Why do some people find the Emerging Spirit ads to be controversial?
The Emerging Spirit ads are designed to attract attention, elicit conversation, and point people toward the WonderCafe website. Their intent is not to make fun of personal religious belief or diminish basic religious understanding. Jesus probably looked for a similar reaction when he declared: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Emerging Spirit ad campaign is not attempting to define what the United Church is all about. Rather, it is meant to raise questions about faith, religion, and other important questions of life, and invite discussion. It hopes to reach out to the millions of Canadians who feel that organized religion isn't relevant to their lifestyle and their lives. As a result, the ads must not feel "churchy" or be what many people would expect from The United Church of Canada. We are trying to get people to consider church in a different way. We believe these ads will do that. Not every ad will appeal to every person; we expect that. That's why there are several, so we can be sure to appeal to the maximum number of people possible.
We recognize that the ads, and the boldness with which we have unveiled the campaign publicly, generated both praise and ridicule of The United Church of Canada. The latter response is particularly painful for long-standing faithful members of the United Church. Despite this, however, our confident hope is that as the Emerging Spirit campaign unfolds, these feelings of embarrassment will soon be replaced by a sense of renewed energy and commitment to the mission and ministry of The United Church of Canada.