International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector MarketingInt. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark. 15: 301–304 (2010)Published online 5 August 2010 in Wiley Online Library(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nvsm.395

Editorial

International Journal of Nonprofitand Voluntary Sector Marketing:Special issue on marketing andreligion

Introduction to special issue

The connection between marketing and religion is a burgeoningarea of interest in the nonprofit world. The lion’s share of individualcharitable giving goes to faith-based organizations, however, therehas beenminimal academic research focusedon this compelling andyet somewhat controversial topic. Promising recent breakthroughsinvolving such constructs as religiosity and spirituality have begunto provide researchers and nonprofit professionals with greaterinsight into the nature of some of this charitable giving. Given theever-increasing importance of social marketing and the role ofreligion, the use of marketing tools and tactics in a religious contextis an area in which more research is warranted. Hence, this specialissue which provides some unique insights and views on theconnection of religion and marketing in nonprofit environments.

For this special issue a variety of possible topics were offeredincluding: the marketing of religion, consumption of churchofferings or religion, the role of religion inothernonprofitmarketingvenues such as politics, spirituality, themarketing strategies of faith-based organizations, fund-raising for faith-based organizations,culture/ethnicity and marketing of religious organizations, ritualconsumption, etc. The editors of this special issue received a varietyof papers which covered an even broader spectrum of topics.

The authors of the six articles included in this issue haveresearched abroadperspective of views andpractices in theprocessof examining the relationship between marketing and religion. Infact, the first article, ‘‘Marketing a NewAfrican God: Pentecostalismand Material Salvation in Ghana,’’ by Samuel K. Bonsu and RussellBelk, presents a disturbing ethnographic study of religious market-ing strategies in a social, cultural and economic environment wherethe offering of the nonprofit organization, a form of Pentecostalism,is subject to question in terms of its motivations and the fulfillment

Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., November 2010

DOI: 10.1002/nvsm

of its promise to the newly converted. Through field interviews, theresearch reveals amessage ofmaterial hope through conversion andfinancial giving. A framework of the marketing mix is used toorganize the authors interesting and disconcerting findings.Karen Lancendorfer and Bonnie B. Reece, on the other hand,

demonstrate through their research in, ‘‘Can You Market God? ACase Study of the God Speaks’ Social Marketing Campaign,’’ thatconsiderable attention canbe attracted through a religiously themedsocial marketing campaign. The considerable media attention thatthis campaign gathered, however, was in contrast to the data thatindicated that no actual behavioral changes took place. Never-theless, the research offers some insights into realistic and possibleconnections between social marketing techniques, tactics, andtools available for religious organizations.The nonprofit literature has investigated the role of market

orientation in a variety of settings. Indeed, the concept of marketorientation has also been questioned as to its applicability tononprofit organizations. However, Riza Mulyanegara, YelenaTsarenko, and Felix Mavondo have thoughtfully examined therole of perceivedmarket orientation in church participation in theirresearch. Their findings indicate that customer orientation and inter-functional coordination are important constructs for religiousleaders to consider in terms of number of participants. Implicationswith respect to competitor orientation should give food for thoughtto religious leaders as well as future researchers.The number of participants as well as the level of donations were

measured in relationship to church leader tenure in the article,‘‘Stale in the Pulpit? Leader Tenure and the Relationship betweenMarketGrowth Strategies andChurchPerformance,’’ byDave S. BellandG. Tyge Payne. The authors’ study of Southern Baptist Churchesindicates a positive response in participation/membership andfinancial contributions to the length of a church leader’s stay at aparticular church. The implications of this study reflect not only theneed for further research, but also the need to examine theimportant role of people and their placement aswell as timing in thestudy of marketing and religion.Richard D. Waters and Natalie T. J. Tindall’s content analysis of

church websites across the United States reveals the laggard roleplayed by many churches in the use of marketing tools and in thiscase the use of Church websites in particular. Their article,‘‘Marketing Churches on the Internet: An Analysis of the DialogicPotential of Christian Websites,’’ analyzed websites using fivestandard dialogic loops that help to engage the website user orviewer into a stronger relationship with the organization thewebsite is representing. Their findings present some very usefulmanagerial implications for churches in general.An interesting perspective on event marketing used by the

Catholic Church is demonstrated in the paper, ‘‘The eventization offaith as a marketing strategy: World Youth Day as an innovative

Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., November 2010

DOI: 10.1002/nvsm

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response of the Catholic Church to pluralisation,’’ by MichaelaPfadenhauer. Pfadenhauer’s ethnographic article reflects a descrip-tion of findings around the 20thWorld Youth Day sponsored by theCatholic Church in Cologne, Germany in 2005. The organizingbody’s objectives and operations were scrutinized and comparedwith the intention of assessing how objectives in such a religiouslyoriented setting are truly operationalized and hence how con-sequences, intentional or otherwise occur. One interesting result ofthe study is thatwhile one of the objectives ofWorld YouthDaywasto reach the non-religious or the non-practicing Catholic, thecommunications that supported and encouraged attendance wasdirected towards him practicing Catholics.

The six articles in this special issue demonstrate a wide variety ofperspectives and uses of marketing tools to further organizedreligion and/or religious values, participation, and fund-raising. Theeditors believe that as a research community we have barelyscratched the surface of what we need to know about the use ofmarketing tools and religion. Further, themanagerial implications ofsuch research could have interesting and possibly positive benefitsfor religion in general. However, the opening article of this specialissue by Samuel Bonsu andRussell Belk certainly strikes a cautionarynote. It is our hope that further examination of this important topiccontinues.

Finally, the editors would like to thank the reviewers for thisspecial issue. This group of individuals spent countless hoursreviewing and re-reviewing the articles for this special issue. Ourthanks go to:

Debra Basil, University of Lethbridge, CARoger Bennet, London Metropolitan University, UKTony Conway, the University of Salford, UKBrenda Gainer, York University, CADerek Hassay, University of Calgary, CAToni Hilton, University of Westminster, UKGary Karns, Seattle Pacific University, USATheresa Kirchner, Hampton University, USAAnne Lavack, University of Regina, CAStephen Lee, Henley Management College, UKCharles Stan Madden, Baylor University, UKJudith Madill, University of Ottawa, CAAgnes Meinhard, Ryerson University, CAAltaf Merchant, University of Washington, USAGillian Sullivan Mort, Griffith University, AustraliaAron Ocass, The University of Newcastle, AustraliaStephen Osborne, University of Edinburgh, UKPaulette Padanyi, University of Guelph, CAMichael Polonsky, Deakin University, AustraliaRuth Rentschler, Deakin University, AustraliaAdrian Sargeant, Indiana University, USA

Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., November 2010

DOI: 10.1002/nvsm

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Wendy Scaife, Queensland University of Technology, AustraliaValerie Taylor, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USAJudith Washburn, University of Tampa, USAWendy Wilhelm, Western Washington University, USAWalter Wymer, University of Lethbridge, CanadaLucy Woodliffe, University of the West of England, UK

Wehope that youwill find this special issue to be both interestingand insightful. We welcome your comments.

Sandra MottnerCollege of Business and Economics

Western Washington University, USA

John B. FordCollege of Business and Public Policy

Old Dominion University, USA

Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., November 2010

DOI: 10.1002/nvsm

304 Editorial