Marketing/Auctioning of Christ?

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about evangelism and ministry in general, and what the usual approach is that I’ve witnessed. Something struck me recently as I was shopping with my wife for something (exactly what it was escapes me now, but that’s not important). Sellers and marketers have a product for everyone, and they market those products specifically to target audiences, i.e. pre-teens, teens, fans of Star Wars, etc etc. I wonder….do we do the same thing with Christ? Do we make Him into a product, and then target market Him to different audiences under the auspices of ‘ministries’???

What do I mean? Well, most churches these days have “singles’ ministry”, “young adult ministry”, “single mom’s ministry”, “older married couples ministry”. Are we segregating and creating marketing niches like the consumerist culture we live amongst? Here’s a thought: singles and married couples working together…is that such a bad thing? Does not everyone in our church and community have something to offer everyone else? Do only singles have gifts to share with other singles? Are we fostering a segregation mentality? When a church operates as WalMart, providing goods and services to consumer Christians, these types of “ministries” are vital, as they serve US. I think, we should start becoming less consumers, and more servants to our community….taking all the knowledge that we’ve “consumed” and actually, in Love, serve others. I think one of the key things that leads to this type of consumer mentality is the altar call (stepping on toes here I realize). I've seen it done in what I call the "auctioneering of Christ" method…."I see one hand, do I have another hand. I'll ask one more time, anyone want to receive Christ, I see another hand." To me, that's downright shameful. Christ gave gentle invitations to those around Him…"Come, follow me". Anyway, I'll stop there for now.I apologize if my thoughts are random here…I’ll add more to this later as it processes in my heart and mind.