In this series on branding, we’ve talked about the benefits of considering your regional body and denomination in your branding efforts. We are about to discuss branding your congregation for outreach.
But before we do, let’s talk about the benefits of branding your congregation and its mission for your own members.
People join churches for many reasons. Often they are selfish!
- They want to be comforted.
- They are looking for peace.
- They are looking for companionship or like-minded friends.
- They need help with their marriage or with raising their children.
- They just want to feel better about themselves and their relationship with God.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these reasons.
Nevertheless, the Bible is pretty clear that more is expected of us. The role of church leaders is to accept people as they are and nurture their faith so that they reach beyond their personal spiritual needs and become a force which helps others find reconciliation with God and His people.
The branding strategies that you create for outreach will help your members bond in mission. It is worth the effort for no other reason.
Branding is about perception and how your members perceive themselves influences their ability to minister.
2×2 has adopted a mission to visit other congregations and learn from them. One small church we visited, clearly a family-sized church, was practicing branding. Every week they stood as one people and recited their mission statement. It had become part of their liturgy and part of the fabric of their corporate life. They didn’t have a flashy logo, grand advertising or signage, but among themselves they knew who they were and what they were about. Their self-confidence showed in their ability to welcome visitors.
Take time to work with your people to understand their expectations. This is not a 30-minute exercise. It’s takes some time to reach below the surface of people’s thinking.
This is a failing of professional church evaluators. They come to a congregation and schedule a meeting or two. They talk with the people who will show up for such a meeting, and may have an axe to grind. This is often not a representative group. The outside evaluator doesn’t know that! Their reports quote the observations of these few people. They often come out looking selfish to outsiders. If the evaluator had taken the time to get to know the speakers, they might realize there were serious life challenges that justified a selfish outlook.
Outside consultants, especially when they are working for the denomination, not the congregation, do not take the time to do more than scratch the surface of congregational life. It is up to your congregation’s leaders, both professional and lay, to lead your congregation in self-examination.
Only then can you write your mission statement, design a logo, create an evangelism strategy or implement branding for outreach.
