Rethink Church 101
As the next evolution of the “Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.”welcoming and advertising campaign, RETHINK CHURCH seeks to redefine the church experience beyond the church doors and invite people to become engaged in the world. The campaign aims to spark a global conversation around the rhetorical question, “What if church were a verb?”
Rethink Church 101 Campaign Overview RETHINK CHURCH is a new welcoming campaign that will raise awareness of The United Methodist Church by posing the rhetorical question, “What if church were a verb?” It is an evolution of the denomination’s “Open hearts” advertising and welcoming ministry. Learn about the campaign here.
Or simply skip to the section to learn why and how your congregation should get involved in this groundbreaking campaign by becoming unbound, outbound and active. Campaign: Overview Rethink Church is a major campaign launching May 6, 2009. The campaign goal is sweeping and ambitious – to invite the church and those unchurched who seek spiritual fulfillment, to become more outwardly focused and engaged in the world. The campaign seeks to offer the church, not as a place to come to and stay within, but as a base of operation for expressing faith by moving out into communities and around the globe to become part of God’s plan for world transformation. Campaign: Advertising “Rethink Church” messages will appear in traditional media outlets such as television, radio, magazines and billboards. Digital media will be a high priority. The theme will appear across a range of online and other new media outlets, including YouTube and iTunes. The campaign will employ creative tactics such as dispersing messages via cell-phone text messages. Key to www.10thousanddoors.org is the Find-A-Church feature, which allows visitors to search for a local United Methodist congregation and to view that congregation’s self-created profile. Updateable at any time, Find-A-Church profiles feature local church program information, calendars, contacts and more. Update your church's profile now Campaign: Audiences and Message The primary audience for the campaign is individuals who lack a church life today, primarily those 18 to 34 years old. Research shows young adults are predisposed against mainline denominations. The campaign will challenge them to think of church, not as a static institution, but as a movement of people empowered to transform the world. It will urge them to think of church, not as a noun, but as an action verb – a movement of people seeking to make disciples of Jesus Christ by gathering in buildings on Sunday, seeing the world as its parish and doing faithful things in it. See a sample of the many forthcoming Rethink Church advertisements here. At the same time, the campaign will speak to the people in the pews of The United Methodist Church. It will call us to see our local church in a much broader way – not solely as a building in which we worship, but as a conduit into our communities through which we may live out our faith by touching people’s lives. As the awareness created by the campaign draws seekers to congregations, local churches will have an opportunity to show, by doing, what rethinking church looks like. Campaign: Theological Foundation RETHINK CHURCH is a call to refocus our ecclesiology, to ask the question, “What has God called The United Methodist Church to be in the 21st century?” To see church in a way that is aligned closely to Scripture, to be sent into the world and to be more faithful to the tradition of John Wesley who believed the world was his parish. To read more about the campaign’s theological foundation, click here. Campaign: Relationship to the Four Areas of Focus The Rethink Church campaign is consistent with the four areas of focus that have become a growing source of energy across The United Methodist Church. Growing congregations, becoming leaders in the world, addressing poverty and fighting disease are ways in which we may actively live out our faith and demonstrate to seekers that we are “rethinking church.” The four areas of focus present ways for local churches and the general organization alike to answer God’s call once again to ignite an authentic Christian movement, in the Wesleyan tradition, by being unbound, outbound and active. To read more about the four areas of focus, click here. Why your congregation should get involved Every local church has more doors than just the one that leads to Sunday morning worship. We are asking local churches to have a conversation about what it means to be a people in mission; to look at themselves and to become more welcoming and hospitable; to answer to the seeker’s desire for authenticity; to show that words are backed by action; and to extend a genuine welcome. We are asking you to lead your congregation and your community in defining what “Rethink Church” means to them. Even the most carefully crafted advertising campaign will achieve success only if the people who see the advertisements can then go and see the campaign’s messages in action. That happens at your local church. Seize this powerful movement as an opportunity for your congregation to rethink church and engage your community. Start the conversation among the people in your pews. Make church an action verb by leading your congregation out into the world. Participate in welcoming training. When the curiosity of those unchurched and seekers around you is sparked by the campaign, and they come to your congregation, offer them a generous welcome and show them the active ways everyday United Methodists are rolling up their sleeves and pursuing world transformation through making disciples of Jesus Christ.
Sample RETHINK CHURCH Advertisement Below is an example of one of the many forthcoming RETHINK CHURCH advertisements.
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