Is "Evangelization" functionally the same as "Sales?"

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When I use the term “evangelization” I mean a deliberate effort by one person to get another person to convert to a different religion.

When I use the term “sales” I mean a deliberate effort by one person to get another person to buy a product.

Are these two things essentially similar? Is evangelization simply “sales” with “a different religion” as the product?

Is sales simply evangelization with “a product” taking the place of “a new religion?”

Are evangelists merely salespeople? Are apologists merely marketers? Is the “new evangelization” merely a re-branding of Catholicism? Are organized religions just brands? Is hell “fear-based marketing?” Is heaven the “appeal to desire?” Are evangelical religions just multi-level-marketing schemes where the product is the recruitment?

What do you think? Can you describe evangelization in a way that distinguishes it from sales? Is it bad for sales and evangelization to be essentially similar? Why or why not? Lots of questions today.
 
Sales is trying to get money from someone, where evangelization is usually caring about someone’s soul and wanting them to go to Heaven.

You get personal gains from sales, what do you get from evangelizing? I mean one could possibly lose a friendship, but you don’t really gain anything.
 
Sneaux said:
Sales is trying to get money from someone, where evangelization is usually caring about someone’s soul and wanting them to go to Heaven.

You get personal gains from sales, what do you get from evangelizing? I mean one could possibly lose a friendship, but you don’t really gain anything.
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Well, there are some paid evangelists, like CA for instance, or missionaries, or clergy/religious, or church institutions.

I suppose regular every day believers in evangelical religions directly benefit by having others agree with them and reinforce their beliefs. If one believes something and can successfully convince others to believe it, it bolsters one’s confidence in that belief.

But besides that, are you agreeing that “sales” and “evangelization” are similar in function even if they differ in motive? Like, would you say the main difference between sales and evangelization is that sales is motivated by self-interest for economic gain while evangelization is motivated by love of other’s souls?
 
There’s no comparison.

"He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15 NIV

This is our mission, all of us. To live the Gospel, to spread the Good News.

“Jesus told us to make disciples of all men. He instructed us to preach the gospel to the entire world.” aboutcatholic.com

So: Do you know about Jesus? That he died and rose again to save you and me? That’s how much God loves us.

That’s about giving the ‘good news’ to people, regardless of how they respond: positive, negative or indifferent.

Best,
Ed
 
PumpkinCookie said:
When I use the term “evangelization” I mean a deliberate effort by one person to get another person to convert to a different religion.

When I use the term “sales” I mean a deliberate effort by one person to get another person to buy a product.

Are these two things essentially similar? Is evangelization simply “sales” with “a different religion” as the product?

Is sales simply evangelization with “a product” taking the place of “a new religion?”

Are evangelists merely salespeople? Are apologists merely marketers? Is the “new evangelization” merely a re-branding of Catholicism? Are organized religions just brands? Is hell “fear-based marketing?” Is heaven the “appeal to desire?” Are evangelical religions just multi-level-marketing schemes where the product is the recruitment?

What do you think? Can you describe evangelization in a way that distinguishes it from sales? Is it bad for sales and evangelization to be essentially similar? Why or why not? Lots of questions today.
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Sales deals with material things, whereas evangelization with spiritual truths. We also know that eternal quality of existence is at stake.with evangelization, in the sense that being with God is the wonderful goal. With sales we are talking about temporal objects. Evangelization is at a different level.

When we evangelize we can speak of history, science, comparative religion. Since we who are Christian know how precious it is to have faith in God, the Trinity, we want others to know and have it too.

See 1 Peter 3:15-16 (USCCB Bible, NABRE):

15…Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, 16 but do it with gentleness and reverence…

usccb.org/bible/1peter/3 .

I have a free booklet called “Heaven’s Passport” that is meant for evangelization. It is short, only 16 pages and can be read online and/or downloaded. I hope you will give it a look. Then pass it on to someone you would like to evangelize!🙂 Link is here:

womanatwell.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html .
 
edwest2 said:
There’s no comparison.

"He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15 NIV

This is our mission, all of us. To live the Gospel, to spread the Good News.

“Jesus told us to make disciples of all men. He instructed us to preach the gospel to the entire world.” aboutcatholic.com

So: Do you know about Jesus? That he died and rose again to save you and me? That’s how much God loves us.

That’s about giving the ‘good news’ to people, regardless of how they respond: positive, negative or indifferent.

Best,
Ed
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So, are you saying the difference is that evangelists aren’t trying to persuade others necessarily but rather simply offering a message? So, evangelists are more like advertisers than salespeople?

In other words, both evangelists and salespeople make “pitches” but the sales person is motivated to “close” the sale and evangelists consider their job done if they can just make the pitch?
 
womanatwell said:
Sales deals with material things, whereas evangelization with spiritual truths. We also know that eternal quality of existence is at stake.with evangelization, in the sense that being with God is the wonderful goal. With sales we are talking about temporal objects. Evangelization is at a different level.

When we evangelize we can speak of history, science, comparative religion. Since we who are Christian know how precious it is to have faith in God, the Trinity, we want others to know and have it too.

See 1 Peter 3:15-16 (USCCB Bible, NABRE):

15…Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, 16 but do it with gentleness and reverence…

usccb.org/bible/1peter/3 .

I have a free booklet called “Heaven’s Passport” that is meant for evangelization. It is short, only 16 pages and can be read online and/or downloaded. I hope you will give it a look. Then pass it on to someone you would like to evangelize!🙂 Link is here:

womanatwell.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html .
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I’m not so sure sales is always about material objects. Consider Apple. They’re not just selling computer hardware or software, but an aesthetic, a lifestyle, or status. Or, consider insurance. They’re not selling an object, but peace of mind, clearly a spiritual good.

But again, is the main difference the product or is the mode distinct? Others have said they differ in their motives, you seem to be saying the product is what makes them different. What I’m looking for is a way to distinguish them in their functionality? Do they function the same way psychologically, relation-ally, etc?
 
PumpkinCookie said:
When I use the term “evangelization” I mean a deliberate effort by one person to get another person to convert to a different religion.

When I use the term “sales” I mean a deliberate effort by one person to get another person to buy a product.

Are these two things essentially similar? Is evangelization simply “sales” with “a different religion” as the product?

Is sales simply evangelization with “a product” taking the place of “a new religion?”

Are evangelists merely salespeople? Are apologists merely marketers? Is the “new evangelization” merely a re-branding of Catholicism? Are organized religions just brands? Is hell “fear-based marketing?” Is heaven the “appeal to desire?” Are evangelical religions just multi-level-marketing schemes where the product is the recruitment?

What do you think? Can you describe evangelization in a way that distinguishes it from sales? Is it bad for sales and evangelization to be essentially similar? Why or why not? Lots of questions today.
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Thomas Merton took a dim view of modern marketing-based society:
We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest. The Seven Storey Mountain
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Clearly in his mind there is a difference between this “ultimate limit of … worldliness” and evangelization. You could get into differences between methods, like between Mother Teresa as a evangelist of Christianity and Jimmy Swaggart as a salesman of Christianity… But the most essential difference I think is the difference between a marketed product and Christian living. An atheist may see Christianity as a man-made product that satisfies man-made desires, so in his mind there may be little difference between marketing and evangelization. But if Christians are right, evangelization does not involve stimulating and satisfying a artificial religious need. In a sense evangelization is less like marketing and more like distribution. Evangelists don’t try to sell satisfaction to a need, they try to share the love of God. We were all already ‘sold’ when we were created in order to know, love, and serve God.

Anyway. Marketers mainly try to create a demand for a product and meet that demand. Evangelists do neither: love is not something you can demand.
 
PumpkinCookie said:
So, are you saying the difference is that evangelists aren’t trying to persuade others necessarily but rather simply offering a message? So, evangelists are more like advertisers than salespeople?

In other words, both evangelists and salespeople make “pitches” but the sales person is motivated to “close” the sale and evangelists consider their job done if they can just make the pitch?
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This is primarily about sending a message into the world, with sincerity. No one needs a script or pitch. It is not a job, it is our commission. Billy Graham did not evangelize for himself but for God. as a Christian. At his crowded meetings around the country, he invited anyone who wished to step forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Some did, some did not, others just wanted to hear him speak.

Ed
 
Is “Evangelization” functionally the same as “Sales?”

no.

It is the proclamation of the good news - the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth - of his death and resurrection and true life in him.
 
It’s an interesting comparison.

Suppose there was a salesman so full of love that all he intended to do was bring love, joy, and peace to everyone in the whole world. Suppose further that he had a product that he knew would do it, and suppose he did not earn any commission or bonus for sales of that product. Then he would be very much like an evangelist.

On the other hand, suppose there was an evangelist without much love in his heart, who wanted, more than anything, to convince people that he was right, or who felt pretty proud when his skill and hard work brought about the conversion of an unbeliever, or who craved the recognition that comes with success. He would be a lot like a salesman.

I think it all comes down to love.
 
edwest2 said:
This is primarily about sending a message into the world, with sincerity. No one needs a script or pitch. It is not a job, it is our commission. Billy Graham did not evangelize for himself but for God. as a Christian. At his crowded meetings around the country, he invited anyone who wished to step forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Some did, some did not, others just wanted to hear him speak.

Ed
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It is our commission, but we make no commission. 😉
 
PumpkinCookie said:
I’m not so sure sales is always about material objects. Consider Apple. They’re not just selling computer hardware or software, but an aesthetic, a lifestyle, or status. Or, consider insurance. They’re not selling an object, but peace of mind, clearly a spiritual good.

But again, is the main difference the product or is the mode distinct? Others have said they differ in their motives, you seem to be saying the product is what makes them different. What I’m looking for is a way to distinguish them in their functionality? Do they function the same way psychologically, relation-ally, etc?
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May I ask where you are coming from and what your own opinion is? Are you in sales? Do you want to evangelize? What is your interest in it?

Functionally for me, there is a great difference. I’m a lousy salesperson with little motivation to try to do better. If my meals depended on it, I assume I’d try harder, but would still not feel spiritually uplifted in the effort. My motive to evangelize is not in my own abilities but in my love for God and wanting others to know that love too. That motive energizes me and gives me reason to keep trying.
 
I have heard (and thought about) this comparison before. I believe people have written books about it, too.

There are certain similarities that make the analogy attractive, but I have always been uncomfortable with it. I think the root cause of those misgivings is that it tries to make our faith follow a consumerist model: God (and his Church representatives) are the purveyors of goods and services and we are the passive recipients picking and choosing what we like.

Now, there are a lot of people out there who do treat their faith that way, which is what makes it a compelling analogy on the surface. They go to Mass in hopes of “getting something out of it.” They look to the priests and bishops (and the paid professional staff) to do stuff for them—give their kids the sacraments on demand, educate their kids about the faith, provide a picturesque backdrop for their wedding photos, etc… And if the priests don’t do what the “customer” wants, they get upset and go to another “store” where they can get what they want when they want it.

This is a terrible model for the Church. We are not a business, we are a family. And the Good News that we are sharing is not about the latest gizmo but is about a Person. Actually, three Persons, and the love that God has for us. It is about the relationship He wants to have with us and the grace and mercy He wants to give to us.

I think one of the main goals of evangelization should be to disassociate sharing the faith from the concept of selling a product. The fact that people view the two similarly should be cause for alarm. It’s rocky soil. It may lead to plants that grow quickly, but they will whither for lack of root. We need to connect people to Christ.
 
I’m surprised nobody quoted Fr. Mitch Pacwa of EWTN.

When asked about judging someone’s soul, whether they went to heaven or hell, his response is:

“That is a Management decision. I’m in sales.”

So yes, evangelization is sales. You’re trying to convince people to make a decision.
 
It’s an interesting idea, for sure. I think if you are coming from a business background, I think both “sales” and “marketing” can make a decent analogy. Their relation to evangelization is imperfect, and those reasons have been covered by others here, but there are certainly similarities, and in noting those similarities I think you are correct.
 
Joe_5859 said:
I have heard (and thought about) this comparison before. I believe people have written books about it, too.

There are certain similarities that make the analogy attractive, but I have always been uncomfortable with it. I think the root cause of those misgivings is that it tries to make our faith follow a consumerist model: God (and his Church representatives) are the purveyors of goods and services and we are the passive recipients picking and choosing what we like.

Now, there are a lot of people out there who do treat their faith that way, which is what makes it a compelling analogy on the surface. They go to Mass in hopes of “getting something out of it.” They look to the priests and bishops (and the paid professional staff) to do stuff for them—give their kids the sacraments on demand, educate their kids about the faith, provide a picturesque backdrop for their wedding photos, etc… And if the priests don’t do what the “customer” wants, they get upset and go to another “store” where they can get what they want when they want it.

This is a terrible model for the Church. We are not a business, we are a family. And the Good News that we are sharing is not about the latest gizmo but is about a Person. Actually, three Persons, and the love that God has for us. It is about the relationship He wants to have with us and the grace and mercy He wants to give to us.

I think one of the main goals of evangelization should be to disassociate sharing the faith from the concept of selling a product. The fact that people view the two similarly should be cause for alarm. It’s rocky soil. It may lead to plants that grow quickly, but they will whither for lack of root. We need to connect people to Christ.
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Wow. That was well said. It reminds me of the ‘Church shopping’ I sometimes hear about. Jesus is a real person who is alive at this moment, ready to be part of our lives, but how do people receive faith? “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17 NIV

Ed
 
Yes, some good posts already. I would say that in sales, like selling a product, you are trying to make as many sales as possible by packaging a product together in such a way that you are going to attract as many people to it as possible. And, ideally letting the product sell itself. If it something of value to people then it will naturally sell itself. There are products for instance that we all need. Food, water, clothing, shelter, etc are things we need. These things sell themselves in the supermarket. Ideally, Selling a product provides the service of matching people’s needs to a particular product that can satisfy that need.

In the case of evangelization, which is at its heart to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others, there are some parallels to selling. Jesus said if anyone thirsts let him come to me and I will satisfy him with rivers of living water. So, the promise of something to us, if we come to Jesus is offered, that will satisfy our deepest needs or longing. But, its also very costly to follow Jesus. Its not like buying a loaf of bread. Jesus wants our entire life given over to him. So the price is everything. Nonetheless, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a treasure found in a field that is so precious that the finder sells everything he has and buys the field in order to possess it.

The gospel isn’t wrapped in a pretty package. It doesn’t promise us all kinds of money, material goods or carnal relationships like you see on beer commercials. It only offers us what is true and good. And it costs us everything. Yet, for the person who sees that treasure in the field it is worth it.
 
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