miletwo::network

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?

Continuing our series on applying the principles learned from Andy Stanley’s book titled Communicating for a Change to church web development projects, we come to this section titled Internalize the Message. What do you think it means to internalize the message? To borrow from the underlying theme of this site, which is church marketing, you have to first believe the message before you can communicate the message and you pretty much have to know what you’re going to say before you start to speak.

It’s interesting to me, how much of a secular author’s rants on marketing apply to our activities as saints.  Seth Godin is spot on again in a recent post titled “Would we miss you?“.  He of course asks the question with respect to business/client relationship to demonstrate the importance of being exceptional in what we do.  I can’t even believe how much more important the work that we’re doing is from an eternal perspective, and yet for most of us our efforts in ministry are so terribly “back burner.”

I just finished reading David Alan Black’s latest post titled Confessions of a Missional Greek Prof wherein he relates his thoughts about living as a Missional Christian.  One quote in particular made me think about this site, its purpose, and my mission on earth.

If we really believe in the Gospel, what should we be doing to advance it? What is the church, and how can we help it transform society?

I think the reason this spoke to me so much is that lately I’ve been wondering what I’m doing here… I mean right here, on this site.  Am I writing for myself or for others? I know people are coming to the site (thanks to Google Analytics) but I don’t know if anything I’m writing is having an impact on anybody? I carried these emotions all the way down the page as I read words that echoed a sentiment I’ve been feeling myself.  Paul labored to instruct churches, encourage missional thinking, and promote the spread of the gospel.  I believe I’m working toward a similar goal.