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The WonderCafe Campaign

WonderCafe is an daring effort to reach out to Canadians who don't attend church in new and exciting ways. It's an advertising campaign for The United Church of Canada, but it's more than that. The WonderCafe campaign isn't just "selling" the denomination. It's creating a new context for Canadians to talk about spirituality and faith.

The challenge of a church advertising campaign in the postmodern Canadian context is to transcend the many barriers Canadians have erected against "organized religion" without overtly "recruiting" them. In order to do this, it is important that the United Church offer these people something that allows them to begin to build a relationship with us on their terms-rather than making them feel pressured to walk through our doors.

We have to offer them a place to take the first step in a deeper exploration of their faith and life issues. This place would have to empower them, put them in control rather than asking them to surrender it; be relevant to their lifestyle and their contemporary mindset; reflect key qualities and values of The United Church of Canada, including open-mindedness and freedom of expression.

It must be a place they can call their own, a place where they can freely express themselves and explore the issues that excite them and the concerns that weigh upon them on their own terms.

WonderCafe is just that place. And through the advertising campaign, we welcome others to join us at this table.

In its simplest form, WonderCafe is a website, but it is so much more than that.

Learn more about WonderCafe, the strategy behind it, and take a look at the ads and merchandise: