Previous Reflections

Home > Services & Events > Previous Reflections

ADVERTISING THE CHURCH

Canon Mark Bonney, Treasurer (Wednesday 5th October 2005)

The Church of England is having another foray into the turbulent waters of an advertising campaign and this always leads to lively conversations in my household because it’s the world in which my wife earns an honest crust. Past forays have produces some pretty jaw-dropping results. One campaign from 2001 which aimed to get people aged 18-30 to attend church services used the slogan “Body-piercing? Jesus has his done 200 years ago.” Another had the Virgin Mary having a “bad hair day.” The new campaign has come from the same agency that did much to help Skoda cars shed their poor image, an agency that I’m reliably informed is one of the very best.

Compared with earlier examples the new posters are far less tub-thumping, triumphalistic and painfully trendy. They are very simple, reminding people that the Church is there and what they provided for the community. With a strap–line “church – part of modern life” one says “The Church. Provider of judo lesson, antique sales, playgroups, ballet lessons, school discos, flower arranging classes, theatre, clubs, and, oh, yes, church.” My advertising consultant was impressed – we’ll wait and see if others are.

Advertising assails us from all quarters, and although we might seek to be immune to it probably affects us all more than we know – if it didn’t companies wouldn’t spend the millions they do advertising their products. One of the challenges for the creative department of an agency is to distil the core message of the particular product into a single memorable phrase. It’s an interesting spiritual exercise to try to put in one sentence what is the most compelling thing for oneself about the Christian faith. The Chapter have spent many hours over the past year distilling our vision for the future into something short and attractive – it was a far from easy exercise.

I wish the new advertising campaign every success, and perhaps we should adapt one of the posters for the Cathedral if it’s appropriate. However, no poster campaign, however well done, will detract from the fact that the most effective advertisements (and sometimes, sadly, the least effect advertisements) for the Church are Christians themselves. Those who are ‘front-of-house’ in the Cathedral are very aware of this; our ministry of welcome must always be hospitable since inordinate damage is done by the sharp word and curtly given direction – but all of us who are baptised are walking advertisements for the Church, which can be an occasionally uncomfortable thought. . St Francis is reputed to have said “Preach the Gospel, use words only if you have to”, that might equally inform our own personal way of being walking advertisements.

OTHER REFLECTIONS

Site Map

site design by datasouthuklimited