miletwo::network

So, as many of you may have noticed lately I’ve been on somewhat of an environmentalist tear, ranting and raving about waste, consumerism, and green issues. The reason of course is because I love where I live, the earth. It’s awesome! God made it. It’s awesome. Did I mention it’s awesome? So anyway, when I read things that make sense from a “hey let’s use less and preserve God’s artwork for our kid’s kids to see” I like to point them out and if possible relate it to how we function as a church and how this makes use more relevant and credible to the rest of the world.

Church Marketing Sucks made an excellent point today that just because you’re a small church and light on cash doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to use technology to your advantage.  There are a ton of free tools out there to help you run your web site and online marketing campaigns.  I think though, that the question should also be asked; do big churches use expensive technology just because they have the money, or do the pay-for software tools actually work better than their open source counterparts?  I’m not convinced.

In a recent post by Brian Jones titled “Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized? – Questions About Homosexuality (Part 3)
” he poses some difficult questions that the church has struggled with and continues to struggle with for some time.  It amazes me how we respond to various types of sin and implement our own punishment on people, and then return home to our own well cared for basket of filth, acting like we’re so much better.  He speaks of pastors who will refuse to baptize an openly gay person and compares that to refusing to baptize a smoker, drunk, obese, or otherwise enslaved person who although they feel their behavior is wrong, they still fall into regular patterns of misbehavior. Do we treat them the same way?

I’ve been pondering a greener lifestyle these days.  I’m not sure if it’s a result of making the jump to hippyspace (we just moved to Oregon) or if it’s merely a growing consideration for my pocketbook, but I’ve really started caring more about the environment.  Christians have for so long been fatcat consumers, exhibiting an elite sense of entitlement syndrome.  We rant about “those tree huggers” as if they’re the ones messing up our lives by opposing the legislation we care about when in fact we’re probably more guilty of carelessness than they are.  Sure, care about unborn babies and the protection of family, but don’t do it at the expense of everything else in the world.

I’ve been chatting with numerous church leaders lately about consistent messaging and it has become apparent that many misunderstand the meaning of “brand” and the importance of having one.  This is one area in the ongoing saga of attempting to impact the world around us with the message of the Gospel by increasing the skill of churches in communications and marketing.

So, What is a Brand?

The difference between a logo and a brand comes down to consistency and purpose.  A logo is generally defined as a graphic mark representing your organization in a way that is unique, distinguished and hopefully, meaningful.  A brand has the same purpose but consists of more than just your logo and carries over into all elements of your organization’s identity, be it naming, logos, phrases, etc.  Remember Bruce Almighty’s catchy phrase “and that’s the way the cookie crumbles…”? That’s branding.  He created a phrase that identified himself as unique, and used it consistently to place a mark on his news address.  Apple uses “Think Different”, Nike says we should “Just do it” and so on.  Everything they do is embrazened with a specific color palette that is consistent with their identity.  Look at the Apple web site. It’s soft, white and has clean shadows and lines… a lot like their devices, huh?

How can we create a Brand?

Think of everything you create for your church.  Weekly bulletins, postcards for men’s ministry, posters for Awana’s, and so on down the line.  How can you tie all of these things together with a consistent message so that whenever your members and the community see them they say “hey, that’s from so-and-so church”?  That’s branding.

So, for Earth Day 2008 I had decided to write a big long post about how the church should care more about the world God created for us and maybe even start a book about it!  IT’S Been Done!!!  I just found a book by Tri Robinson, a pastor who wrote the book Saving God’s Green Earth. The book is about why the church should care about the environment and includes examples of things his church has done to be more environmentally responsible. There is also a web site for the book which features some great resources and may give you some ideas for how your church can be more eco-friendly.

We at miletwo::network are convinced that part of the church’s drive to becoming relevant in this culture is its response to environmental responsibility and sustainability.  On April 22nd we’ll be releasing a Going Green guide with some simple ideas for churches to implement as part of their environmental responsibility initiatives.

Stay tuned!

Barna group has release new statistics for 2007 tithing here.  According to Barna, not much has changed in the last few years.  Among the various sects that make up the term “Christian,” giving is down across the board.  Evangelicals still give the most, but giving is down across the board as a percentage of mean income.

For more information on managing church marketing and how the church reacts during recession, see our post titled Tough Times? Market Compassion.

I never post goofy stuff, or email cheeky feel good powerpoints around. I’m about to break that rule because today, while looking for information about various bible translations I came across the story below.

What’s the more important opportunity as Jesus marketers, the chance engagement with a stranger who’s not interested but that we might be able to reach with a well crafted message, or the neighbor who calls the church or goes to the web site looking for help or information?