Win a Wii - name a church

Today I did one of those things that I do when I'm working hard all day and I miss lunch, I took a few minutes out mid afternoon and very naughtily sunk across to the fish & chips place across the road. i ordered a small bag of chips then sat on the bench and waited. As I sat there I noticed a pile of magazines (I love these trashy things always entertaining). So as I was flicking through the pages to see if there was anything interesting and this half page ad caught my eye with an intriguing title, "We want help naming a church..."

Yes I did double take on that one. And here's the punch line, offer a good name for a church and they give you a Nintendo Wii, no strings attached. Hey it got my attention! I'm interested in what people think about this one.

I must admit, it's a clever marketing campaign. Nowhere in the add is there mention of who this nameless group is or where they meet, just a couple of punchy statements about what they believe, which by the way, I was impressed by. No creeds or ancient churchy statements, just the facts. First up, they follow Jesus. Then there's a few statements about Jesus. He was radical, outrageous, hung out with trashy people, a non-conformist and a revolutionary, to sum it up. They then left a website at the bottom www.nameachurch.com.

I was curious enough to look up the website which is very simple and invites you to enter the competition. Thee are some subtle options like, 'would you like to know where we meet', so if you check the box they will contact you. But hey, the add go me in, not because I want a new game console but because I thought it was a daring way of coming up with a name for your church for one. It actually takes the ownership of the church's name away from the church (no member of the church is allowed to enter, the name is purely up to others). So I'm tempted to offer my suggestion and see how far this goes.

So is there an ethical dilemma here? Does Jesus need a marketing campaign? Or is it just us who need that? I wonder if our church needs a new name?

Mark