The Unlikely Evangelist

The first meeting of the new United Reformed Church Mission Committee met for 24 hours (Mon-Tues) to begin the huge task of setting priorities and finishing off outstanding work from previous committees, as well as formulating mission strategy and long term goals.

At the moment it's Tuesday morning and the first session of the day is about to begin, so I'll be quick. From the point of view of this Blog, the most notable point of yesterdays session was that in different ways all participants, from a wide variety of theological positions, seemed to be saying the most urgent/important issue was to equip and encourage all local churches in the task of evangelism, with a menu of simple, practical ideas so that all churches can find something to try which suits them.

Next session, how do we do it ...

BFN
Mike

Towards a marketing campaign for the United Reformed Church. Learning from Catch the Vision and God is Still Speaking.

catch the vision

The Catch the Vision 2006 report to General Assembly stated that:

‘We are not persuaded that our particular offering to the future great church and indeed to the future of Christian witness in our three nations will be best served by dilution’. CtheV 2006, 2.9

Let’s not be ashamed about being here. Let’s be ourselves. Let’s be glad to be ourselves. Let’s not apologise for being the United Reformed Church. Let’s celebrate God’s gifts, and think about possibilities and mission and growth. Let’s get confident, secure in the gospel. Our ultimate unity lies there after all, CtheV 2006, 2.12

still speaking

God is Still Speaking is the national advertising campaign of the United Church of Christ (UCC) in the United States. It is from here that my inspiration and motivation for a United Reformed Church campaign comes.


Principles transferable to the URC and our campaign:

• Help thousands of people overcome alienation from God and communities of faith
• Empower URC congregations to be bold witnesses to the power of God - transforming lives, communities, and the world. Catch the Vision!
• Share God's welcome with all whose spiritual journey leads them to or through a URC
• Increase United Reformed Church name recognition in the general public
• Strengthen member pride in "who we are"
• Celebrate the URC’s unique identity and call to be a united & uniting, reformed & reforming
• Progressive mainline churches are virtually absent from public perceptions about church. Many people reject church, not knowing about churches like the URC.

I have been aware for some time that our church is lacking in identity, purpose and spirituality. The next stage of Catch the Vision, Vision4Life is looking to address the two latter points, but I believe we need to work alongside this process to redefine our identity as the United Reformed Church.

The Still Speaking campaign offers much we can learn from, maybe we could even simply copy the UCC campaign. Please visit their website, watch the TV ads and explore other resourses to get a feel for the kind of thing I'm talking about. I'd really apreciate your comments.

So below is an outline of what a URC campaign could look like, concentrating on our name, image identity and core values.

our name: church, reformed, united ‘ed’ or ‘ing’



First and foremost we are about being effective, contextual local churches, seeking to make a difference for Christ’s sake. So our name should say we are a church!

Secondly, although local is the primary point of mission, I do not believe we are a loose collection of independent churches, but a group of churches that recognise the equal importance of our interdependence, that we can achieve more together than apart. Also, we share our Reformed history, and need to learn together how to highlight our Reformed principles for our new age. And in our consumerist, media age we need a robust national identity and brand. Our identity/brand, (in part), is being the Reformed Church.

Thirdly, our identity/brand is still Unit(ed)(ing)! Our ecumenical ideals have not changed, but the landscape has. As a distinct, reformed, progressive mainline church, we are committed to working with others whenever possible, locally, nationally, or internationally.

So we are a Church, Reformed and United. Any ideas for a cracking good name?

advertising campaign

So agreed on our name, and our identity as a theologically broad, but progressive mainline (Reformed) church, with a mission agenda, then how do we brand and promote ourselves?

This will be no easy task, how do we come up with a message and shared identity which is both theologically broad, (without being theologically bland) and yet appealing to the un-churched?

Below are some ideas and comments from a church member who works in graphics and advertising. I began with describing the situation and what I hope an advertising campaign would achieve. In bullet point form, here are his comments and recommendations.

• if the budget is small, billboards are the most cost effective
• if it’s a people organisation, don’t use pictures of people, however careful you are, someone will feel excluded by the type of people you use
• also, a picture of a group of mixed age and background would not be very representative of many URC’s, this could become counter productive
• a simple word or phrase (like ‘God is still speaking’) is the most effective
• most striking colours to get noticed are good old black and white and red, (this also has the benefit of sometimes being cheaper to print)
• include an easily recognisable logo, thinking about brand image and audience
• include a web address where people can get more information

An idea

So what would a national billboard campaign for the United Reformed Church look like?

Well, obviously the branding needs to use out name, the United Reformed Church, but also give some clue as to who we are/what that means, our identity, purpose and principles.

I began playing around with the word Reformed, both in graphics terms and playing with the word itself, swapping ‘ed’ for ‘ing’. I then realised that there are many other similar, positive words which start with ‘Re’ and end with ‘ing’. So I drew up a list.

Reforming - Resurrection - Restoring - Reviving - Reclaiming - Reimagining - Recreating - Reliving - Relaxing - Rejoicing - Reconnecting - Revisioning - Responding - Revolution - Renewing - Revamping - Re-educating - Recalling - Recycle - Retelling - Rebuilding - Remaking - Remodelling - Reconciling - Receiving - Re-evaluating - Relearning - Refreshing - Revitalising - Returning - Retracing - Remembering - Reuniting - Remarrying - Rethinking - Reconditioning - Resurfacing - Reincarnating - Recurring - Researching - Reigniting - Replanting - Refuelling - Rereading - Reacting - Rearranging - Reweaving - Retraining - Receiving - Reworking - Replenishing - Reword - Reappraising - Renew - Regeneration - Reaction - Reconvening - Rekindling - Reborn - Rebirthing - Repicturing - Redressing - Rebalancing - Reopening - Relocating - Recondition - Relating - Relationship - Reawakening - Restoration - Recreation - Rediscovering

Maybe let me know some of your favourites, which you feel are appropriate to describe/promote the URC.

All the words I have selected are positive, all are active, and all are intended to be theologically acceptable by the whole church. So what next?

So how about a campaign which looked like this? We launch nationwide a black and white board with the letters Re in red on the left hand side.

This type of campaign gets people talking about it. ‘Have you seen those posters with Re on them do you know what they are for’?

Once everybody’s talking, we add the rest of the word in white on the black section!

The posters also then have [a revised version of] the United Reformed Church logo in black in the bottom right corner and a web site address in black at the bottom of the white section on the left.



Also, the benefit of the campaign being a series of similar posters, should keep people interested and looking for them, trying to find new words.

Finally, the campaign ends with a third poster, offering a simple welcome.

It’s best if you see the results, simply click on the Re-campaign to open a PowerPoint presentation. For best results, as the slide show stars, right click with your mouse and selece 'Full Screen'. At the end of the presentation press 'Escape' to exit full screen, then click the 'back' button on your browser to return here, and read on!

So, what do you think? I'd really, really apreciate your comments on this. Not just on this particular idea, but in the general primciple of a national church advertising campaign.

Like the UCC campaign, the posters themselves are not the substance and the church certainly will need the same level of preparation and engagement before we launch a campaign.

For now, this is ‘just’ an advertising suggestion, but I believe it has great potential to fulfil the same objectives as Still Speaking for our church, a positive, progressive, fresh, memorable, and inspiring campaign for our existing members as well as attracting other people to faith and The United Reformed Church.

catch the vision prayer

May the spirit of the Lord rest upon us,
may the call of God sustain us,
as we seek to be God’s people,
transformed by the Gospel,
announcing good news to the poor,
proclaiming freedom for those in prisons
of wealth, poverty, disease and disorder,
committed to making a difference
to the world’s kingdoms
for the sake of Christ’s kingdom.

May we deploy our resources as the Spirit guides,
not shirk difficult decisions about the priority of mission,
pledge ourselves anew to work with all our fellow Christians
and use the gifts of all God’s people
so that all may be filled
with the Spirit of healing, justice and peace,

Amen.

I look forward to your comments
The Unlikely Evangelist

Lectionary Reflections
Week: Ordinary 21 Year C
Luke Chapter 13 verses 10 - 17
Isaiah Chapter 58 verses 9b - 14
Hebrews Chap 12 verses 18 - 29
Psalm 103 verses 1 - 8

Here's a very brief explanation of all four of this weeks lectionary readings, based on reflections from our Bible Study group at Heald Green. Simple, but I hope you may find it helpful.

- The Psalm says, God is a God of justice for all ... [so how do you think we should behave?]

so if we want some examples ...

- Luke says, don't treat people badly and use your religious traditions as an excuse!

- Hebrews says, God was previously seen as distant and scary, but through Jesus we now see God as a bit more touchy feely and human! Therefore, follow Jesus and you won't go far wrong.

and so we don't think God being nice is just a New Testament thing,

- Isaiah says, there just isn't a conflict here, showing humanity to others IS following our religious traditions!

Loads of big stuff here and other strong themes as well, most noticeably in Luke about the role and status of women in our religious traditions.

However, in a blog about evangelism and emerging church I simply want to ask, if we are in the business of helping people have a healthy relationship with God and each other, which of our religious practices are we not willing to either reject, reform, refresh or reveal in a new way, in order for our shared faith journey to be more relevant to peoples lives. [5 re-words in one sentence, that's possibly a record even for me!]

As ever, our task is to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind AND love (or even BY loving?) everybody else!

I feel some more re-words coming on, Reimagening, Responding, Reconnecting, Relationships ... maybe I'm onto an idea here ... watch this space! [This means I need to work out how to do a link to a PowerPoint from my Blog!]

Bye for now
The Unlikely Evangelist

Lectionary Reflections
Week: Ordinary 20 Year C
Luke Chapter 12 verses 49 - 56
Hebrews Ch 11 v 29, Ch 2 v 2

A few thoughts

- Jesus just wasn't the type of Messiah people were expecting and waiting for, not a warrior king, but 'the prince of peace'.

- Yet although his message was of justice and peace, it was inevitable that this message would bring conflict, especially if Jesus and his followers grew, and began to put his message into practice.

- Not only because those who chose the Jesus way in later years would be leaving their own Jewish tradition, and therefore bringing division to family units, but simply because those with power and status in the world as it is would believe that they have much to loose in a world of justice and peace. Jesus didn't set out to bring conflict, it was just inevitable if he was truly committed to his message and its implementation.

- Therefore, perhaps a lesson for our often 'conflict shy' churches, is that yes, Christians are to love each other and believe in justice and peace, but we need to be 'as wise as serpents' and not just 'as gentle as doves'! [Matt 10 v16] As the Prayers of Intercession say in Worship: from the United Reformed Church;

God, Maker and Lover of all,
we know that your way is not always easy;
that peace is not given lightly,
that sometimes justice comes only through struggle. p 93

Jesus is clear, he is a peace maker, not a peace keeper!

The world we live in is as troubled as it ever was, and we still pray each week for the earth to be as it is in heaven. But with that prayer comes hard work and with that hard work comes struggle. But once we have heard the call of God and the message of Jesus, how can we not be changed and how can we fail to respond?

Which causes me to reflect, in our society when most are indifferent to the church, maybe the conflict of choosing the Jesus way is not so much between families, (though I am aware of difficulties within our churches where often the male partner in a couple doesn't attend, or the 'guilt' many members feel that their children no longer attend as adults) and maybe the division is not only between those who campaign for justice and those who enjoy the status quo, (though work in this area is a major part of what it is to be church) and maybe the division is not even disagreements within the church at this time, (though they are making the headlines and the URC has had its divisions in the not too distant past). Maybe, the first conflict and division is not between us at all, but within us. The choice we each face when we hear the call of God and try to respond to the message of Jesus. Are we prepared to follow, even on the way to the cross, a way of struggle and conflict, to bring about a world of Justice and Peace!