Was it the swoosh logo? Was it the fact that my friends wore Nike? Was it the way that the trainers just looked so cool? Was it the fact that they could be pumped up? I needed new trainers and I wanted a pair of Nikes. I had been captured by the brand.
One look at the price tag and my parents thought otherwise and as a disenchanted 12 year old, I left the shop with an unbranded pair of plain white trainers.
Everyday we are bombarded with different brands. We are told certain brands of computer are more reliable; we are told that certain brands of car are more ecological; and we are told that certain brands of clothing are more fashionable. And it’s not just products that are branded but countries, institutions and celebrities are also now seen as brands.
A brand is more than just an identifying logo, a brand has a set of perceived values. So when we think of Nike it communicates more than trainers, it communicates values like risk-taking and competition; and when we think of Heinz it communicates more than baked beans, it communicates values like quality and consistency.
The church also has a brand and therefore has perceived values.
In Kinnaman’s book UnChristian, he looks at what the brand ‘Christianity’ communicates to 16 to 29 year olds in America. The findings are shocking. The young people and young adults responded with words like, “anti-homosexual” (91%), “judgemental” (87%) and “hypocritical” (85%) as the defining values of the church.
The UK context is different to that of the States and perhaps a different set of values might emerge if a similar study was done in the UK but the people that I meet often perceive the church as “old-fashioned”, “bigoted” and “irrelevant”.
Are these the core values that we want to communicate? Are these the values of Jesus?
Robert Capon argues that we need to re-discover the Good News! He writes, “The critical issue today is dullness. We have lost our astonishment. The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it is life enhancing. Jesus doesn’t change people into wide-eyed radicals anymore. He changes them into ‘nice people’.”
To re-brand Christianity in the UK we do not need a PR exercise but we need to re-discover this Good News and we need to reconnect with the values that Jesus exemplified, values like grace, passion and commitment. We need to demonstrate that the church is not merely an old fashioned institution hidden away in historic buildings but that the church is alive and active.
As Shane Claiborne writes, “…if you ask the average person how Christians live, they are struck silent. We have not shown the world another way of doing life.” The average person may think they understand what we believe but we must show them by the way that we live that Christianity is about “life and life in all its fullness.”
And so as I ponder why I wanted Nike trainers so much, I hope and pray that this Pentecost, as we celebrate the church’s birthday, that Londoners will discover a Christian faith that is Good News!
Andy is the Director of SJI, an author, a church planter and popular speaker. He is passionate about reconnecting Church with culture and loves pioneering new projects. Andy is currently doing his MA in Applied Theology and has been trained by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He is married to Jo and loves to surf! www.sharejesusinternational.com
