine. Their product is God, information about God, and instructions from God regarding how humans are supposed to live. The only difference between the Church and other self-help products is that the Church considers theirs to be at a level above everyone else’s, and therefore trumps all the rest. In short, the Church thinks they have the truth. The Income Another reason the Church doesn’t consider itself a business is because it doesn’t require formal payment like every other business does. The Church business is run pretty much entirely on tithes and donations. The Bible says that Church members should give ten percent of their salary, and so they do. This is why you’ll never see an admissions ticket booth at the front of a church building. However, when tithes start to dip, you’ll know it. You’ll hear yet another rendition of the “why giving is important” sermon. Certain benefits that the church offers start to get cut (child care, the church coffee shop, etc). If tithes are in the gutter for too long, you’ll see staff cutbacks. The church fires people just like Wal-Mart does. This also works the other way. When a church’s target market begins to swell (because of a well-spoken, type-A pastor or a talented worship band) then the tithes (income) go up. The church begins to invest in bigger buildings, more amenities, and satellite locations. The church is then allowed to distribute their product to a wider audience, generating even more income. This is how megachurches are formed. It’s literally the same process as a traditional business that has done well, grows larger, and expands into multiple branches. The Market What is the Church’s target market? We know what value the Church is selling and we know how they make their money. But what about this third ingredient of the business? To me, this is the most interesting thing about churches being businesses. The Church tries to claim that it’s there to save the the souls of the city or community. But that is incorrect. If the Church’s target market was completely made up of people who were just newly saved, then it would go out of business. Brand new salvations just don’t happen frequently enough to keep a church in business (especially a church that’s located in a city full of other, similar churches just like it). The target market of a church is existing Christians. These are the people who are showing up every week and faithfully tithing ten percent of their income every month. Existing Christians are the ones who need weekly encouragement in their faith, who need to learn more about the Bible, and the ones who need to learn how to live a more Christian life. Unsaved people don’t need any of that stuff. So while the Church does target unsaved people as part of their missional values, they actually spend most of their time providing value to existing Christians. If they didn’t, they would quickly run out of money, because unsaved people (and even brand new Christians) aren’t tithing the kind of money a church needs to stay in business. Has a brand new church ever opened up in your city or town? What happened? I’ll tell you what didn’t happen. A bunch of unsaved people didn’t rush in on the first Sunday, accept Jesus as their lord and savior, and immediately begin tithing ten percent of their income. Instead, a bunch of existing Christians took a Sunday off from their normal church and went to check out the new player in town. They wanted to see if the Holy Spirit was “moving” more there than at their usual church. Really, they were shopping around for a better product. People do literally the same thing when a new Tex Mex restaurant opens up. My purpose in writing this article is to offer a new perspective for recently Deconverted Men and soon-to-be Deconverted Men. You can now realize that the church is not the holy place you once thought it was. It’s actually a man-made business selling a niche product in the self-help market.

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