Comments on He Gets Us ads

 

There are two main objections I have seen to the He Gets Us ads that aired during the Super Bowl from the conservative side.

1. They tell a distorted picture of who Jesus is. Often, the complaint is that the ads leave out important parts of Jesus message because nobody gets the full gospel.

2. There is a lot better way to spend those millions of dollars to spread the Gospel.

These are both valid concerns and critiques of this campaign. That being said, from what I have researched, they are trying to reach a different audience than what most of us are used to. They see a vast number of people that are “post-Christian”. This means they have seen what the Christian faith has brought onto society and are having a hard time believing that it is good. Fairly or not, they have plenty of choose from. They can point to the scandals, abuse, power struggles, politics, hate, etc and they see that the people in the church are just as messed up and they are. So, why bother with the church at all. On their website, it asks two questions: “How did the story of Jesus, the worlds greatest love story, get twisted into a tool to judge, harm, and divide?  How do we remind people the story of Jesus belongs to everyone?”

In light of those two questions, the goal of the ads is not to tell the Gospel per se because many will tune it out. The goal is to show that Jesus values all people. He does not value you because of what you stand for or against. He does not value you because of what you can do for the church. HE VALUES YOU BECAUSE HE MADE YOU!!!

With that in mind, the goal of the first critique is not the initial goal of this ad campaign. Yes, eventually, the goal is to lead them to Christ but there is lots of work to be done before some people are ready for that. So, this is a step to give a different perspective of Jesus than they are seeing through the mainstream or social media.

As far as better ways to spend the money, if and when we are entrusted with how to spend that kind of money or if we are asked by a friend for advice on spending the money, then we can tell and show how we would spend it. I am sure there are about as many ways to spend money as there are people being asked. The reason I bring this up is that complaining on how someone spends their money yields little fruit. The fact is that it is their money and these ads are shown during the Super Bowl and other times during the year no matter how loud we complain about them. Is there another way to view them?

Let’s look at this from someone who those ads are reaching. If you are complaining about the ads and how they are awful because of this or that, would someone who has a bad impression of Christians to begin with consider talking with you about anything in the ad that resonated with them or would they see that you are reaffirming all of the negative stereotypes they have about Christians in the first place?

For me, like them or not and agree with them or have convictions against them, they are “conversation starters” that we can use to engage with people about who Christ is. However, our reaction to them can either open doors to communication or they can close them real quick. Christians need to be ready to use them to show that everyone has value and Jesus welcomes everyone. Unfortunately, the church has had a long history of being very judgmental, harmful and divisive, which is the reason for this ad campaign. Our reaction can either reinforce those impressions or help to tear them down and show them a different view of the love of Jesus then they see elsewhere. Which of those would you rather see?