Dear Church

Branding: a tool or prop?

Even though branding serves as a tool for effective communication, creating unity and a clear sense of identity, branding also demands loyalty; loyalty, often not rooted not in Christ or the community of believers, but the church itself, the building, or organization. The identity of your church can commonly be found in the brand, in comparison to an identity found in Christ and realized in a local church community. You have used branding as a prop for your agenda instead using it as a tool. You have shirts, key chains and posters with your logo and name in every corner. While understanding that branding is helpful, you have permeated your culture with strategies that commands loyalty to the brand like Google.

The result of these practices is an attitude and culture in your church that views itself as the savior in the city. As the only “Bible believing church” in your city. This is not true. There are other churches worshiping God and serving the community, but you often view them as competition.

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This is coming from personal experience. Your church has been so significant in my life. I came to know Jesus there, I worked there and had friends, family, and met my spouse there. But something was off, you changed your name three times in the twelve years I had been there. Growing up, I loved the logos, the shirts, the colors, the songs, culture, the sermons, the meaning behind everything I experienced there, the brand, but, looking back and even in my final years serving and attending, I felt this dissonance.

Your church has and identity issue hat is perpetuated by your branding. There is a culture that permeates the congregation which viewes other churches as groups that needed to beat ascetically so that their people would join our “better” or even “healthier” church. I know I fell into this, thinking that your church was the best in the area, with the best preaching, the largest congregation, the coolest and all other Christians should only be in our building on Sunday morning. I identified with the brand. The branding and identity of your church cause your congregation to fill with pride because they are part of your strong cultural identity, but you missed the opportunity to fill them with zeal for Christ. Your brand has become more attractive and compelling to your community, when all of your efforts should be pointing to love and worship to the One true God.

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There should be a difference between a loyal Chic-fil-a customer and a believer that is a member of your church. Pride, consumerism, and systems that function solely for the purpose of making a person, building, or organization to be “better” perpetuates churches in America and yours. Convictions on the uniqueness and holiness of the church are lost as authenticity is painted over and methods and best practices take over your liturgies. It is not coincidental that big brands like McDonald’s and Disney have created their own liturgies and gospel with their rituals, songs, and stories. The Church has been doing this for a long time, communicating truth and meaning through rituals, song, and teaching, but it has weakened in its understanding of why it has such traditions.

Now, like the world, your church has adopted marketing strategies (an example of branding centralized around the church marketing) and best practices from business and consumer loyalty models. Plans, strategies, and rules bring about philosophies to attract and keep an attendee or member of a church, instead of valuing the universal church and truly desiring God’s deliverance in the believer’s life. You have remained in devotion to the church function, but not in your devotion to the LORD.

Wrapped up in techniques, best practices, function, and popularity, you centralized Christ around the church, not the church around Christ. Your branding has been a prop used to divide the church instead of a tool to reach glorify God and display Him to the world. It has caused an identity issue in your church, so you need a reminder and reevaluation of what the foundation for church branding is.

Shrewd and Skewed Practices

Before getting starting with this new foundation, it is important to note that “branding” is the common meaning to communicate a system used for “creating your image and guiding your reputation”, as Karen Kang states in her book Branding Pays (Kang 17). This is her approach to building a personal brand, but it is still known to culture that this is the function of branding. It is a tool for engagement, consumers, money, positive reputation, unity, loyalty, and conveying uniqueness. The church has elements like unity and uniqueness that can be communicated to its community, but the connotation of the word “branding” can often lead churches to think that they have to do “branding” the same way that the rest of the world does. This is not true and will bring about a cult of best practices and “loyal customers” without knowing how or why they are there. It is a form of shrewd and often disingenuous way of getting desired results which you have adopted.

An unfortunate result of this thinking is people like Phil Cooke, author of Branding Faith, advocating for church branding for the sake of furthering the faith and expanding on marketing practices for making money and gaining more volunteers or attendees in an organization or church. This is not what you should be doing. His biggest argument and reasoning for writing his book is so that pastors and church leaders can know how to “get [their] message through the static” (12). He also argues that growth is one of the most important reasons for church branding, but this is a heavily skewed view of the function of the church (19). Instead of using the word “branding”, the word “identity” can be used to show that the church has an identity in Christ and it can communicate that identity through images, words, sermons, songs, and its practices. This will be helpful for you, in order to restore some of the tactics and practices you have used to get your desired outcome. Using the word identity will remind you of why you want to communicate who you are, which is for clear representation of Christ and his local church in your community.

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An example of the church branding itself to the detriment of truth and love in Christ is seen in this parody video by Church Soundguy,

Although no logos are shown, the culture of churches like this runs rampant across America. This needs to change. Branding a church communicates something different than abiding in God and his promises and commandments. The authenticity is lost and community rooted in Christ is low on the priority list. Money, attendance, and relevance are what churches like this are seeking and it needs to stop.

Your Identity

So, you have an identity issue, and it has been manifested in the strategies and practices of branding. Although branding is not inherently wrong, you have adopted your identity in your building, pastors, and personality of the church. This is the wrong approach to communicating your identity. A new foundation needs to be formed. What is this foundation? Where do you start if you want to communicate your identity through images, words, colors, liturgies, and practices, how do you communicate meaning? How can branding be redeemed? What is it that has caused you to lose sight of your first love?

Your Foundation

The One who has made you, prays for you, delivered you from dry bones and, called you to him, the LORD God Almighty. He has given your his Word and Spirit for your life and mission. Your identity is here, in the person of Christ, and that is where your start in communicating your church identity. The application for church branding needs a foundation rooted in theological and biblical justification so that if branding is how you choose to bear your identity, you can confidently move forward in conveying meaning into what your identity is. With this, an evaluation of the elements of communication and branding is essential. Leadership, community, and culture are these elements and here, the uniqueness of your church, illuminated by Christ, takes your branding and identity to a new attitude.

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So, the foundation for a church identity is in the Word of God. First, the Church is the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27). This body is one and held by Jesus the Son of God as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:12. The church shares unity with Christ and this unites all Christians and Jesus says this in John 17:22, “The glory you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one”. The Church is one in God and the bride to Christ (Eph 5:22-32). This means that there is community and unity that the church should hold to in their functions and practices. Even in a time of great division, the global church is united. Putting this to practice, churches need to communicate the unity of the global church to their local communities because no matter what local church someone attends, it is important that they do attend one. A local pastor in Chicago, Illinois was happy to tell a visitor that if his church was not right for them, he would be happy to help them find a church closer to the visitor. This was shocking for this visitor and it changed their view of the relationship between the local church and the global church. There does not have to be a competition for who has the biggest church or who has the most converts. This view has completely lost sight of what loving God is.

The Church is holy and upholds the Word of God (Eph 5:27, Col 1:1-5, 2 Tim 3:16-17). The church also holds to the Word of God as the authority. This is seen again in Acts 2. Out of these truths are practices that the church does such as confessing sins (James 5:16), communion (Luke 22:19), proclaiming the gospel (1 Thess 2:8-9), and praying with and for one another (James 5:16). With all of this in mind, the church has a role to care for its members and the world. Loving God and loving your neighbor (Mark 12:31).

Communicating Biblical Truth

So, the church meets together for the gathering of the saints and the proclamation of the gospel. What does this look like for a church that wants to communicate that? What if they want to communicate that they are a multiethnic church or a large community? The identity of the church is so important when it comes to these matters and that is found in Jesus Christ, not a church brand, pastor, or building. This looks different for every local church and that is why the foundation for branding needs to be redeemed. Church identity servers as a tool to care for its members, its community, and glorify God and all his commandments.

To begin establishing the foundation for a church identity it is can be drawn from what is common for the church of believers, both global and local. This is Christ as stated previously, but there is a model as constructed by communications Professor Brian Kammerzelt, from which the purpose for the Christian faith flows (Kammerzelt 46-47). What you have in common is Christ (1 Cor 12:27), this leads you to commune as commanded by God with liturgy and worship, and then being with one another (Heb 10:24-25) in community. This is then moved to communications or media, and then commission. (Kammerzelt 46-47). Church identity lies between communication and commission as it is coming from commonality in Christ and communicating its worship, liturgy, and love for God to the rest of the world, its commission (Mark 16:15).

Common (Christ) > Community (Church) > Commune (Worship) > Communications (Media) > Commission (Evangel)

Coming from this foundation, Christ who is what all believers and churches have in common, “church branding” stops the permitting culture around a church identity rooted in this model can flow naturally. Identity in any believer is in Christ and this is true in their personal life, the same is even truer for the church. Money, techniques, numbers, popularity, and loyalty are not the start and reason for creating an identity. The identity is already created in Christ.

Truth in the Body

From this understanding of what church identity is rooted in, the people who appoint how the church functions and realties to its local context are the leaders in the church, pastors, and in your tradition also a board of elders. It can be argued that any church leader should have a basic understanding of communications and the use of media in the church. This is becoming more common, but it is without a doubt you need help in this area. Theologically trained communicators do not stop at people like photographers, graphic designers, and worship coordinators, church leaders and pastors need to have an understanding go these topics if a church identity is being communicated.

This is often seen in the phenomenon of the celebrity pastor. With increasing power given to the senior/lead pastor, accountability and discernment in decisions regarding, what ministries are “on brand”. I have seen this in your church were you often do not support other leaders in ministries, either in the body or in the city. This is an issue and I have seen you hesitantly deal with people, ideas, and ministries that are not particularly satisfying to your “brand”

Abuse of power, or lack of accountability, or obsession with numbers or money are part of the issue. What does this mean for you, pastor, church leader? Look inward and address your idols, selfishness, and obsession with making sure you don’t end up like ‘them’. 1 Corinthians 3: 18-21 reminds you that you need humility because the moment you think you are wise, you are not. 1 Peter speaks to this reality and I would encourage you to read it. Verse 13 says “do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” and much of the book speaks to humility because of persecution. You need dependence on God, not your answers. This responsibility in your pastoral staff’s lives is where you can change the movement around church identity. Stewardship is also key here. You need to steward your media well so that it can communicate biblical truths. Paul says in 1 Peter 4:10-11,

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ”.

People in your church are looking to you, and if you are not pointing to Christ, they are going to idolize the pastor, leadership, or just the function of the church. You need accountability, and checks, and people to question and criticize what you are doing so that no one leader, pastor, or central idea besides Christ permeates the culture and identity of the church.

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An extreme example of this is seen in the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast published. By Christianity Today. This story speaks to the ignorance around media and its impact on people.

Episode 6: The Brand, aired August 3, 2021:

With ill-informed leaders in the church, detrimental circumstances happened at Mars Hill. Mark Driscoll had no accountability and the leaders of the church did not think theologically about what they were doing in the decisions they made about media and branding.

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Flippantly picking graphics, logos, and sermons just because someone told you it’s a good idea is not thinking theologically and being informed about what, how, and why you are communicating. If it is on the other end, where you are choosing logos, church service order, and marketed sermon series, to make more money, get more people through the doors or play it safe so people remain loyal, that is wrong. This is the way that creates identity in yourself not Christ. This is prideful and displeasing to God. Understanding culture, theology, and the media landscape is key in conversations surrounding crafting media around a church identity.

As your church wrestles with how to get your church identity communicated, this criticism serves to show the importance of your leaders understanding why they adopt practices for communication. With a deep conviction on the importance of theologically and biblically trained communicators, your church can create and present media that moves its audience to action, not attraction. Crafting a website that only attracts for the sake of bringing more people in is deceiving. Your Instagram page should keep the medium, message, and audience in mind when planning to post something. Are Bible study notes best posted on Instagram? Or, are photos and videos of the congregation or event posters and announcements more helpful for the everyday scroller? These are the concepts that communication directors, social media managers, and your pastors and elders need to think about.

Why does this matter? Everything communicates and media churches use to and the reason for that media speak loudly to their intentions. In the Bible, the apostle Paul speaks to many churches in his letters about being truthful in their community and he warns them of false teachers and people who plan to deceive. While many churches may not intend to mislead, you may be doing so through your media.

A clear example of this is planning a church website. If the leaders and pastors of a church know how to use design and media metrics, they could intentionally make their website attractive to make visitors think it is exactly what they are looking for. This is an attraction model of utilizing media. This is what the world does for money, loyalty, and a positive reputation. Another example is if a church’s Instagram page consists of pictures and posts about the pastor and all of his sermons. While there is nothing wrong with creating a page or account that allows people to see their pastor, it communicates a self-centered and obsessive page for anyone to look at. This is not what the church is for.

Instead, churches should utilize their media presence as a way to engage with their audience and community. Sermons and about pages are so helpful, but what is your church about? What is your identity? Is it in Christ, the leadership or functions of the church? Then what will you create to communicate what you believe and why?

A website serves as a hub for information and connections. Twitter can cultivate conversation and Instagram can inspire a viewer. A church using media as a website or Facebook should not solely be for entertaining their audience it should be calling people to action. We are of a faith that has a high calling to serve and love your neighbor, a church should no differently communicate that. It is arrows out, as Professor Kammerzelt sees it, not arrows in (200). Connect your audience and congregation, don’t isolate them. This model falls in line with mobilization not attraction. Church identity can connect people and it can move people and give them an identity in Christ!

So, this foundation is not rooted in any one individual or practice of the church, but it is in Christ. This flows to the way you interact with one another and how you communicate with your church.

Developing, and training your people in these areas of communications, theology, and culture is one step in humbly presenting your church identity. Critically thinking about how you communicate and why is the first step. Do not just do what the church down the street is doing because it works. Remember, you are here for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31) not for your advantage, money, numbers, and loyalty. This may look different for many churches, but you have the people who are eager and willing to advise you on this. Use their gifts and experience in these areas and work together. As you have seen in the examples mentioned, division comes from people trying to achieve their own selfish goals.

After you have your community involved and your pastor, leaders, and laypeople advising you on how to move forward, you look at your community and see their needs. Christ came for all (Heb 2:9) and you are called to care and disciple (Matt 28:19-20), that is how your identity moves you. You are in a city that is poor and needs Jesus, communicate that and invite them to join you. Do not hold them only to your building though, remember those you are in Christ are held close to him (Rom 8:37-39). Humility in helping the believer find a local body to worship and serve in does not look like holding all of them to yourself. You come to serve, not to be served (Mark 43:45). Jesus is the embodiment of how you function as a church, not by techniques or by who is in charge.

Truth in Art

You have been given creativity. Art and creativity are found at the beginning. God is the Artist as seen in Genesis 1-3. You are created in God’s image and his workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). You are in Christ a “new creation” (1 Corinthians 5:17). In Makoto Fujimura’s book Art and Faith, a common theme he revisits is the New Creation. It is so clear that God made you create and look to him and his creation for beauty, but there is something so precious about the present, and waiting for God to redeem all things and restore everything to glory. Redemption is not just fixing what was broken, but making it new! A note he makes for the connection between art and faith, Fujimura asks if artists can be leading the way and as part of leadership in the church? He elaborates and answers with, “Perhaps, I ask as an artist, being an artist is not an anomaly to faith, but is mental to faith and the place of the church in the world; and in order to understand the fullness of the grace of God, we all must think, act, and make like an artist” (Fujimura 87). You create. It is a natural effect of your makeup. You are made to worship. You see this truth in Jesus coming and in Revelation. Art is a way that you can worship. This idea then effects how you communicate and value the media you use. As stewardship was mentioned before, you are held to a higher standard and God is looks at your heart. Allow the Spirit to bring wisdom and accountability to you so that the you use media, art and your identity, you are glorifying him as you share.

As the apostle John admonishes believers in 1 John 4 7:12, I also want to say to you,

Beloved, let us love another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, of God so love us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

If you change the foundation on which your church identity practices are built upon, it can be used to communicate the unity, beauty, goodness, and excellence of God to the world and can be redeemed.

Return to your first love my church, stop turning inward. Rely on the tools God has given you to glorify him and bring your neighbors to see their need for him. Devote yourself to Christ, not to your function, and you will see his provision and blessing.

With deep love and respect,

Your sister in Christ