Having lived for almost 14 years in Israel I decided a few months ago that it was time to get to know a bit more about the country and signed up for Israeli history studies. An important part of Israel’s history is closely linked to Christianity and I was intrigued about how successful Christianity has been in spreading The Word across the world. Today 33% of the people on the world are Christians.
Jesus himself had some nice marketing moves up his sleeves. Healing the sick and the blind, telling them to keep it a secret is of course a great way to get rumours going. But still Saint Paul was the main responsible for bringing His Word to the rest of the world.
Saul of Tarsus (later to be known as St Paul) was a Jew born a few years after Jesus in the year 5 AD in a small city, in what today is known as southern Turkey. He started out as a fierce antagonist and prosecutor of early Christians, and even participated in the stoning of the first Christian martyr St. Stephen. He had a change of heart when he was send to Damascus to bring back the Jews who left their faith and turned to Christianity.
On his way a strong light hit him. He falls from his horse onto the ground and goes blind. Suddenly a voice speaks to him. “Saul! Saul! Why are you so cruel to me? “Who are you?” Saul asked. I am Jesus,” the Lord answered. “I am the one you are so cruel to. Now get up and go into the city, where you will be told what to do. The Lord sent Ananias, a healer, to make him see again. Saul converted and became a believer.
St Paul (Saul) returns to Jerusalem and meets with Jesus’ students. In 50 AD the apostles hold a Conference (the Counsel of Jerusalem) where they do some serious strategic thinking. Since Israel as a Beta market had disappointing results, the Jewish people were unwilling to buy their ideas; they decided it was time to focus on different markets. They made some important adjustments to their “service”, knowing their mostly pagan target groups abroad do not like some of the original ideas, mainly in regard to circumcision and kosher food.
Paul is the perfect candidate to be VP Marketing and Sales.
As a man of the world he travelled the Roman Empire and was born and raised amongst their new target group. He is familiar with their traditions and experienced conversion first handedly; he knows exactly what is to gain and how to sell. When it came to spreading the message effectively, Paul’s mastery of Greek and Hebrew learning and his political acuteness were to prove extraordinary tools, which he used to great advantage. He was so utterly successful that no trace today remains of those who believed that Jesus Christ, rather than founding a new religion, had tried to progress the teachings of an existing spiritual tradition.
From that point forward, he travelled the Roman Empire (Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Italy, Spain, etc.) preaching to mostly pagan worshippers about how to live a Christian life. His persistence played an important part in Christianity taking hold outside of the land of Israel and undoubtedly earned his title. Life as a VP marketing Christianity wasn’t easy at the time. As he writes in 2 Corinthians 11:23b-38, “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.”
Since Paul couldn’t be everywhere at the same time, He started blogging; writing letters back and forth with groups of Christians abroad. Giving advice concerning problems they encounter and bringing great content about how to become good Christians. His letters are called epistles and where found so important by the church that today’s bible consists of 14 of his letters that amount to almost 30% of the new testament’s content.
Every marketing executive could learn a thing or two from St. Paul about reaching the “tipping point” and how to adjust offerings to the marketplace.
St. Paul is said to have been beheaded during the reign of Roman emperor Nero.
