Seth Godin (one of my favourite authors), has written an interesting article entitled ‘Cannibalism and spam’.Seth defines spam as:
“Spam is unanticipated, impersonal, irrelevant junk I don’t want to get. Not only that, it costs them less to send it than it takes me to figure out what it is and deal with it.”
And for these reasons, spam really grinds my gears.
The most frustrating experience I’ve encountered is with a web application by the name of Mecanbe. I signed up for it out of curiosity and then could never stop the emails! I’ve sent endless emails asking to unsubscribe and to cancel my account but I never received a response, least of all my desired outcome. In the end, I set up a filter so that all emails skipped my inbox and went straight to the trash.
But spam extends beyond the internet, and includes Christian ministry.
For example, have you had this experience? You give to an organisation once (perhaps you hear they’re in urgent need) - and then you find yourself on the mailing list, forevermore receiving details about upcoming events, fundraising campaigns, appeals and building projects.
My gripe is not with these communications per se. I understand Christian organisations need money. I’m happy to support their work. I want to hear about their work and how I can support them. But I want them to ask for my permission.
I don’t want a one-off gift to be assumed as a lifelong interest. I understand why you create these kinds of mailing lists - there is a potential pay-off - I might open up my wallet! But there’s also a potential loss - your “unanticipated, impersonal, irrelevant junk” might breed negative feelings towards your organisation. Not to mention, it’s a waste of resources.
All that can be avoided by simply being polite and asking permission. Then you know that the people receiving your communications want to get them, and are more likely to respond.
So here’s two checks.
- If your church or ministry has an email newsletter, make sure there’s a straight-forward ‘unsubscribe’ function, and check that it’s working. It’s very frustrating when you can’t unsubscribe!
- If your church or (more likely) ministry sends out mass mail-outs, have you received explicit permission from the recipients for these communications?
