So, given this cultural setting, any salvation that needs a sophisticated sales pitch is a salvation that won't really do anything. It will make you holy the same way a new pair of Nikes makes you athletic—which is to say, not at all. It only changes your religious brand. Yet this is the only kind of evangelism possible when we separate salvation from life in the redeemed community, because it's in the redeemed community that God has ordained the enduring demonstration of his power, against which nothing can prevail (<a class="text" title="view Scripture passage at NLTStudyBible.com" href="javascript:linkToScripture('Matthew+16%3A18-18');">Matt. 16:18</a>).

Consider the centrality of the church in the scheme of salvation as articulated in Ephesians: "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household" (<a class="text" title="view Scripture passage at NLTStudyBible.com" href="javascript:linkToScripture('Ephesians+2%3A19-19');">2:19</a>).

This way is not walked alone, but with a community of believers who will uphold and encourage the new Christian in a difficult and challenging faith. There's substance there, demonstrated by a faithful church whose life together is a visible testimony to the truth of our claims about the power of the gospel. In a consumerist society, baptism into such a church is about the most subversive thing imaginable.

The problem with implicitly salesy evangelism is bad theology, not bad technique, and it requires more than a simple change in method. If you feel like a used-car salesman talking about Jesus, the solution to the perceived lack of authenticity isn't a smoother pitch—it's a renewal of the church. The potency of personal evangelism is, as it has always been, the simple and earnest retelling of what God has done in the lives of his people. Of course, this requires a community to back up our claims.

Spiritual consumers, therefore, will approach the church with the same narcissism they bring to other brands. What am I expressing about myself if I buy Brand Jesus? How will Christianity fulfill my vision for me?
<p class="text">We must therefore be concerned about market segmentation infiltrating the church. It has resulted in two unacceptable outcomes: utterly homogenous churches representing consumer-based "clusters," and homogenous groupings within larger churches.</p>
<p class="text">Both divide us along racial, socioeconomic, and age- and gender-based lines, each of which predicts consumer behavior. This is certainly a "pattern of this world" (<a class="text" title="view Scripture passage at NLTStudyBible.com" href="javascript:linkToScripture('Romans+12%3A2-2');">Rom. 12:2</a>).</p>
From Christianity Today, <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/january/10.20.html?start=1">Jesus Is Not a Brand</a>