Multi- level marketing:
ministry tool or false profit?
Christians all over Canada are getting involved in multi-level marketing. Is it helping or hurting the cause of Christ? That might depend on who’s doing it and why.
By Debra Fieguth ChristianWeek staff
His voice exudes enthusiasm and sincerity. His words are shrouded in an aura of spirituality. "This company has the potential to enrich the lives of millions," he promises. "God’s fingerprints are all over this company." And, the founder assures, "it was birthed out of prayer."
Thousands of Canadians, many of them Christians, are joining multi-level marketing (MLM) companies, selling everything from vitamins to jewelry to dish soap to "miracle" cures for whatever ails you. Although the vast majority simply want to make a bit of extra income, a disturbing number are being lured by the promise of a pot of diamonds at the end of the rainbow.
Everybody needs to make a living. Financial pressures are perhaps greater at the end of the 20th century than they were a generation ago. Parents want to act responsibly, caring for their families’ needs and future; income from an independent source can provide a cushion in case of job loss. Why not start selling a product you believe in to friends and family, who, when they find out how great the product is, will also want to sell it? That way, you can help them as well as help yourself.
"It’s about helping people," insists Larry Kelly, the Toronto-based marketing director for ReLiv Canada. "Christian people like myself are hard-working people. They want to help others."
The Bible says to "love God and love your neighbor," says a Mannatech distributor in a testimonial tape, "and this is a wonderful way to love your neighbor and make a difference for them."
It’s important to set goals, others say. Without goals you might not get anywhere in life.
Yet discomfiting stories arise:
•A couple thinks they are getting a pastoral visit from their minister. They are disillusioned to find out he wants to enlist them in an MLM.
•Another couple is invited out by close friends, who neglect to inform them of the real purpose of the occasion: to sign them up with an MLM. They no longer speak to each other.
•One unwitting participant at an MLM meeting, invited to name his goals in life, suggests "love" and "happiness." The team leader skips over his goals, settling on the more tangible "bigger house" and "bigger boat" offered by other participants.
•A young woman tells of how she used to be into the party life before she became a Christian. But even after her conversion she felt something was missing. It wasn’t until she began meeting her Amway goals that she really felt fulfilled.
It’s the intertwining of spiritual and material values that offends some. Former Mannatech distributor Brian Newby calls the company "a hindrance to evangelism because people don’t want to hear about Jesus Christ. They want to hear about the pill."
A former lawyer who began using Mannatech when he was afflicted with a serious disease, Newby says it is easy to spend $150 a month on the product–an amount that many people can ill afford. "The people I care about the most–at least on an emotional level–are those that are suffering, afflicted by ill health or second classed by the Body," he says. To offer them a product instead of prayer is "a very offensive inroad against the authority and righteousness and responsibility of the church."
