Wondering about Jesus can feel oddly complicated. On one hand, Jesus is everywhere in Christian history, art, and language. On the other hand, many people do not know what they actually believe, or they have questions that do not fit neatly into a Sunday-morning setting. You might feel curious, cautious, or even resistant, and still want to take the next honest step.
That is where He Gets Us comes in. It is a Christian campaign designed to invite people to consider Jesus, his life, and his teachings, including why he matters today. The campaign does not ask you to start by agreeing with everything. It asks you to start by looking at Jesus in a way that sparks curiosity and conversation.
If you are wondering what “starting here” could mean, here is a grounded way to use the campaign as a starting point, without pretending it settles every question for you.
What “He Gets Us” is trying to do
He Gets Us describes itself as a reintroduction. The aim, according to its own description, is to bring people back to Jesus and to highlight themes such as love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service.
That theme list matters, because it tells you what the campaign chooses to emphasize. Instead of beginning with doctrines or insider language, it leans into the qualities people often recognize even if they do not share the theology. If you have ever thought, “I respect kindness, but I do not know what to do with Jesus,” this framing is meant to meet you there.
The campaign also presents itself as not affiliated with any single individual, political position, church, denomination, or faith viewpoint, while still being about Jesus and connected to Christianity. That distinction is important if you are wary of religious marketing that feels controlled by a particular faction. He Gets Us is explicitly trying to avoid that kind of narrow gatekeeping in how it presents the idea of Jesus.
If you are thinking, “Okay, but what do they mean by Jesus matters today?” the campaign’s origin story gives a clue. It began in 2021 as a response to loneliness, division, and anxiety, with the idea of sharing stories about Jesus in unexpected places. The message is not framed as a purely private comfort for believers. It is framed as a public invitation to consider Jesus amid the social and emotional pressures people feel.
Who runs the campaign, and why it matters for your trust
It is worth asking who is behind a campaign, because it affects what you can reasonably expect from it.
He Gets Us says the effort is led by Come Near, Inc., a nonprofit, and that He Gets Us, LLC is wholly owned and managed by Come Near, Inc. That is a concrete detail you can hold onto when you evaluate the campaign’s credibility. A nonprofit structure does not magically remove bias or disagreement, but it gives you a clearer picture of organizational ownership and management.
It also helps explain why the campaign can talk about broad public topics like loneliness and division. Nonprofits often operate with an emphasis on outreach and engagement rather than a single political outcome.
If you are someone who distrusts religious messaging because you have seen it attached to power, this background may not solve every concern, but it can help you ask more precise questions: Who is funding it? What do they emphasize? What do they avoid? What claims do they make, and what do they leave open?
“Unexpected places” and why that can feel both helpful and unsettling
He Gets Us began with the idea of sharing stories about Jesus in unexpected places to spark curiosity and conversation. The phrase “unexpected places” is doing more work than it sounds like. It implies the campaign is trying to reach people who would not otherwise seek out Jesus content in a church context.
That approach has become widely visible, particularly through Super Bowl advertising. AP reported that the campaign ran Super Bowl ads in 2023 and 2024, and He Gets Us itself has said it has brought Jesus into major cultural spaces.
This is one of those trade-offs you should acknowledge directly. Big cultural placement can make Jesus feel more mainstream and accessible, but it can also trigger skepticism. Some people hear “major cultural spaces” and assume the message is optimized for attention rather than transformation. Others feel relieved that Jesus is not confined to a narrow setting.
If you are wondering about Jesus, either reaction can be part of the process. The question is not whether the campaign is subtle. The question is whether the message invites you to actually consider Jesus, not just react to the marketing.
What the campaign says about inclusion, including LGBTQ+ people
On the campaign’s FAQ page, He Gets Us says Jesus loves LGBTQ+ people and that everyone is welcome to explore Jesus’ story.
That statement matters for a practical reason. If you are LGBTQ+ yourself, or if you care deeply about how Christianity treats people with different identities, you want more than vague slogans. You want a clear signal about whether the campaign is inviting you in.
The campaign’s inclusive posture may be encouraging, but it also sits inside a larger conversation about consistency. AP reported criticism focused partly on perceived tension between the campaign’s inclusive public message and some financial supporters backing conservative causes, including anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ efforts.
That tension does not cancel the FAQ statement, but it does mean you should think carefully about how you interpret “welcome.” The campaign can welcome you while still being connected to a funding ecosystem that some people view as contradictory.
A mature approach here is to separate three things that often get lumped together:
What the campaign’s public message says about Jesus and welcome What the campaign invites people to consider about Jesus’ character What some supporters may have backed elsewhereYou do not have to pretend those are identical. If you are choosing whether to engage, it helps to decide which of those you are evaluating first.
How to use “He Gets Us” as a starting point, not a final authority
If you wonder about Jesus, starting here does not mean you have to accept the campaign’s framing as the final word on everything. Think of it more like an entry ramp.
The campaign is designed to invite you to consider Jesus’ life and teachings. That means your next move should be to examine the themes it highlights and ask what they mean in a real person’s life.
He Gets Us itself publishes articles https://holdenizdd245.lowescouponn.com/he-gets-us-jesus-in-public-life-and-private-struggles and resources focused on Jesus, including resources related to relationships, bias, mental health, and hospitality. That matters because it gives you a way to go beyond the initial “Jesus is relevant” message into something more concrete.
If you are deciding whether to explore, a helpful tactic is to pay attention to how the material treats questions like these:
- Does it make room for uncertainty, or does it demand instant agreement? Does it focus on how Jesus lived and what his teaching points toward, or does it skip straight to slogans? Does it connect Jesus to everyday concerns like relationships and mental health without pretending those issues are simple?
You will not get every theological answer from a campaign designed for public conversation. What you can get is a way to begin thinking about Jesus without feeling like you are walking into an argument on day one.
When your questions are more skeptical than curious
Some people do not start with curiosity. They start with caution. They might have been hurt by churches. They might feel angry at hypocrisy. They might believe Christianity is used to control people. Others might worry that Jesus is just a branding theme.
He Gets Us can still be a starting point for skepticism, but the experience will depend on how you approach it. If you treat every message as an attempt to recruit you, you will likely bounce off quickly. If you treat it as an invitation to examine Jesus, you might find yourself thinking more slowly and more honestly.
A practical way to do this is to watch for what the campaign emphasizes, and then ask whether that emphasis aligns with the kind of Jesus you want to understand.
Because the campaign highlights love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service, you can use those words as a lens. Do the materials seem oriented toward compassion and repair, or toward winning? Do they encourage a posture of listening, or only certainty? Those are not ultimate doctrinal tests, but they are real indicators of what kind of Jesus is being portrayed.
And if you run into criticism, you can treat it as data rather than a deal-breaker automatically. AP reported that criticism includes the perception of tension between inclusive public messaging and some financial supporters’ backing of conservative causes such as anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ efforts. That kind of criticism matters if you care about integrity. It also matters if your concern is whether the campaign is genuinely for people or simply using inclusive language for reach.
Either way, the point is not to pick a side instantly. The point is to keep your standards active while you explore Jesus’ story.
The most useful questions to ask yourself while you engage
When you wonder about Jesus, the best questions are usually less about winning debates and more about honesty.
You can ask yourself questions like: What do I mean by “love”? What do I think forgiveness actually costs? What would understanding look like if it required me to listen to someone I would rather dismiss? If Jesus is real, what does his life demand of you and me, not just of “the religious people” we critique?
He Gets Us frames the campaign around those kinds of themes. Love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service are not abstract points; they are behaviors with consequences.
If you have ever tried to practice kindness and found it complicated, you understand why this matters. Kindness can be genuine and still be ignored. Forgiveness can be necessary and still take time. Understanding can require painful self-correction. Service can be meaningful even when it does not make you look heroic.
That is the kind of realism you can bring to your exploration. It keeps you from treating Jesus as a concept and pushes you toward Jesus as a person whose life and teaching produce a kind of moral pressure.
A short “start here” path you can actually follow
If you want a simple way to begin without getting lost, here is a straightforward approach based on what the campaign publicly offers. This is not a spiritual test. It is just a way to structure your curiosity.
- Spend one session with He Gets Us messaging focused on Jesus’ life and teachings, and note which themes feel most specific to you (love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, service). Move from the broad campaign into the site’s resources on Jesus, especially sections related to relationships, bias, mental health, and hospitality. Sit with the campaign’s FAQ statement that everyone is welcome to explore Jesus’ story, including the claim that Jesus loves LGBTQ+ people. If you feel tension from reported criticism about supporters and policy causes, decide what kind of integrity you need from a message in order to keep exploring. After you read, write down one question you would ask Jesus as if you actually believed he might respond.
That last step can feel uncomfortable, because it makes the conversation personal. But it often clarifies your real issue, not just your surface doubt.
What to do when the campaign feels too polished, too public, or too loud
Big campaigns can feel overwhelming. Super Bowl advertising, major cultural placement, and high visibility create friction for people who prefer quiet inquiry. If you are sensitive to that, you are not wrong to notice it.
However, a polished message is not automatically empty. Sometimes clarity is simply clarity, even when it is delivered at scale. The point is to separate presentation from content.
Try this mental move: treat the campaign as a doorway, not a destination. Let the public visibility get you to the next step, which is engaging the materials about Jesus and his teachings, and reading the resources that deal with lived areas of concern, like relationships and mental health.
If you only focus on how loudly the message enters culture, you will miss the opportunity to ask what Jesus’ story offers you now.
Where He Gets Us can help, even if you never become a “regular church” person
Some people feel pulled toward Jesus but do not want to commit to church routines. The campaign’s design suggests it is aimed at exactly those liminal spaces, because it invites conversation and exploration rather than demanding immediate belonging.
The campaign’s stated focus is Jesus, his life, and his teachings, and why he matters today. It emphasizes themes that translate across social boundaries: love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, service.
Also, the campaign says everyone is welcome to explore Jesus’ story, including LGBTQ+ people. That is a direct invitation, and it matters even for people who do not share every aspect of Christian belief.
If you are in a season of loneliness, division, or anxiety, the campaign’s origin story is also relevant. It began in 2021 in response to those pressures. That does not mean it can fix your life in a day, but it can validate why you might seek Jesus now rather than later.
How to hold both appreciation and critique at the same time
You might find yourself thinking, “I like the message about love and welcome, but I do not like how tangled it seems with other agendas.” That is not hypocrisy. It is discernment.
AP reported that criticism included perceived tension between inclusive public messaging and some financial supporters backing conservative causes, including anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ efforts. That report gives you a real reason to pause. It also means you should not treat the campaign as a monolithic moral brand where every connection aligns perfectly.
A helpful mindset is to keep your evaluation question specific. Ask:
- What does the campaign say about Jesus and his teaching? What does the campaign emphasize about love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service? Does the campaign encourage real curiosity and conversation, or does it only aim for agreement? How do you want to relate to a campaign that sits inside broader funding realities you may disagree with?
If you can answer those questions for yourself, you will be better prepared to explore Jesus without either abandoning discernment or surrendering it.
Common questions people ask when they “start here”
People who are wondering about Jesus often have practical questions, even if they do not say them out loud. Here are a few of the questions that come up most frequently when people engage a public campaign like He Gets Us.
- Is He Gets Us affiliated with a particular denomination or political position? The campaign says it is not affiliated with any single individual, political position, church, denomination, or faith viewpoint. What is the campaign actually trying to get people to do? It invites people to consider Jesus, his life, his teachings, and why he matters today. Does it claim Jesus loves LGBTQ+ people? The campaign’s FAQ says Jesus loves LGBTQ+ people and that everyone is welcome to explore Jesus’ story. Why is it so visible in mainstream culture? It has been widely associated with Super Bowl advertising, and AP reported Super Bowl ads in 2023 and 2024. Why do some people criticize it? AP reported criticism focused partly on perceived tension between the campaign’s inclusive public message and some financial supporters backing conservative causes, including anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ efforts.
These questions do not force you into a binary. They help you choose your next step with clarity.
Let Jesus be the focus, and let your curiosity be honest
If you are wondering about Jesus, you are not trying to pass a test you did not study for. You are trying to make sense of who Jesus is, what his life meant, and what his teachings might ask of you now.
He Gets Us exists to bring Jesus into the conversation in a way that aims at loneliness, division, and anxiety, and does it by sharing stories about Jesus in unexpected places. The campaign emphasizes love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and service, and it says everyone is welcome to explore Jesus’ story, including LGBTQ+ people.
At the same time, it has drawn criticism connected to the realities around funding and supporters. If you care about integrity, you should take that seriously. If you care about your own spiritual honesty, you should let your questions stay alive while you explore.
Starting here does not mean you have to arrive fully convinced. It means you take the next step with eyes open, using what is offered to consider Jesus’ story, and letting the themes the campaign highlights challenge and steady you as you think.