BERLIN - Germany's Protestant Church is taking its plea for new members to billboards and newspapers. The advertising campaign, launched this month at a cost of 1.5 million euros ($1.3 million), targets the nearly 190,000 people who leave the church each year.
The message is simple: "Come back to Church. Come back to Christ." It will appear on billboards in 100 German cities and in newspaper advertising, according to a United Press International report.
Germany's Protestant church has 26.8 million members, but nearly 30 million Germans say they have no affiliation with any major Christian church, according to a church-commissioned survey.
Marketing the church is a difficult task, said Barbara Kotte, creative director for Melle Pufe, the advertising agency hired by the church. The absence of a pope or other powerful leader in the Protestant church makes the church "a problematic brand," Kotte told reporters.
