He Gets Us Doesn’t Really Get Jesus

Some may disregard my article based on the title alone and refuse to read any further. Others may read until they come across something that upsets them, and then stop there. Wherever you stand, I hope that you will at least grasp the truth found in these two passages of scripture here at the beginning. I believe that whenever we are evaluating a ministry, minister, or revival as legitimate or edifying, we should do so with these verses in mind:

“Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands.” (1 Timothy 5:22)

In Paul’s instruction to Timothy on the subject of appointing Elders, he exhorts him to not be hasty in ordaining or affirming individuals to the service. From this instruction, we can extract a general principle that Christians must be discerning before we give our approval or endorsement. Just because a ministry seems at first to have the characteristics of Christianity, does not automatically make it trustworthy, genuine, or fit for a particular task.

The second passage we should keep in mind says:

“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” (2 John 1:10-11)

John is warning his readers that there are false teachers in this world that present a false Jesus, different than the one revealed in the scripture and to John as he personally walked with Him during His time on earth. John solemnly warns his readers not to allow these false teachers into their homes or to even greet them because this would be seen as an endorsement of their teaching. But pay close attention to what he says in verse 11: “Whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” When we affirm a ministry, we begin to take part in its works. Perhaps someone who had no initial interest in that ministry begins to look deeper into the false teaching because they trust you. God takes very seriously who we affirm, especially when those organizations bear the name of Christ. With those passages in mind, let’s look at He Gets Us. What are their goals, what are their methods, and what Jesus are they promoting to the world?

The Goal of He Gets Us

If we go to the He Gets Us website, we find their goals and agenda clearly stated. In the “About Us” section, one reads “He Gets Us is a movement to reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible and his confounding love and forgiveness. We believe his words, example, and life have relevance in our lives today and offer hope for a better future.” At face value, I would wholeheartedly agree with this statement. In fact, it’s something that I believe every Christian should aspire to be doing in their lives. This section also states, “We want to provide a safe place to ask questions, including the tough ones.” As someone who does evangelism regularly and loves apologetics, I desire that people would encounter the biblical Jesus and experience His forgiveness, and I always want to be able to give an answer for the hope I have in Christ. So far so good. However, good intentions are not enough. The method by which we attempt to accomplish this goal also matters as we seek to present Jesus clearly and accurately.

It is important to carefully examine the methods used by He Gets Us to accomplish their stated goals and consider how He Gets Us approaches evangelism and whether its methods align with biblical principles.

The Method of He Gets Us

He Gets Us is using a $100 million ad campaign created by Michigan-based marketing agency Haven and funded by The Servant Christian Foundation. The campaign includes TV commercials, billboards, online content, and even an ad during the Super Bowl, which is impressive. However, let's examine how these resources are being used to spread Jesus' message.

On the He Gets Us website, an article titled "He Gets Us has an agenda" explains the exact method the movement uses to achieve its goal. The article states, "He Gets Us is a diverse group of Jesus followers with a wide variety of faith journeys and lived experiences. Our work represents the input from Christians who believe that Jesus is the Son of God as well as many others who, though not Christians, share a deep admiration for the man that Jesus was, and we are deeply inspired and curious to explore his story. We look at the biography of Jesus through a modern lens to find new relevance in often overlooked moments and themes from his life."

As a discerning Christian, it's crucial to read this statement carefully as it raises some red flags. The most significant issue is that the movement looks at Jesus through a modern lens to find new relevance. Whenever we judge Christ from a modern perspective, we risk misunderstanding, changing, and misrepresenting Him. To comprehend what Jesus said and did, we must respect the context of His time. He will always have relevance because He is God, and His word is eternal.

Moreover, it's concerning that He Gets Us works with many who aren't Christians and takes their input to "understand" Jesus. The article suggests that these individuals admire "the man" Jesus, who isn't the real Son of God, but rather a false Jesus that people already like and are comfortable with. It's a broad depiction of Jesus as a good example to follow, rather than the sovereign Lord to whom we must submit.

The article further cements this point by stating that "throughout our shared history, Jesus has represented the ultimate good that humankind is capable of aspiring to." This statement is untrue, as no human can be capable of what Jesus did because unlike us, He wasn't stained with original sin but was God in the flesh. When we subtract the deity of Christ in our promotion of Him, we misunderstand Him, and if we see Him as just a mere man, we might conclude that we don't need a savior since we can save ourselves.

The campaign spokesperson and Haven president Jason Vanderground said, "A lot of times, the perception is that Christianity is kind of working against people…We wanted to help them see that in Jesus, there was someone who had a lot of common experience just like they did." However, true Christianity does work against people because all humans are sinners who desire to live free from God's commands. Although the way of Christ is the only true place of hope, rest, and peace, it works against the unbeliever from a naturally sinful standpoint.

Jesus' main message to all people was to repent and believe in the gospel. However, this campaign seems to want to turn Jesus into someone who is just like us so that we will like Him. It doesn't focus on Jesus as a Savior or the message of repentance, which is crucial.

As a Christian, it's encouraging to know that I have a sympathetic High Priest in Christ, who took on flesh and walked through this dark, sin-cursed world and is an example to follow. However, the campaign is so focused on making Jesus seem like us that it misses the fact that Jesus is nothing like us. That's what makes Him unique, but is also why people might dislike Him. This raises a crucial question, what Jesus is the He Get Us campaign actually promoting?

The Jesus of He Gets Us

In the ads and articles produced by the group He Gets Us, we see taglines such as "Jesus the activist" or "Jesus the refugee." While the organization claims to have no affiliation with any political group, it is hard not to get the impression that they are trying to appeal more to the liberal social justice crowd than to right-leaning conservatives. However, instead of examining the buzz phrases or pictures used in these video ads, it is more useful to scrutinize the claims made about Christ in these articles and what is left out.

One such article, titled "Jesus Invited Everyone to the Table," contains quotes such as "He crossed racial boundaries to the shock of many around him. He invited everyone to the table" and "We see judgment and hypocrisy on the rise. We see people who claim to be followers of Jesus taking his open invite and turning it into an exclusive club." The article claims that followers of Jesus have failed to make unbelievers feel welcome because they view Jesus as exclusive instead of inclusive, and that if we were more like Jesus, everyone could become friends. To back up their point, they cite several biblical passages, including Mark 2:13-17, Luke 19:1-10, Matthew 9:36-38, and Luke 5:31-32.

However, the article misses an important point. Jesus sat with sinners, true, but for a specific purpose: to call them to repentance. In every one of these events, Jesus used these dinner opportunities to bring people to repentance and join His exclusive way, which is narrow, and few find it (Matt. 7:13-14). The common thread among those at the dinner table in these passages is that they have someone in common: their savior Jesus. The believers became friends not by forgetting their differences but by acknowledging their common sin and their need for a savior.

If we follow the model of Jesus that we see in the scriptures, will our dinner parties always lead to amazing friendships and unity? Let's look at another dinner party Jesus attended. In Luke 11, Jesus is invited to eat at the home of a Pharisee and has some very interesting things to say:

“You Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you… Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering" (Luke 11:39-41,51-52 ESV)

Jesus did indeed eat with all kinds of sinners, but the message of His conversation was always about repentance from sinful lives. Everyone is welcome to dine at Jesus' table, but only on His terms. While many Pharisees were unwilling to humble themselves and turn from their sin, the call from Jesus remains the same. However, this doesn't seem to be the picture of Christ that He Gets Us wants to portray.

The picture being painted is one of a Jesus made in our image so that we will accept Him. Bill McKendry, the founder and chief creative officer at Haven, has stated that the goal is to raise people's level of respect for Jesus, so they will move toward becoming Christians. This is a huge mistake! Scripture says that people are naturally hostile to God, and without the work of the Spirit, they will reject Him (Rom. 8:7). Furthermore, the Jesus being presented is not the Jesus of Scripture, which has the potential to cause a bait-and-switch. For instance, if someone sees one of these ads and goes to a Christian who knows their Bible and asks to hear more about the Jesus they hear on TV, the Christian may begin presenting the true Christ to them. However, it wouldn't be surprising if that Christian was met with the response, "That's not the Jesus I was looking for."

He Gets Us Doesn't Get It

Most of the ads run for a minute, and that should be enough time to present a precise and orthodox gospel message. As someone who has taught evangelism classes, I can attest to how much can be clearly communicated in a small moment of time. However, He Gets Us seems to be opposed to portraying Jesus with clarity. In fact, they appear to be militant against the idea. One quote from their agenda article reads, “The more ideologically defensive we become, the more we are willing to sacrifice things like kindness, patience, and the respect and dignity of others for the sake of victory.” This statement is problematic and creates a false dichotomy. Essentially, it suggests that the more specific we are about Christ’s identity, His demands, and how to biblically define Christianity, the more we sacrifice kindness, patience, respect, and dignity.

However, this idea fails to hold up when we look at Jesus. He always displayed perfect kindness, patience, respect, and dignity for others while boldly and specifically proclaiming who He was and what He demanded. It’s likely that He Gets Us has definitions for what kindness, patience, respect, and dignity are, but it is God who gets to define these things. When we observe how Jesus lived, it doesn’t align with the vague generalities that He Gets Us seems to promote. Therefore, when we promote Christ and use His name, we have a Biblical and moral obligation to present Him accurately.

Conclusion & Caution

While it is true that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, the current trend of social justice often distorts what it means to love. The notion that love means advocating for the worldly demands of certain groups is a distortion of Biblical love. Love is not about demanding rights but about humbly serving others. Love is not about seeking power and control but about serving those in need. Love is not about promoting a certain agenda but about living a life that reflects the character of Christ.

In this article, I've shared my personal concerns about the He Gets Us campaign. While I've only scratched the surface of the problems, there are many more issues that have been uncovered by faithful Christians who have delved deeper into this ministry.

If you're interested in learning more, I recommend checking out some YouTube videos. Jon Harris's Conversations that Matter Podcast and Justin Peters's interview with Tom Buck of He Gets Us are both informative. However, the most comprehensive investigation into this ministry was done by the Wokepedia Podcast, in an episode called "What is He Gets Us? The Full Investigation."

If you've read this far and still think we should support the He Gets Us campaign because it at least gets conversations about Jesus going, I would caution you. Just because God can use something doesn't mean He commends it. As Christians, we should have no partnership with the works of darkness but instead expose them (Ephesians 5:11). We have a crucial responsibility to discern and evaluate the messages that we are receiving and promoting in the name of Christ. We have an obligation to uphold the truth and integrity of the gospel, and to ensure that Jesus is accurately portrayed in all that we think, say, and do.

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Works Cited

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL, Crossway Bibles, 2016.

Baer, Maria. “$100M Ad Campaign Aims to Make Jesus the ‘Biggest Brand in Your City.” Christianity Today, March 11, 2022, https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/march/he-gets-us-ad-campaign-branding-jesus-church-marketing.html.

Adams, Abigail. “Christian Group Seeks to Promote Jesus Christ in a New Light with $100 Million Ad Campaign: 'He Gets Us'.” People, October 19, 2022, https://people.com/human-interest/100-million-ad-campaign-launches-to-promote-jesus-christ-to-young-people-he-gets-us/.

"About Us." He Gets Us, 2023, https://hegetsus.com/en/about-us.