Cyber Monday and the Church

Back in 2005, a group of retailers wanted to find a way to cash in on consumer’s desire to find deals around Thanksgiving. So, a trade group created Cyber Monday as an unofficial day to offering discounts during the Christmas season. Now, it seems that just about every week there is some sort of internet deal for TV’s, computers, or cameras.

As millions of Americans are searching for great deals on this Cyber Monday, do churches have an opportunity to reach all of that internet traffic? Social media continues to contribute more and more online content, churches should think about ways in which they can engage those who are on the internet today.

One of the ways to engage the marketing of Christmas and the holidays, is to consider:

“Are all those deals worth it? The searches online. The lines in the stores? Searching day and night for the best deal on a sweater that will be gone in a year?”

At The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa, we are engaging the Advent Conspiracy. The Advent Conspiracy is a movement that was started a few years ago by some pastors who wanted rethink the Christmas season and the commercialization behind it:

The idea is simple. Rethink why and how you will spend your money on gifts. Are there ways to put that money to good use? The idea behind this is to see Christmas as a revolutionary event by encouraging faith communities to Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All.

Churches can use ideas like this by promoting offerings and online giving that go to causes such as disaster relief, clean water in developing countries, and building schools. It can feel more freeing to give a gift in the name of a loved one or friend to an important cause instead of worrying if a $10 gift card to Target is better than $10 Starbucks gift card. At our church, we are committing our Christmas Eve offering to a mission trip to Guatemala through Vision Trust, who will build water filtration systems in local villages.

On this Cyber Monday, I encourage you to rethinking spending all that time on getting a great deal and think about giving true gifts that will last longer than pajamas.