jesus. All about Life

Jesus. All about Life – This is not just the name of the campaign. It contains the key message that will be communicated to the Australian community. In John 10.10 Jesus says; “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (NIV). 

Jesus did not come to start an institution or an organisation, he came so that all people everywhere would not have to live under the burden of a broken relationship with God, but know the abundant life of a restored relationship with God.

Messsage

JAAL is not a public interest campaign. It is not a public profile campaign or even a public relations campaign. The key issue to understand is that the ads are not meant to deliver the Gospel. The local church will present the person of Jesus in a culturally sensitive way to the enquirer.

Jesus. All about life encourages people to seek for themselves the truth of the Bible and more particularly who Jesus is and what he actually said. He is an historical figure of significant relevance to both Christians and non-Christians.

Media

The JAAL campaign uses prime time television and mainstream media to connect with the community. The media is a key market place in our community but the church has not used the media well. The Church sees the media marketplace as too big, too expensive and too hard.

In Paul’s day, the Roman roads were the ‘vehicle’ for Gospel communication. When the printing press was invented, it was like the Roman roads of Paul’s day – it helped the Protestant movement spread throughout Europe and the world.

Today, the ‘media marketplace’ is our printing press or Roman road. The media is the new ‘vehicle’ for communicating the message.

In Luke 8:1-15 we read the parable of the sower. There is no value judgment on where or how the seed is sown only that it is spread across the fields. It is clear from the passage, that the seed is the word of God.

While the seed contained in the media messages for the JAAL campaign is very short and not evangelical, it does have the opportunity to be spread in our community so that everyone has to consider the name of Jesus.

Catalyst

When you see the ads, your response might be that they don’t really mention the Gospel at all and in fact seem to be very ‘low key’ from a message perspective. The key word here is that the ads are designed to create interest and to challenge people in terms of their understanding of what Jesus actually said. They are designed to connect with the community and encourage people to seek out more information.

City Wide

The key to the JAAL campaign is that by using the media as a catalyst, every home will receive this message. Not just those who go to church, or those who know a Christian or those who happen to get something in their letterbox, but every person in every home. If you look across the lights of an Australian city, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth or Sydney, every home has a television and so every person will be given the opportunity to consider the person of Jesus.

Here is the heart of the JAAL campaign. The opportunity for Christians to use the medium of prime-time media to have Australians consider the person of Jesus and encourage them to get more information. At the same time churches are encouraged to get involved by running their own cultural and community events and to connect with their local community.

The local Church

Jesus. All about life is about presenting the words of Jesus in a culturally appropriate way, the media is the marketplace of the 21st Century. The campaign encourages people to seek for themselves the truth of the Bible and more particularly who Jesus is and what he actually said, with the hope that these people may indeed make a commitment to, and find a personal faith in the person of Jesus. The delivery point during and after the campaign is not the advertising but rather the local church. The media is the catalyst for interest, but each local church involved is the delivery point of the program. Each local church is encouraged to strategise, organise and pray about ways that can bring the person of Jesus in a relevant way to their community.

The local churches in Adelaide, Canberra and Tasmania used the campaign as an opportunity to mobilise their congregations. Church members prayed for their unsaved friends, they were trained in how to share, they gave out response books and pamphlets, they organised events, invited people to attend and brought those who were interested or who had responded to follow up courses. This way the local church delivered the message to their community in a culturally sensitive way.

This is why Jesus. All about Life is not just about media, it is about the church reaching into the community and creating relationships. The leaders of local Churches have the responsibility to inform, motivate and train those who attend their Churches to be ready for the campaign and ready to talk about Jesus.

Each local church in a city or region has the opportunity to use the interest generated by the campaign. The media has done its job when it creates interest, the local church then has the task of delivery of the message of Jesus via cultural, community and arts events.

Summary

• ‘Jesus. All about life’ is a prime-time media campaign that presents the words of Jesus to the community. It will run from September 15th for six weeks across NSW & WA.
• Over 90 percent of the population will see or hear a ‘Jesus. All about life’ commercial or billboard at least 10 times during the six weeks.
• Every local church has the opportunity to be the place where people who see the ads can find out more about Jesus and meet people who know him personally.
• For just $100 registration fee, payable on-line at www.jesusallaboutlife.com.au your local church can be a part of this campaign.
• For this fee, you will receive an information kit with a church calendar, promotional DVDs, sample resource material, etc
  
• Your church may also decide to run some additional events or outreach services to ensure you make the best use of the campaign as it generates interest in the community.