A 2005 article from The Tampa Bay Times cited information from a survey by a London-based sports marketing research firm, Sponsorship Research International. While conducting this survey researchers canvased seven thousand people from six countries: the United States, Australia, Germany, India, Japan and the United Kingdom. They concluded that that the golden, M-shaped arches of the McDonald’s restaurant chain and the Shell Oil Company’s fanned seashell logo are better known symbols than the Christian cross. Furthermore, they found that 92 percent of those polled could identify the Olympic five linked rings symbol, 88 percent knew the McDonald’s and Shell symbols and the cross was only identified by 54 percent of those polled.

In the article, an Anglican Bishop from Manchester, England named Christopher Mayfield was asked about the survey findings. He responded, “The Olympic movement, Shell and McDonald’s have a worldwide vision, so they are to be congratulated on getting their message across to the world. Christianity also has a worldwide vision, but we have not been so successful in communicating the faith, and we have to do better.”

(source: https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1995/08/26/golden-arches-more-recognized-than-cross/)

That’s a statement that Mr. Mayfield and I agree on. Our Lord commissioned His disciples to go into all the nations proclaiming His good news but sadly many of us struggle to take the gospel across the street. It’s sad when we live in a world where the McDonald’s logo is easily more recognizable than the cross of Christ. That shouldn’t be the case. Let’s change it.

“(Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16 NIV)

In Christ,
Jonathan Anderson