Solidarity Sunday: (How) He Gets (to) Us
Today as many of us celebrate Easter, the holiest day of the year on the Christian calendar, I'm reminded of the core mission of the church across all denominations: spread the Gospel and evangelize the good news of Jesus Christ.
How do you talk to someone about something so personal as their faith? A former pastor of mine once put it this way. Successfully sharing the Gospel requires these steps:
- Capture their attention in a meaningful way
- Relate to them so they see themselves in your message
- Satisfy their doubts with truth
- Show them the path to a better way.
It's not easy, as any missionary will tell you. But in order to spread the Gospel and grow the church as an organization, as Paul said to Timothy, you must "Keep your head in all situations, endure hardship. Do the work of an evangelist" (2 Timothy 4:5)
Sounds like good organizing strategy to me.
If our stated goal is to organize every tradesperson into our given union, there are things to be learned from the process of evangelizing that can help us frame the conversation effectively. There are both successful and unsuccessful ways to do it.
The guy with the bullhorn holding a sign,'Repent', and barking that "you're going to Hell if we don't change your ways' may get your attention for a second, but you're more likely to walk the other way than engage with him or take him seriously.
Conversely, here locally in Atlanta we have a long-standing radio campaign called "Right from the Heart", where pastor Bryant Wright ties every day events happening in the world to the Gospel. He usually opens with a thought-provoking question to get your attention, ties the message to something relevant going on, addresses the question with a fact or statement, and I see myself in nearly every one of his messages.
Most of us have seen the He Gets Us campaign that made a huge splash during the Superbowl and continues to this day. Co-Creator Jason Vangerground followed this 4-step process almost perfectly as stated in a 2024 interview, "We had very quick 15-second introductions (Capture their attention) to get people's attention. What we're trying to do is show certain qualities of Jesus that the American people can relate to (Relate to them) and then invite them to learn more (Satisfy their doubt) by visiting our website (Show them the Path)."
The campaign has not been above criticism, even from within the Christian community, but it achieved what it set out to do; make a huge splash and empower Christian leaders and lay people to engage in rich conversations with Christians and non-Christians alike. It was a success by metrics like ad views and website visits as well, having accumulated over half a billion views on YouTube alone.
In our organizing efforts, what can we learn from this? Are we barking with a bullhorn, or are we capturing their attention in a meaningful way? Are we talking 'features and benefits', or are we asking questions that speak to their felt needs? Are we only telling our side of the story, or are we satisfying their doubt with truth about union life? Are we merely pushing an agenda, or are we showing them a path to a better way?
Thank you for reading Solidarity Sunday. We hope you and your family have had a Happy Easter.
