I read a very interesting blog this morning here. In Austrailia, several church leaders have come together to basically … “market” Jesus. I have my opinions about church marketing … but they are always in a state of flux, so I am open (most days). So, they hire Angus Kinnaird, a self-described “non-believing humanist.” Ok … now I am very interested. Why would they hire an atheist to help Australians get back to church?

Kinnaird says —

“I’ve had lots of clients wanting to update their image,” says the Melbourne strategy director of FutureBrand. “But I don’t think I’ve ever come across one that has quite as many problems as the church.”

So after his research … what does he come up with? Jesus! That’s right … the strategy of the campaign to get people to go to church in Australia … is Jesus! What a novel idea! Brought to you by … a non-believer.

Why Jesus? “That was the only place we had to go,” Kinnaird says. The research shows that the church is almost an insurmountable obstacle to the campaign. “The church was seen as the problem, not the solution,” he says.

The blog goes on to say that other campaigns focused on Christianity have failed.

“The problem we detected from our research was that a lot of Australians see Christianity as being for losers,” Kinnaird says. “Focusing on personal crisis as the reason for talking to the church would simply reinforce the existing perception that the Christian church is a place for people who have failed.”

The problem? Isn’t that the whole message of the gospel? We have failed and come short. We need something. We can’t get it on our own. I know we would just like to “spin” the church into something that is really cool and hip … but really, how are we going to get by of the message of Christ who says … to be first, you must be last. Jesus is the answer. The church has done a bungling job of getting that message out … but, when it’s all said and done … “those that lose their lives … will find it”.

(quotes from church marketing sucks)

<< — wg