I’ve been thinking the past couple of days about the increasing focus on church branding over the past few decades. This increased focus, I believe, is of great value to churches, bettering their first impressions and creating a better presentation to their messages. And I would definitely argue the importance of presentation.
However, my thoughts these past few days have not been on the value of church branding, as usually is the case. While I believe churches that are successful in their branding see a greater level of commitment from their members, I fear some members may rally around the organization’s ideas with little self-thought. While there is great value in high levels of member commitment, I want to be sure that in every ministry I work in, members are never committed more to the organization than they are to God. I never want people to accept presented ideas simply because they came from a well-branded organization but instead because they line up with what they find to be biblical.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I am in no way saying that well-branded churches have a greater member commitment to themselves than to God. I am only saying that I fear the potential for misplaced commitment happening in well-branded ministries, including ones I may eventually work in. But church branding is very important and valuable. So how do we successfully brand are churches while ensuring that we don’t over-brand ourselves and under-brand God? I’m not sure. What can we do to ensure that our church branding results in commitment to the organization and eventually commitment to God? (Because organizational commitment will most likely come first.) Still not sure. I’d love to hear your thoughts…
