The Unlikely Evangelist

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