heya, im a christian and my church has been involved in the Jesus all about life campaign (but then so has every church in sydney ) so maybs i can clarify some stuff.the ad is on the link . it's not upsetting or anything, i just find it really odd, and commercialised. it's actually a cute ad, and if it wasn't for jesus i would probably like it. and that's not saying that i'm trying to take a negative view on the church, i just find it unsettling, the amount of effort put into advertising when i've been led to believe that the church stands for other ideals?
and, basically what mazarati was saying, surely they could spend their money on better things? the evangelists are choosing to do with their time what they wish, and said time wouldn't cost thousands/millions of dollars as i'm assuming an ad campaign on prime time tv would be.
I think i get what you mean about the churches ideals, ie the church shouldnt stand for materialism and thus should avoid media. but its our point of view that utilizing the resources we have and conforming in some way to our society in order to relate and reach people on their own terms rather than on our terms is a good thing and is justified by Pauls writings in the bible that "you must become like those around you to reach those around you, within Godly parameters." We do not seek to gain our value from material success or to become a corporation, we only wish to relate to people in the modern age and be flexible (though we wont compromise on issues of beliefs and morals)
as for how we are using our money in mazaratis comment, well their is debate about that amongst even fellow Christians so i cant speak for all of us on how best to use our funds, but it is the consensus of the Church that our primary objective to bring people into relationship with Jesus. Yes we must stand up for the rights of the oppressed, we must feed the hungry, clothe the poor and fight for the oppressed but none of this has any value if we forget the purpose of all these things, to show people the love of Christ and bring them to know him. This is enforced by allot of scripture but i feel summarized in "what good is it to gain the world but forfeit your soul."
The Jesus all about life campaign is all about telling people about Jesus, reaching back out into our own community, because all people need Jesus, the rich and the poor, the hungry and the gourmand. And yes this is expensive but what good is our money if not used for eternal purpose? (and for the record we haven't neglected our overseas commitments in the midst of this either, just shifted a portion of our resources.) hope that cleared up some of the issue, any further questions id be happy to answer