Family by photon_de on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
John Murchison is writing on why families resist being missional. On the other hand, Hugh Halter and his family have put it into practice, as his brief and highly readable ebook ‘A Righteous Brood‘ demonstrates.
With apologies if you are sick of seeing this by now on British TV in the ad breaks:
For non-British readers of this blog, John Lewis is a well known chain of department stores, and this is the TV advert that has been talked about more than any other this year in the UK. It seems to have worked: the company broke the £100 million barrier in weekly takings earlier this year than any previous one.
But why? There are numerous explanations: this article offers ten possible interpretations. Here are four particular themes that emerged for me as I read different critiques:
1. The advert plugs the brand, but not the products.
2.There is a sense of familiarity – it has reminiscences of Watership Down, and the music is a cover version – Lily Allen sings Keane‘s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’
in the style of Gary Jules‘ ‘Mad World’ cover.
(And Keane didn’t miss a trick: they released a ‘Best Of‘ album just a few days after the ad first aired.)
3. It is designed to appeal to the emotions, rather than to the head.
4. It is aimed at children. This isn’t simply a case of ‘pester power’, precisely due to point 1 above – products are not the main emphasis. But if you watch the ad on YouTube then at the end you can click through to ‘continue the story’. If you do, then you end up at a page of the John Lewis site that plugs a lot of ‘Bear and Hare’ merchandise, most of which is presented like an online version of a children’s picture book.
Are all of these good reasons? Are they reasons for the apparent success of the campaign, or are they incidental?
And what does this have to do with Christian mission? Only the observation that these are similar to the ways we sometimes engage in outreach. We can go for familiarity (evangelistic carol services), we certainly aim for the emotions more than cool reason, and we often aim at children more than parents (even if something like Messy Church aims to connect with parents as well). I am less sure that the first theme about brand rather than product reflects in our approaches.
What do you think?
Buckingham Palace by Dave Faulkner. Some rights reserved.
In a recent survey of a thousand children, one quarter thought that Jesus was born in Buckingham Palace, and one third thought that Gary Barlow and Prince Charles were two of the Magi. Scripture Union have therefore produced a Christmas Bible comic for children, conveying the nativity story in an attractive way.
If this idea appeals to you, then you can contribute towards the cost of providing comics for children, you can request a free comic to give to a child you know, and you can do a bit of both – giving towards the project and buying some to distribute. Details are in the above link.
Halloween Time by Maryellen McFadden on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
It’s understandable why many Christians are uncomfortable with Hallowe’en – an emphasis on darkness rather than light, there can be occult links, and householders can become fearful about ‘trick or treat’.
But many churches seek to provide positive alternatives. That includes churches in this circuit.
Where do you look for possible resources in order to do something positive with children around this time? You might like to start with a web page from ‘Barnabas in Churches’, a resource from the Bible Reading Fellowship. Go here for some ideas.
Thinking About Mission 