Newspaper advertisements
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One caller ‘never
thought a Christian organisation would use modern business methods’
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ACCRA, Ghana — The Bible Society of Ghana took a bold decision to experiment with the use of the mass media to disseminate the Scriptures this Easter – and has been greatly encouraged by the feedback it has received.
Easter is an occasion of great celebration in Ghana. Families come together to reconcile their differences, communities come together to take stock of development projects and plan for the future and, for a brief time, the churches are full. But every year the Bible Society is challenged by the feeling that, for most people, the true meaning of Easter may be being lost amid the excitement.
So in the past the Bible Society has sought to restore the balance by producing Easter Selections in English and some local languages. Spurred by an increase in the cost of printing and distributing them as well as a desire to extend distribution beyond the churches, this year the Society decided to experiment by using the mass media.
“Our goal was to minimise cost and maximise the reach and the impact on our audience,” said Kofi Owusu, the Bible Society General Secretary.
| “Our goal was to minimise cost and maximise the reach and the impact on our audience” |
The Society chose the two national daily newspapers, the Daily Graphic and The Ghanaian Times, which have a combined national circulation of more than 200,000, and ran a series of five insertions in each.
The half-page insertions set the bold headline ‘The Cross of Christ’ over two or three verses of Scripture from the Good News Bible explaining or narrating the message of Easter and a brief explanation of the cross’s significance. Alongside these, attractive contemporary illustrations reinforced the message.
Positive reaction to the advertisements has come from several different sources. Early on the first working day after Easter a marketing manager at the Standard Chartered Bank rang the Bible Society office.
“He was impressed by what he termed the ‘professional marketing approach’ to communicating the Scriptures,” said Mr Owusu. “He never thought a Christian organisation would use modern business methods in this way. Each day’s Selection dovetailed into the next day’s in a way that left the reader with a sense of expectation.”
At a meeting with the Society’s board chairman, Mr Owusu met a lecturer from the Trinity Theological Seminary who said he was impressed with the bold approach to confronting the whole country with the Word of God. A lecturer at the University of Ghana also expressed her delight at the new approach the Bible Society had taken.
“It is early days yet to track feedback across the country,” said Mr Owusu, “but we are certainly beginning to think of combining old and new ways of reaching our various audiences more effectively and keeping the Word of God in the forefront of people’s daily life and thinking.” (WR 361/4 - 7/8.01)