Does the message of Jesus Christ need a makeover?
A Kansas Christian organization sought the answer to that question, and they determined that, rather than the message itself, it was the delivery system that needed modernization.
That’s the idea behind a new ad campaign labeled He Gets Us, a campaign that is launching nationwide with both simple statements emblazoned across billboards and visual media airing on the internet.
The billboards carry locally-tailored statements like “Jesus went all in, too,” (in Las Vegas) and “Jesus let his hair down, too” (in New York City).
Meanwhile, the black-and-white videos airing on sites like YouTube cast Jesus as an activist and rebel.
The campaign is being paid for by Christian foundation The Signatry after they undertook research about what people believe about Jesus in 2022, research that showed that while Americans have a favorable opinion of Christ, they look differently upon those who purport to follow his teachings.
The research found that respondents fell into four different groups: “Jesus followers” were the biggest group at 34%, followed by “engaged Christians” at 30%. “Spiritually open” people made up 20% with “non-Christians” making up 16%.
The research also showed a rather large divide between those who identified as “engaged Christians” and everyone else.
For example, nearly 66% of the respondents in the other three categories agreed with the statement, “Followers of Jesus say one thing, but do not follow those things in practice.” Of the “engaged Christians” polled, only 5% agreed with that statement.
The other three categories also featured a majority view that Christians only concern themselves with stopping abortions but don’t actually care about mothers or children, whereas only 6% of “engaged Christians agreed with that sentiment.
Therefore, the point of the ad campaign is, essentially, to bring the message of Jesus to people who have been turned off by their perception of his modern-day followers.
“Our goal is to give voice to the pent-up energy of like-minded Jesus followers, those who are in the pews and the ones that aren’t, who are ready to reclaim the name of Jesus from those who abuse it to judge, harm and divide people,” John Lee, a principal at Dallas-based cross-cultural advertising agency Lerma, told The Washington Post.
Jason Vanderground, president of Michigan-based branding firm Haven, shared that sentiment when he also spoke to The Washington Post.
“Jesus said, ‘People are going to know my followers by the way they love each other and the way they interact with each other,’ ” Vanderground said. “I think when we look at American Christianity now, we don’t see nearly as much of that — and that concerns a lot of people.”
The campaign isn’t aimed at promoting any one particular religion, but rather simply introducing people to Bible study resources so they can form their own opinions about Jesus.
“Our research shows that many people’s only exposure to Jesus is through Christians who reflect him imperfectly, and too often in ways that create a distorted or incomplete picture of his radical compassion and love for others,” Vanderground said. “We believe it’s more important now than ever for the real, authentic Jesus to be represented in the public marketplace as he is in the Bible.”
He added that already about 30,000 people have signed up for Bible reading plans and that 100 million people have been exposed to the project, and that number could expand exponentially – the campaign is ramping up to a Super Bowl ad in early 2023.
Related
