Index:
What is JAAL?
When is the JAAL campaign coming to my area?
What were the results in Ireland/Canada?
Who is behind JAAL?
What are the objectives?
How will they be achieved?
Why Jesus. All about life?
Why advertise anyway?
Who will the campaign target and why?
Will the ads make someone a Christian?
What about social issues?
How do the ads work?
How much will it cost and who pays?
What is done by way of follow-up?
How does my church get involved?
What is JAAL?
Jesus. All about life is the name of a prime-time media campaign that aims to ‘mobilise quiet Christians to share their faith’. It is based on similar media campaigns developed by Campus Crusade and run in Canada (1996-1999) and Ireland (September, 2002). These campaigns used the name Power to Change.
The campaigns buy prime-time television advertising supported by posters, billboards, radio and press ads. The cost of this media is raised by a local committee. In Ireland the Christian business community contributed 90% of the £1,100,000 needed to run the campaign.
Key to the success of the campaign is the involvement of local churches. In Ireland 1,000 churches took part and without such involvement, the awareness of and interest in the Christian faith raised by the media campaign would have been very ineffective.
It is the local church membership that this campaign seeks to motivate to share their faith. This is done through a one-night training program that leads people through the response book which is sent to those who enquire after they see the advertising.
This book is made available to churches at cost price for free distribution and the one produced for Jesus. All about life contains a Gospel of Luke, a short section on apologetics, background to who Jesus was and where the Bible came from, why Jesus’ words and teachings are still relevant today and how Jesus is ‘all about life’.
It will also lead the reader through a prayer of commitment and encourages them to join a local church or fellowship.
The Jesus. All about life campaign commissioned Australian writers, Dr Peter Downey and Bill Galier to write the book for our campaign. It has been published by Bible Society NSW in association with the National Scriptures Division of Bible Society in Australia. Click to buy book
When is the JAAL campaign coming to my area?
Campaigns have run in Adelaide ('05), the ACT and surrounding areas ('06) and Tasmania ('07).
The next campaigns will be in Western Australia (October/November, 2008) and Sydney (September, 2009).
There are some discussions with church leaders in other areas of Australia, however there are not firm dates as yet (March, 08)
What results were experienced in Ireland and Canada?
Whilst the Canadian Campaigns did not carry out any formal market research to measure the effectiveness of the Power to Change campaigns, they did do some initial testing of the ads:
- Research determined ads actually reached the upper end of the targeted group.
- They used a professional market research agency – organised groups to ask if the ad would trigger them to respond – ie to phone in or to access the web.
The campaign won a secular marketing award in British Columbia (Canada) for the best integrated campaign of the year. It was this award that brought the campaign to Ireland.
In Ireland:
Responses: Phone/Internet - 11,000 (asked for product).
Approx 50% of these were matched with a trained individual who personally delivered the goods. The balance were posted
Internet received 60-70% of responses
90,000 copies of the response book were given away
Who is behind the project?
Jesus. All about life is a ministry of Bible Society NSW. The development work behind the campaign was initiated by Christian Television, Australia (CTA). At the beginning of 2002, they asked Rev Karl Faase to chair a series of ‘think-tanks’ to look at how prime-time media could be used for the Gospel. After a series of meetings that included creative and business people from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, a prospectus called the ‘Christian Media Project’ was produced. (Click to read more on history and research)
At the same time, Bible Society NSW had been challenged by a series of projects designed to ‘engage with culture’ initiated by Bible Society in the UK.
In January 2003, the Christian Media Project became a project of Bible Society NSW.
In Canberra the project was been adopted by the ACT Council of Churches and in Adelaide by a local taskforce made up of members of a number of Churches.
The strategy adopted by Bible Society NSW is to find local churches, Christian organisations and individuals in each major city or regional area and work with them to develop the project locally. Bible Society NSW is developing the television, radio and print ads, has commissioned research to inform this development, has commissioned the response book; it is local committees that will ensure the success of the project in Adelaide, Canberra and around Australia.
What are the objectives of JAAL?
- To generate interest in the Christian faith and provide a response mechanism or ‘call to action’ which people will feel comfortable in accessing
- To produce printed and web-based material that will move the inquirer to consider the words, teachings and person of Jesus Christ and His claim on their lives
- To ensure that 90 percent of the population see or hear the ads at least 10 times
- To motivate quiet Christians to share their faith as the media campaign rolls out and develop ‘one-on-one’ conversations with people
- To encourage inquirers to enrol in an Alpha type course run by a local church
- To bring people into the Kingdom of God
How will these objectives be achieved?
- Through a local committee, able to motivate churches, individuals and the Christian business community to provide the finances to mount the campaign and to motivate them to share their Christian faith with their local community.
Why the theme Jesus. All about life?
The research identified some key issues that we needed to deal with if we wanted this campaign to have any impact on the community. One of those was that testimonies, such as used in the Canadian and Irish campaigns do not have the same impact in Australia.
Secondly the church and organised religion was see as a negative, however the positive side of the research was that Jesus was seen as ‘cool’ and very acceptable – even if he was only seen as a ‘good person’ and not the Son of God.
Therefore we decided to focus on Jesus and His message. The ads will also contain a reference to Jesus being ‘about life, not religion’. In testing, this proved to negate some of the resistance to the message.
(See research document for more information)
Why do we need to advertise the Christian message?
(Taken from Karl Faase’s paper – ‘Why use the Media’ available on this web site)
Perhaps the key text of most evangelistic ministry has been the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20). Jesus is sending out His disciples both then, and we believe now, to "make disciples of all nations". This is a clear command that the church’s role in the world community is to bring the message of Jesus to all people. This command does not stipulate the method or medium but makes it clear that the church is to be committed to fulfilling this task.
The past 100 years has seen the explosion in communication through electronic means; radio, television and most recently the internet. In considering the revolution in electronic communication, it is important to ask the questions - does this type of communication still fulfil the great commission? Does sending an electronic message to millions of people en mass, constitute reasonable evangelistic endeavour? Television is in every home but can it carry the message of Jesus and influence people’s lives?
The electronic media is awash with messages. We like to think of the sharing of Jesus as an intensely personal interaction between two people in relationship. The most effective communication occurs in this way and so does the most effective evangelism. Therefore is this mass dissemination of the Christian message just a waste of time?
In ‘sowing’ the Christian message in the electronic media there is a high degree of spread, limited control on the audience and due to the nature of the medium a short and contained message. Yet this does not reduce the importance of the sowing. The issue is that the seed of the gospel is spread to as many fields as possible without the value judgement of whether every seed will return healthy plant and yield.
The Australian church needs to take up the opportunity to sow the seeds of the gospel in the medium with the highest possible spread. The greatest influence will be as people find a personal relationship with the living God. The media can give us the opportunity to have a positive presence to help bring about changed lives. The church needs to realise that simply hoping people will walk through the doors of a church unprompted is un-realistic. We need to give people the ’stimulus’ to which they can ’respond’ if they choose.
Who will the campaign target and why?
The research identified three key age groups and we will create three ads aimed at each of these.
They are;
• 18-24 years old
• 25-44 years old
• 45 plus
Whilst each ad will encourage the viewer/hearer to either call or visit our web site for more information and a free book and DVD, they will do so by creating a series of ‘real life’ situations or ‘slice of life’ ads. Each ad will depict a realistic situation in which the characters will be grappling with a real life issue, identified in the research as being key to the particular age group.
Will the ads make someone a Christian?
Whilst the ads are not designed to make someone a Christian, they will raise questions about a person’s spiritual values and where they go to seek answers. A key fact uncovered by the research, is that whilst people do not think ‘religion’ has the answer, but they are prepared to listen to what Jesus said.
Will the ads raise social issues?
The research has told us that the ‘entry point’ for the ads should be to challenge people about God’s place in their lives. We believe other issues such as social justice, reconciliation etc. come as a result of a person’s personal relationship with Jesus Christ and are issues of discipleship.
When do the ads go to air?
The ads ideally need to go to air over a 4-6 week concentrated period with print, billboard, press and radio support. This gives a saturation campaign which means people will be exposed to the message from a variety of media plus the media itself will talk about the campaign.
The timing is up to the local committee and needs to be based on a variety of factors, including staying away from other conflicting campaigns such as Christmas and high profile sporting events. Churches need time to promote the campaign and train their members which will also affect the timing.
How much will it cost?
To achieve the sort of coverage above, we need to spend around $224,000* in Canberra. This includes some production costs for the posters and billboards – if available. (In comparison, the Sydney budget is in excess of $1.4m)
*This figure will vary from city to city. In fact the Canberra committee raised $160,000 and produced a very effective campaign.
Where will funding come from?
Approaches are made to local Christian business people
What will people do if they want to respond to the ads?
The ‘call to action’ will include a web site address (www.allaboutlife.com.au) and a phone number. The phone number will be directed to a professional call centre where people will be able to give their name and address and the response pack will be mailed to them. These details will then be forwarded, with permission of the caller, to the local committee for follow-up.
The web site will contain a web version of the response book, plus a range of other resources about Christian faith and the person of Jesus.
What sort of follow-up will be done to ensure people responding are assisted appropriately?
This will be the responsibility of the local committee and the local churches. Ideally people who call in or who visit the web site will allow their name and address to be passed on to a local church who will then make a personal visit.
What is expected of the churches?
Involvement!
This can range from: encouraging members to buy copies of the response book to give away and attend the one night training course; running events using the Jesus. All about life name; prayer; following up those who respond to the media; running a discipleship course for those who respond and supporting the campaign financially.
What resources and support will be available to churches wishing to become involved?
- Copies of the response book to purchase at cost to giveaway
- Training kit containing a promotional DVD with copies of the ads and a promo to play in church
- Templates for production of posters and flyers advertising events
Some Christians feel ill-equipped for evangelism. How can they be involved?
The Irish and Canadian experience is that once the media campaign is up and running, people will be talking about it. The impact of Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion’ is a good example of what we believe will happen with this campaign – making it a lot easier to respond.
The response book is written with the post-modern reader in mind and will be an attractive publication which people will feel comfortable in giving away.
How can my church become involved?
A local church can be involved as much as they want to be. From running training nights and prayer days to scheduling a month long series of events under the Jesus. All about life banner.
What do I need to do to make sure my church is properly prepared?
Make sure you understand what the campaign is about and get your church motivated. Play the promotional DVD in all your services over a 2 week period. Encourage your small groups to pray for the campaign. Buy enough copies of the Response Book so each member has five to give away.