Recently, Christ Covenant Church in Beaumont, Texas launched a controversial billboard campaign carrying the message that Christians are jerks. According to an article by Kate Shellnutt, the church’s billboard (pictured at right) has “confused and surprised drivers along I-10 near College–is meant to direct people to the Christ Covenant website and their new sermon series: What a Bunch of Jerks: Teachings of Jesus too Often Ignored by the Church.”
A page on the church’s website explains their intentions:
The church has failed. That’s right; we’ve messed up, big time. The church was SUPPOSED to be a reflection of the God it claimed to serve. The church was SUPPOSED to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. But, for the most part, the church has failed.
Our failure has left a bad taste in people’s mouths. Our mistakes have led to a lack of credibility. Our messes have caused people to seek answers for this life elsewhere. And really, who could blame people for giving up on the church? Gandhi had a very good point when he said “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
What a bunch of jerks. Prideful, hypocritical, selfish, judgmental jerks.
At Christ Covenant Church, do you know what our response is? Guilty as charged. We are fed up with it just as much as you are. We’ve failed. We’ve failed you, we’ve failed each other, and the worst part is that we’ve failed to act like Jesus. And it’s time to own up to our failure because only then can we turn it around. So no more sugar coating it, no more pretending.
So What?
Church marketing is big business. Every congregation has to decide the best mix of marketing options based on their context and budget. Clearly some options work better than others, but can Christians ever take an approach that seems to suggest the ends justify the means? Are some marketing options out of bounds? If so, where does one draw the line? Does marketing such as this “jerks campaign” contribute to the negative impressions of Christianity that are already prevalent in mainstream media?
Jason Boyett’s analysis of the billboard suggests that regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the campaign, the church may well be setting an impossible standard:
I think a church that promises not to be a jerk is setting itself up for failure. Any time you take a moral position, you’re going to offend someone who takes the opposite position. You can’t please everyone. We’ll all end up being jerks at some point or another.