Klennex and church

Greg Atkinson at Church Video Ideas also writes a column for Monday Morning Insight. This week's article is about Kleenex and their "let it out" campaign. Greg points out what the the Church can learn from these commercials. Watch the commercials (at least one of them) and them below are some excerpts from Greg's article.

North American Commercial


UK Commercial

I found myself wondering why the commercial so resonated with me and got me all choked up. I guess it’s the reality that we all hurt, we all love, we all grieve, we all experience life’s curve balls and pain, and sometimes, even with a complete stranger who brings a couch to a busy street corner, we just want to vent, remember, laugh, cry, and as the campaign says, “Let it out.”...

... I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe no one else resonates with these commercials. But if you do, if you see the beauty and wonder of these commercials and get a little choked up yourself, I encourage you to press in deeper. Ask yourself why these commercials move you. Look beyond the ad and to the concept. Reflect and chew on what takes place in these ads. One man as he’s beginning to cry says, “I don’t know where this is coming from.” We, as Christians and Church leaders, know that we are wired for community and it’s healthy to do life together. These people and the Kleenex company affirm that realization without even approaching it from a spiritual perspective....

...What I see in the commercial is a safe place. A place for people to sit, share, laugh and cry, without any agenda. There’s just a gentle encouragement to “let it out”.

What if the Church really welcomed all (young, old, men, women, black, white, thieves, liars, adulterers, homosexuals, etc.) with open arms and embraced them with a hug and an encouragement to “let it out”? What if we, as the Church, seeked to be a friend, a support and a listening ear? I believe the local church is the hope of the world. I believe God works through local bodies of believers, but wouldn’t it be amazing, powerful and revolutionary for the Church to leave its four walls, set out a couch on the street and just listen to people’s stories as they pass by? I’m reminded of the old, but true saying, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”