Homeless Under the Bridge Pt. 1 Homeless Under the Bridge Pt. 2 Homeless Under the Bridge Pt. 3
Sam Says:
The United Church of Canada has an interesting and provoking new ad campaign aimed at 30-45 year olds who are unchurched in Canada. And the campaign is causing quite a stir. It is a print ad campaign which has been privately funded but has received the backing of the national governing council of the denomination.
The ads show six pictures with accompanying commentary. If you want to view all of the ads with their commentary, you can find them online at http://www.wondercafe.ca/. I warn you that everyone who looks at these ads will find at least one of them provocative, so view them at your own risk.
The ads have caused some uproar. People raise concerns like, "The $10.5 million dollars for the ads could have been better spent." And, "There are no accompanying television ads." And, "These aren't appropriate ads for a church to be sponsoring."
Jim Taylor, whose recasting of the Psalms we have occasionally used in our worship, wrote a response to the critics. He is a member of the denomination, but not directly connected to the publication of these ads. He points out,
"The (the ads) were intended for 30-45 year olds who have pretty much given up on any church. Although over 80 percent of Canadians still profess belief in God and consider faith important, only 19 percent still attend church weekly. As one commentator noted, 'people are looking for spirituality everywhere but in churches'...They think of church as intimidating, stuffy, and judgmental, boring, unwilling to change. In fact, the church - especially, perhaps, the United Church - has changed. But the target audience doesn't know it...
The major flaw in this campaign, to my mind, is a lack of training for the sales representatives who have to close the sale, the local members. If the church is merely a social club for existing members, this ad campaign will be a failure. But if the church's mission is to get people thinking about the role of religion and faith in daily life, their relationship iwth what AA calls a 'higher power,' then it has already succeeded."
What I found most interesting about this ad campaign is the vision of the Church. People not in worship on Sunday tend to think of the church as stuffy, intimidating, judgmental, and boring. I don't personally want to be seen that way. And I don't want our congregation to be seen that way. And even more, I don't want to be that way, nor for us to be that way. But, of course, there are worse ways for the church to be viewed than boring and stuffy.
I expect that an educated group like those who read this newsletter have heard of the tragic crash of the school bus in Huntsville, Alabama last week. Several of the children on the bus were killed in the accident.
A group of people claiming to be Christian showed up at the funerals of these children to protest. This group has also made appearances at the funerals of several American servicemen killed in Iraq to protest. The group's position is that God is causing (or at the very least allowing) such deaths and tragedies to occur because of the lagging morality of America, especially in relationship to homosexuality. In case you cannot tell, I despise this group. And I am intentionally not mentioning the name of the group or its founder so as to not give them any further publicity than I have to beyond castigating them for their immoral behavior.
For many in our culture, this group is the face of Christianity. If we allow people like this to usurp the vision of Christ, it is no wonder people don't want to come to worship or be associated with the Church. And if their vision is what the church is like, even we wouldn't want to be part of it. But those of us inside the church know they do not present the gospel of love which is at the core of who Jesus is.
I believe we can be and are supposed to be both faithful and fun. Life in Christ should bring us joy! And that joy should be evident in us. We are called to help people discover the life of faith. We are called to journey with each other through the tragedies of life with faith.
I wonder: How can we as a church proclaim our faith in ways that show our community that we are not intimidating, stuffy, and judgmental, boring, unwilling to change? How do we show that we are alive in Christ Jesus? And how do we engage others as fellow travelers engaging the questions of life? The way we answer these questions will show Christ Jesus in us.
Gracefully,
Sam
Be intentional!
