My name is Benjamin White. I study Theology and the Bible at Princeton Theological Seminary — and I am a coordinator and cell leader of Circle of Hope Church (www.circleofhope.net), a network of cells in the Philadelphia metro area.

Spurred by Kenny’s recent posts, I was just looking at the websites of a few of our nation’s major mega churches (hardly an exhaustive sampling I assure you).

I noticed that none of these churches posted any real information about the people who were the church (at least not anywhere I could readily access it). All of the pictures were professional and all of the contact info was part of the machine. Look, another excellently lit, joyful mother and child fading into a sweet shot of a padded teen doing a frontside nose grind! If you need help call the prayer line! If you need childcare take this ticket and follow the blinking lights to the proper pod!

There is no way to actually connect, human to human. Where is the mess? I haven’t done much cultural study in this field so I was shocked to see how strikingly different Circle of Hope really is. Just writing that sentence creeped me out, so know that I don’t want to be anywhere near a taller than average horse.

I don’t have to give you my email address because you could go and find it on Circle of Hope’s site in a couple of clicks. I like that and I think that it addresses the issue at hand. I think the way to walk that fine line between comodification and advertising is to advertise people not product — and to structure the Church in a way that requires many hands. If we streamline our procedures for efficiency and maximum output we lose the relationships that make the Church.

This weekend I went to a play put on by Yes! And. . . (www.yesandcamp.org), a collaborative arts program that teaches kids how to relate and learn using theater. The kids worked together with theater professionals to write, direct and star in their own musical. This year’s show was called “The Clean Green Machine”, in which Mother Nature wins a vacation to Brazil and leaves her work to her apprentice Chip. Chip decides to put all his efficiency plans to work, abandoning the relational, concensus building ways of Mother Nature (also called Sophia). Chip goes meglomaniacal and almost wipes out humanity. I was moved by the messy wisdom of Sophia in the face of the world’s (Chip’s) streamlining ways. This is a parable we need to hear.

The Church is a group of people. It is not sound teaching. It is not a thing to be sold or enjoyed. It really shouldn’t even be an “it”. We are a “we”, and I think that our advertising should reflect that.

Circle of Hope does little advertising beyond our website (and I am amazed how many people find us through it). As we grow we may be tempted to get slicker, to get easier, and we may do that to some extent, but I think that the best advertisement is me (again I may sound like I’m getting close to that high horse but don’t read it that way…please).

Most likely, a person who doesn’t know Jesus will know me and love me before they love Jesus. Presenting ourselves as actual people that can easily be related to, is in my humble opinion, the best way to advertise.