Use Your Church’s Message to Effectively Communicate
In 2024 and beyond, churches have a unique opportunity to reach wider audiences through video content and effective branding. When churches (or other non-profits) effectively communicate their mission and values, the open the door to create deeper connections with their congregations and the communities which they serve. In this blog post, I’ll outline ways to utilize video production and branding to take your church’s message further.
Understanding Why Branding for the Church is Important
When you think of church branding, what comes to mind? Is it a logo? A tagline? An image?
Church branding is much more than that.
Branding is about crafting a consistent identity and message that accurately communicates your church’s mission and values, that is unique to your church.
A logo and tagline are just the beginning. Church branding also includes the tone of voice used in your website copy, the fonts and colors you choose, and even the imagery and patterns that represent your church on a Sunday morning. Here are some key elements to consider:
- Brand Voice: The consistent personality and emotion that’s used in your church’s communications, making it relatable and authentic.
- Brand Identity: The elements (both visual and verbal) that make your church instantly recognizable. This includes logos, your color palettes, typography, and imagery.
- Brand Values: The principles and beliefs that guide your church which helps to make your church relatable and authentic to the community that surrounds your church.
- Brand Targeting: Identifying an audience who needs to hear your message. This should be hyper-localized to the neighborhoods, cities, towns, and zip codes that you’re in.
To better understand the concept of branding, imagine it as a single, unique forest. Your brand identity is represented by the tall trees that are immediately visible to your audience. These visual elements, such as your logo, typography, color palettes, and imagery, make your brand instantly recognizable – even if you’re far away.
As you go deeper into the forest, you notice the small, brightly colored flowers that represent your brand voice. While not as immediately noticeable, these elements contribute a unique aesthetic to your brand’s overall identity.
The soil that you’re walking on beneath the trees and flowers represents your brand values which are the guiding principles and core beliefs that your brand stands for. This soil is a foundation which supports all other elements, creating a cohesive message.
Finally, the sunlight peaking through the tall trees represents your brand targeting, bringing to light the path to effective and consistent communication within your target market.
A Church’s Brand Identity and the Great Commission
If you’ve been around the church for sometime, you’re probably aware of the Great Commission. In Matthew 28:19-20, we see Jesus tell His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”
For churches, in order to fulfill the Great Commission, it’s important to have effective and clear communication to spread the Gospel with the community that they serve. A strong brand identity will help churches do just that.
“Go and Make”
The Great Commission issues a clear call to action: “go and make disciples.”
While this directive is often associated with evangelism, it also underscores the importance of effective communication for the Church. Without mastering the art of conveying the Gospel message in a way that resonates with diverse audiences, evangelism efforts will inevitably fall short.
To “make disciples” requires more than just sharing the message of the Gospel; it demands that we communicate it in a manner that speaks to people from all walks of life. While churches should rely on the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of those they share God’s message with, effective communication of the Gospel can only enhance the understanding of the Gospel among the people the church serves.
This is why many churches offer a range of programs, such as Sunday School for children, Youth Programs for teens, and worship services for adults. Each of these initiatives recognizes that effective communication adapts to its audience.
To achieve this, a well-defined brand identity is crucial. It allows churches and their congregations to communicate the Gospel message consistently, clearly, uniquely, and authentically.
By establishing a cohesive messaging strategy, churches can ensure that their message is shared in a way that is both compelling and relatable, regardless of the audience.
If we are to fulfill the Great Commission, churches should prioritize effective communication. A strong brand identity is essential in doing this, as it enables churches to communicate the Gospel message consistently, authentically, and effectively.
Is a brand identity necessary for churches? Of course not. We know that God can work in ways without your brand, but by focusing on creating a streamlined brand identity, churches can more effectively “go and make disciples” of all nations, as commanded by Jesus.
A church's brand identity is crucial for fulfilling the Great Commission. It helps communicate the Gospel message clearly, consistently, and authentically, making it more relatable and effective in reaching the target audience. By investing in a strong brand identity, churches can better spread the Gospel and make disciples of all nations.
Your Brand Identity Should Be Unique To Your Church’s Calling
There is a temptation within the American church to see what other church’s are doing online and to just copy them but you are called to serve the people of your congregation and community, and not the community of the people you’re imitating.
Your church’s brand identity should be unique to your specific church. What is your mission and your values that guide your church to reach your community?Does it connect to the needs and desires of the people you serve? Have you been able to establish an emotional connection that is authentic and inviting?
Your church’s brand identity should be a thoughtful reflection of its unique mission, values, and community, rather than a generic template borrowed from others.
It’s easy to hope and wish for a generic template for a one-size fits all branding approach within the church but people, communities, and neighborhoods are all unique and different. If you’re in Washington D.C., you’re not trying to reach the same demographic as people in the Atlanta suburbs.
- Unique Mission and Values: Each church should define its own mission and values that guide its outreach efforts, rather than imitating others.
- Community-Specific: The brand identity should connect with the needs and desires of the people served by the church, recognizing that communities and neighborhoods are unique and different.
- Emotional Connection: The goal is to establish an authentic and inviting emotional connection with the congregation and community, which cannot be achieved with a one-size-fits-all approach.
Your church’s brand identity should be a thoughtful and prayerful reflection of your unique mission, your values, and of the community, and not a generic one-sized-fits all borrowed brand others.
Reflection Questions for Establishing a Brand Narrative for Your Church
Here are some questions to consider which will help you identify the people you serve and speak to building a brand narrative and identity that will resonate with them.
If you wish to, spend some time thinking about these questions and highlight similar and key elements that will lay the foundation for your brand’s identity.
- Who is our target audience? If we don’t know who we’re trying to reach and what they want, how are we going to effectively reach them with the Gospel? What are their needs, desires, and pain points? What are they searching for and how are they looking for it? How can we tailor our messaging to speak directly to them?
- What sets our church apart? What unique values, mission, or personality traits make our church different from others? Why do people come to our church? How can we communicate these differences effectively? Remember that as Christians we are called to be unified in Christ and so, even though there are differences from church to church, we can highlight those without putting other churches in our community as lesser than ours.
- How do we want to be perceived? What emotions do we want to bring about in our audience? How can we create a brand identity that reflects these goals?
- What are our core values? What principles and Biblical foundations guide our church’s decisions and actions? What do we believe as a church and how can we be certain that our brand identity reflects these values?
- How can we adapt our messaging? How can we better our communication to different audiences? What does our children’s ministry look like? What about our Youth Group? What strategies can we use to make our message more relatable and engaging to our community?
- What is our unique voice? What tone of voice, language, and style best reflect our church’s personality and values? How can we use this voice to connect with our audience and spread the Gospel?
For churches, a strong brand identity is not just about marketing; it’s about creating a deeper connection with your community and spreading the love of Christ.