MLM and Evangelism: Complimentary or Contradictory?

Not everyone who is caught up in MLM has goals of “sheep stealing” in mind. Christians often become involved with MLM as a fundraising enterprise – as a way to make money so they can do ministry full time, or to raise money to go to a mission field. These are laudable goals, but the time investment involved in MLM plans verses the amount of money raised should give us pause to consider how best our lives are being invested into the Kingdom. Are we, as Christians, called to build business networks, or to share the gospel and disciple others?

Some Christians resolve this dilemma by arguing that the two are complementary. In some cases, the same passages of scripture that are used by “health and wealth” theologians are drawn upon to show that Christ meant for us to be prosperous here and now. Little emphasis is placed on the fact that Christianity is a hard road, and that rather than guarantees of health and wealth, the Bible only promises believers persecution for Christ’s sake.

The tensions caused by MLM marketing in relationships are opposed to the work of building the body of Christ. MLM simply puts too much stress upon relationships to be anything but a virus in the Christian church. Likewise, when dialoguing with unbelievers, we cannot share the gospel of Christ on the one hand, and then make a sales pitch on the other. How is an unbeliever supposed to recognize that the gospel is not merely another sales pitch, selling another prepackaged product to make their life better? In the end, MLM will drive people away from the gospel of Christ.

Evangelism is not simply another MLM scheme. It is about drawing people to Christ – not with gimmicks or products, but with the truth of Jesus Christ.

Multi-Level Marketing versus Biblical Christianity

James 4:13-17, NET Bible

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”4:14 You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

4:15 You ought to say instead, “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” 4:16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 4:17 So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.

Biblical Christianity and Multi-Level Marketing face in opposite directions: one toward Jesus Christ, the other toward money, success, and worldly gain. The Biblical teaching that you will reap that which you sow applies to MLM as much as to any other part of life. The fruits of MLM and Biblical Christianity are like oil and water:

A little free time?

A Clockwork Orange.Jacques Ellul’s observations in his famous treatise on the effects of technique on culture, The Technological Society, ring particularly true in the case of MLM businesses. One of the common claims of MLM is that it is a business you can do at home, during your spare time. Indeed, for the average person, some leisure time normally spent watching television or in other non-creative actvities can be productively spent in other ways. However, the techniques of MLM, compounded with the alluring goal of “making it big” and being “financially independent,” serve as a powerful motivational mechanism for streamlining one’s life down to pragmatic essentials. All activities must be performed with maximum efficiency in order to maximize time spent building the network.

The effect is not unlike that described in Anthony Burgess’ The Clockwork Orange. His work drives home the point by illustrating the absurdity of the mechanistic drive by metaphorical use of an orange, a fleshy sweet fruit, whose pulp is replaced by clockwork mechanisms. Everything that made the orange an orange, a sweet and desirable fruit, was replaced with inorganic mechanism.

This metaphor can likewise be applied to the effect MLMs have upon those trying to build their network: The parts of their life that make them human, that literally allow them to re-create themselves, are little by little whittled away until all that it left is an MLM network building machine.

Peer-reviewed Science?

Some MLMs will spend a great deal of effort expounding upon how their products are based on the latest scientific findings. They will often appeal to various articles that have been printed in popular magazines to bolster the case that objectively minded individuals accept that the products are scientifically designed or formulated.

Unfortunately, an article printed in a popular magazine is not the same as being published in a scientific journal. Essentially, if you can find the magazine at a local grocery store, it is not a scientific peer-reviewed journal. Peer-reviewed journals are put out by academic institutions and societies whose members are themselves academics. Devoid of advertising, these journals are filled with dry, academic papers.

Whenever a company claims its products are “scientifically designed,” you should verify these claims, and the credentials of the scientists who developed the products.

Ask for a Curriculum Vita – a listing of academic achievements, published papers, and recieved honors. The scientists should be able to provide this information quickly – if not, or if the research is not in a field congruent to the products they have developed, be warned that something is fishy!

Likewise, request information about academic papers that the products were based on. If these resources do not present themselves when you request them within a few weeks, then a red-flag should be raised about the products!

All this aside, product development is not scientific research; it is engineering. Calling the products “science,” however, gives a stronger connotation in the mind of the consumers then “engineering,” a connotation that is often unwarrented.

“When I first heard, I was skeptical, too!”

When presented with the business opportunity for the first time, many people have a “gut reaction” they can’t quite explain; an initial skepticism to the plan. Quite simply, it seems too good to be true. To get around this initial skepticism, the members of the MLM put out the line “When I first heard, I was skeptical, too!” It’s not an intentional deception – but it is part of the shared myth of the organization that what they are involved with really is “OK!” despite an initial concern, a way to suspend disbelief.

The initial disbelief – concern that one is not getting the full story on the organization, a suspicion that everything is a little too perfect sounding, and concern that the dream being presented cannot stack up to reality – turns out to be too true in the end. Be careful that you do not suspend your critical thinking skills just because someone tells you “We’ve all felt that way!”

Conclusion

Sharing the truth in love is difficult when those you care about won’t accept that they are being consumed by a dream they will never be able to catch. It is never hopeless, though. Remember that the night is darkest just before the dawn. The weight of the organization and the weaknesses of the principles it is built upon will eventually cause the whole system to collapse. Even if loved ones lose everything, by being there for them throughout the worst, they will come to realize the truth. Keep up hope that they will see MLM for what it is, and keep praying that the Lord will lead them out of their destructive lusts.

http://www.evangelicalresources.org/mlm.shtml#ob-christianity