“He Gets Us” is a Christian campaign built around a simple invitation: look at Jesus, https://hegetsus.com/ consider his life and teachings, and ask why he matters today. The campaign describes itself as being about Jesus, while also saying it is not affiliated with any single individual, political position, church, denomination, or faith viewpoint. That combination, Jesus-focused but institution-light in its messaging, is part of why the brand has sparked both curiosity and debate.
In its own framing, the campaign began in 2021 as a response to loneliness, division, and anxiety. It also emphasizes an approach that places stories about Jesus in unexpected places to spark curiosity and conversation. If you are trying to understand the campaign, it helps to start with that stated purpose: reintroduce people to Jesus, not by arguing first, but by inviting attention, reflection, and dialogue around themes the campaign highlights, such as love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service.
A campaign that tries to meet people where they are
“Where they are” can mean a lot of things, but the campaign’s stated starting point is recognizable: loneliness, division, and anxiety. Those are not niche concerns. They show up in everyday life, in how people talk about relationships, in the tone of public discourse, and in the way many people feel invisible even while being surrounded by noise.
He Gets Us describes a strategy of bringing Jesus into major cultural spaces, including widely reported Super Bowl advertising in 2023 and 2024. That choice is consequential. It signals that this is not a quiet pamphlet campaign aimed only at people already looking for Christian messages. It is closer to a “stop scrolling for a second” approach, hoping that familiarity with Jesus is replaced by something fresher: curiosity, and then questions.
For some readers, that can feel helpful. For others, it can feel like a jarring interruption. Either reaction is understandable. Big public messaging tends to compress complex beliefs into short statements, and no one gets to control how someone interprets a slogan in a crowded cultural moment.
What He Gets Us seems to be aiming for is not control, but conversation. The campaign’s FAQ language emphasizes that it is “about Jesus” and connected to Christianity, yet it says it is not tied to any single faith sub-group or political lane. That leaves room for people who are skeptical, searching, or simply cautious about religious messaging.
Who runs it, and why that matters
Understanding who leads a campaign does more than satisfy administrative curiosity. It shapes what people expect the message to mean, especially when the campaign reaches a wide audience.
He Gets Us states that it is led by Come Near, Inc., a nonprofit, and that He Gets Us, LLC is wholly owned and managed by Come Near, Inc. In other words, the campaign is connected to a nonprofit operating structure.
The campaign also says it is not affiliated with any single individual, political position, church, denomination, or faith viewpoint. That claim is important because it attempts to separate the campaign’s message from the expectations that people often bring to Christian marketing. If you have seen religious messaging used primarily to promote a particular party, or to score points with other denominations, the promise of non-affiliation can sound like a relief. If you have felt that “non-affiliated” still can hide influence, the claim may feel insufficient.
This is the trade-off. When messaging is broad enough to speak to many people, it can also be broad enough for critics to argue that it is strategically vague. He Gets Us seems to be leaning into the wide invitation, and it is going to be interpreted through whichever lens people already bring.
Jesus at the center, without pretending the work is simple
At heart, He Gets Us is about Jesus. That matters because many campaigns about religion do one of two things: they either assume agreement and talk to the converted, or they treat Jesus like a cultural symbol separated from moral demands. The campaign’s public emphasis, as described in its materials, stays on the person of Jesus and why he matters.
That focus shows up through the themes it highlights: love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service. These words are not substitutes for doctrine, but they are recognizable signals about the kind of moral vision being offered.
There is an edge case here, and it is worth naming. People can agree with “love” and still argue about what love requires. They can affirm “forgiveness” and still disagree about accountability, timing, or justice. They can praise “kindness” and still disagree about truth-telling. When a campaign presents themes in public-friendly language, it invites people in, but it also leaves room for deeper disagreements that do not fit on a billboard or a thirty-second spot.
So, the question becomes: what does it mean to “understand, kindness, and Jesus together” in practice? The campaign’s own stated intention is to reintroduce people to Jesus and spark conversation. That suggests a direction of travel rather than a finished statement. Understanding is the work. Kindness is the posture. Jesus is the reference point.
Here are the campaign themes as it frames them:
- love forgiveness understanding kindness service
Even that list can be misleading if it is treated as a slogan-only package. In real life, each theme pulls on the others. For instance, forgiveness without understanding becomes denial. Kindness without truth becomes avoidance. Service without love can become performance. The campaign’s language is broad, but it points toward an integrated moral imagination.
“Everyone is welcome” meets the question of credibility
He Gets Us states on its FAQ page that Jesus loves LGBTQ+ people and that everyone is welcome to explore Jesus’ story. That is a clear inclusion claim, and it is the kind of statement that many people have to see directly, not just infer from Christian tradition.
In many contexts, LGBTQ+ inclusion in Christian messaging is either a flashpoint or a point of relief. For some, it corrects a common experience of exclusion. For others, it raises a follow-up question: how consistent is the campaign’s inclusive message with the positions of those who support it?
This is where the broader conversation becomes complicated. AP reported that criticism of the campaign focused partly on perceived tension between its inclusive public message and some financial supporters’ backing of conservative causes, including anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ efforts. The campaign itself says it is not affiliated with political positions, but criticism can still land where viewers do not see political neutrality in practice.
That tension is not abstract. People tend to judge by outcomes, not just by intent statements. If the funding ecosystem includes voices some consider hostile, then even a welcoming message can feel like it is trying to borrow moral legitimacy.
At the same time, it is also fair to recognize what campaigns can and cannot control. He Gets Us states it is not affiliated with any political position or faith viewpoint, which indicates an attempt to keep the message aimed at Jesus rather than partisan promotion. Still, critics are left to wrestle with whether “not affiliated” can coexist comfortably with the reality of financial backing.
A practical way to hold this tension without spiraling into cynicism is to separate three questions in your mind:
1) What is the message saying about Jesus?
2) What is the campaign asking people to do, exactly? 3) What do people supporting the campaign believe, and do their beliefs contradict the message?You can decide to engage with Jesus through the campaign’s framing even if you remain skeptical about everything surrounding it. That is not hypocrisy. It is discernment. Many people do something similar with other organizations and media, whether religious or not. You can choose to listen to a specific part of a message while still holding responsible questions about the rest.
Why kindness is hard when the world is divided
He Gets Us began, in its own description, as a response to loneliness, division, and anxiety. Those are not “nice to improve” problems. They are the kind of conditions that make kindness expensive.
Division reduces empathy. It teaches people to interpret others’ pain as offense. Anxiety makes people defensive, and defensiveness shrinks attention. Loneliness makes people hungry for belonging, which can turn quick, shallow connection into a substitute for real relationship.
If the campaign wants to offer understanding and kindness, it is trying to work against that current. But campaigns have one limitation: they can start conversations, they cannot finish them. A message in a public space can invite curiosity, but it cannot walk you through the slow work of changing how you treat someone you disagree with.
That means the campaign is best understood as a doorway, not a destination. You might walk through and find Jesus, or you might walk through and decide you need more context, better theology, or real community. That is still progress if it redirects attention away from anger and toward human connection.
How to engage with He Gets Us without losing your critical thinking
If you have ever felt torn between wanting the message of Jesus and resisting the marketing package, you are not alone. Many people carry multiple instincts: the instinct to reject manipulation, and the instinct to look for truth and grace.
The campaign invites people to consider Jesus, his life, and his teachings. That invitation is broad enough to support different kinds of engagement. The key is to engage deliberately rather than reflexively.
Here is a short way to do it, in a way that preserves both curiosity and discernment:
- Pay attention to the Jesus-centered themes the campaign highlights, not just the design or buzz. Notice what the campaign actually invites you to do, like exploring Jesus’ story and starting conversations. Hold inclusion claims against observable implications in the supporting ecosystem, and ask follow-up questions. Treat public slogans as prompts for deeper reading, not final answers about Christianity.
This approach does not require you to ignore controversy. It also does not require you to dismiss the entire effort because you disagree with parts of the surrounding conversation. You are trying to separate the doorway from the hallway lighting.
The campaign’s “unexpected places” strategy, and what it changes
He Gets Us says it began with the idea of sharing stories about Jesus in unexpected places to spark curiosity and conversation. “Unexpected” can mean different things, but the consistent element is this: it refuses to confine Jesus to a single cultural niche.
That strategy can change people’s first reaction. When Christian messaging shows up only in church contexts, people who are unfamiliar with church language tend to assume it is not for them. When it shows up in mainstream public spaces, people can no longer pretend they have not been addressed.
There is a downside. Unexpected placement can also feel like intrusion. Some people are not looking for religion, and they resent the attempt to turn their attention toward it. The campaign’s challenge, then, is to make the invitation feel less like a demand and more like an offer.
The campaign’s insistence that it is about Jesus and welcoming of people exploring his story points toward that offer. Still, perception is shaped by tone, imagery, and distribution. Even good intentions can land poorly if the style feels like it is trying to win rather than to listen.
In practice, this means that the most productive conversations about the campaign happen when people move from reacting to the messaging to discussing the Jesus-centered themes underneath it. Not “did you like the ad,” but “what does it mean to understand, love, forgive, and serve.”
What “understanding” looks like when you cannot agree
Understanding is one of those words everyone likes but no one can define cleanly. The campaign frames understanding as one of the themes connected to Jesus, which suggests it is not merely tolerance or passive coexistence.
Understanding, in a Jesus-centered frame, tends to involve learning what another person’s life looks like from the inside, without pretending it is the same as yours. It also involves acknowledging that humans can act out of pain, fear, or wounds, even when the behavior is wrong.
Still, the limits matter. Understanding is not the same as excusing. Kindness does not require abandoning moral clarity. Service does not mean ignoring harm.
One reason He Gets Us has to keep returning to Jesus is that Jesus is the shared reference point. When people disagree about moral questions, the campaign’s bet is that returning to Jesus as the center can widen the conversation. But returning to Jesus is not automatic. It requires time, reflection, and sometimes mentorship. That is why the campaign’s invitation to “explore Jesus’ story” is crucial. It does not assume instant comprehension.
Where conversations tend to go next
When people respond to He Gets Us, they usually end up in one of a few directions. The campaign’s own description suggests curiosity and conversation, so the likely outcomes are not only agreement or rejection. They can also be questions, which matter.
Some people will come away thinking Jesus is worth taking seriously again, especially through the themes of love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service. Others will come away still cautious, especially given reports of controversy tied to the campaign’s financial ecosystem and the mismatch critics perceive between inclusive public messaging and some supporters’ political or advocacy efforts.
Both reactions can be honest. The difference is how the reaction handles responsibility. Dismissal can harden into contempt, while engagement can soften into listening. But listening does not mean surrendering judgment. It means you allow the possibility that Jesus might have something to offer, even if the messenger is imperfect or the surrounding debate is messy.
If the goal is to respond to the loneliness, division, and anxiety the campaign says it began with, then the conversation has to do more than trade opinions. It has to ask what kind of community people want to be inside, and what kind of treatment they are willing to practice toward those they do not understand yet.
Holding together kindness and Jesus without flattening either
The hardest part about Christian messaging in public is that it gets flattened quickly. A slogan can become a caricature. An inclusion claim can become either a badge of righteousness or a trigger for backlash. A theme like forgiveness can be turned into an argument about whether consequences should exist.
He Gets Us tries to keep Jesus at the center, and it frames the campaign as non-affiliated with political positions and denominations. That is a meaningful attempt to avoid reducing Jesus to a party platform. Still, the campaign exists in the real world, supported by real people and organizations, and AP reporting indicates that critics see a tension connected to some financial supporters and their conservative causes.
The most grounded way to approach the entire situation is to treat it as an invitation with limitations. The campaign offers a door into Jesus and the moral themes associated with him. It does not remove controversy from the world. It does not erase the fact that different people will interpret public messaging differently.
If you decide to engage, engage with what the campaign claims it stands for: reintroducing people to Jesus and highlighting love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service. And if you decide to critique, critique in a way that is specific about the mismatch you perceive, rather than using the existence of controversy as an excuse to refuse any conversation at all.
Because the loneliness and division the campaign says it began responding to are still present whether an ad runs or not. Jesus, in the campaign’s framing, remains the point. The invitation is to consider him again, with open eyes and steady judgment, until understanding becomes something more than a feeling and kindness becomes something you practice.