  I was driving yesterday and listening to a radio talk show. The show's host had an interview with a church leader, a journalist turned minister. The guest was recounting his experiences in Africa and contrasting them to those in North America. Although I do not have the transcript from the show, the guest was lamenting at how churches are shrinking in North America vs growing at a rapid pace in Africa. &nbsp; That got me thinking. Where does spirituality, religion, "the desire to connect with a higher being" fit in urlLink Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ? The link shows us that that spirituality is part of the "safety needs" and also part of the "self-actualization". Some faith based organizations put spirituality above self actualization in a modified version of Maslow's theory.
&nbsp; It is understandable that with the turmoil, growth and changes occurring in the continent of Africa, society is turning to religion for safety. As such we can, generally speaking, place society in Africa around the "Safety Needs" of the Hierarchy. Consumer driven&nbsp;society like that in North America is obviously in the "Esteem Needs" of the hierarchy. If&nbsp;Maslow's theory is correct, then&nbsp;North American society is not in the "Self-actualization" stage yet.&nbsp;Obviously evidenced by the&nbsp;shrinkage of churches. If you don't know - my solution to every problem is Marketing. And this is no exception. And so I thought, marketing as a concept converts needs into wants.
This process, in effect drops the product being marketed from one level in Maslow's hierarchy to a lower level. From "Safety" to "Psychological" level, from "Love" to Safety" level. This&nbsp;makes the product a basic need as opposed to a want. &nbsp;Eureka! And that is the solution! Faith-based organizations need marketers to drive sprituality from "Self-actualization" down to "Esteem" or even "Love". That is of course, if they want to grow. Vee &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 
