News

Churches join mass media campaigns
By FROM ENI
February 13, 2008

A new advertising campaign sponsored by several denominations aims to renew public interest in Christianity and start conversations about Jesus.

The "Jesus - All about Life" (JAAL) campaign uses Internet and television advertisements to support evangelism by local churches around the nation.

A number of NSW churches have announced plans to run the JAAL campaign in 2009, the latest in a series of state-wide projects which began in South Australia in 2005.

The Roman Catholic Church's first cinema advertising campaign began, in 36 cinemas nationally on 6 December with 15-second advertisements screened alongside high-profile holiday movies.

The ads are aimed at boosting awareness of the World Youth Day festival in Sydney later this year.

The Bible Society is encouraging local congregations to stage events under the banner of the JAAL media blitz.

"The strength of the campaign is that the more local churches put in, the more they benefit," Martin Johnson, communications manager for the JAAL campaign, said. "Our challenge is to get the local church switched on."

The campaign also aims to stimulate personal conversations about Christianity. Johnson contrasted the campaign with large public rallies held in the 1950s and 1960s.

"It's really about one-to-one conversations, not a mass evangelism model. We want to motivate quiet Christians to share their faith," Johnson said.

The "Jesus - All about Life" campaign is based on research showing that many Australians are not interested in organised religion but still respect Jesus and his teachings. The advertisements target people at stages in their life where they are often more open to evangelism. 

A YouTube Internet clip directed at new parents features a young mother, who comments: "You can take or leave religion, but I can't get away from the fact that a lot of what Jesus said makes sense."

While the local nature of the campaign makes it difficult to measure how effective it is, the organizers are encouraged by stories coming from participating churches.

"Churches have told us that it was never as easy to talk about Jesus as it was when the campaign was running," Johnson said.