Church Branding is More than a Logo
Is your church innovative?
There has been a lot of talk lately about organizations and their “brand.” What is your brand? What do people think of when they hear your name? Does your “brand” reflect what your organization stands for? Its purpose? Let’s try a couple of examples…what do you think of when you hear Nike? Chick-fil-A? Mercedes Benz? For most of us, when you hear those names specific images pop into mind. Branding. It’s way more than just a logo…a logo is just the tip of the iceberg.
This is the case for churches too.
In the era of church closings, church down-sizing, an increase in church persecution, and negative media…the answer lies in a strong foundation including Prayer, Scripture, and the Gospel. Also, part of that response must be a well thought out strategy and innovation…which could mean survival for the church. Out-of-the-box thinking. Activated quickly. No room for mediocrity.
The “Open Doors” process can be used for numerous issues facing the church e.g. branding, recruiting volunteers, tithing/generosity, or any number of other issues.
“Open Doors” is a strategic process in which the church and its leadership open doors to a better understanding of the make-up of your church, your understanding and vision of where God is leading you in the future, a better understanding of the people you want to connect to the church, resulting in the development of insightful strategies and creative executions to tough issues.
Let’s look at a specific example where the “Open Doors” process might be used.
Topic: Church Members Serving the Church they attend
Serving the church is an important part of discipleship. Serving others is an important part of discipleship. But as pastors, we know that recruiting volunteers is a tough job. Most pastors don’t really like asking people to serve the church. Yet volunteers are an important part of a flourishing and thriving church.
According to Lifeway Research, Two in three (66%) churchgoers say they have not volunteered for a charity (ministry, church or non-ministry) in the previous year. Three in ten (30%) say they have, and 4% are not sure.
Only one-third of adults serve in the church! Why is this? What are the barriers? Have they been asked to serve? What are the most common excuses? How does your church compare to this research? How do we fix this?
These are just a few of the questions that get asked in the Open Doors process plus much more.
What is the process?
The Open Doors process contains 4 key stages:
1) Investigate
Research of your current church congregation
Investigate church trends
Who is your target audience?
Investigate what has been successful
2) Creative Strategy Development
Given what was learned in step 1, how does the church respond?
What are possible strategies?
What would “out-of-the-box-thinking” look like?
What is realistic?
3) Evaluate and Test
Time to step back and evaluate…feelings, cautions, benefits, excitement level, likes and dislikes.
What are gaps? What are the risks?
How will it be funded?
4) Integrate
Define next steps
Assign the person(s) that will provide oversight
Avoid idea “drift”
Implement into all aspects of your church
Communicate progress
Involve as many people from the church as possible.
This process maximizes strategic decision making, encourages creative idea generation from all areas, helps younger team members be engaged with the church, and creates unity in the church body moving forward.
When was the last time you tried to tackle a tough church issue using a process like this?
Is this something you’d like to learn more about? Please contact DueNorthConsulting.net for more information.