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“Loving God, Serving People, Reaching Nations” is the tagline for Christian Life Center in Tinley Park, Ill. As part of building its brand within the community, the church spoke with the mayor and developed opportunities for the congregation to serve the community between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For the Christian Life Center congregation, serving demonstrates who they say they are. That connection between a name, a vision and an action brings power to a brand — especially a church brand.

According to Joe Dascenzo of Change Design Group, church branding begins from the inside out.

This story and all the great free content on Church Central is supported by: Change Design Group

“Leaders should leverage the staff's brain power right from the start and encourage their input,” said Dascenzo. “By doing this they will not only get support from the staff but will acquire insight and ideas that they may not have considered otherwise.”

Once the vision is set, it must be clearly articulated by the leader. Then the church staff must stand 100 percent behind the leader. They must understand the vision and live the church brand.

About face

“The process of gaining momentum among the staff is important,” Dascenzo said. “Take into account that these people meet and greet the church in many different ways. They are the face of the church brand.”

When staff members begin casting the vision of the church within their own ministries, and begin aligning their activities with the vision of the church, internal buy-in is beginning to occur, Dascenzo said.

Dascenzo said leaders should also consider their church experience from an attender's point of view. “Leaders should think beyond the church service. Everything an attender experiences — from arriving in the parking lot, reading the newsletter at home, to serving in ministry — should communicate and develop the brand. Every experience with the church can communicate the brand.”

The power of a church's brand is in the buzz created by members and attenders who talk about the church Monday through Friday to their friends, family and colleagues. That, Dascenzo said, can impact Sunday.

Brand in action

Finally, only once the staff is living the brand and attenders are experiencing it does a church have the foundation to expose the community to it. Through outreach efforts, community members should be able to see the brand in action.

Journey of Faith church in Manhattan Beach, Calif., recently changed its name and embarked on a re-branding campaign. The senior pastor, Dr. Glen Martin, said branding at Journey began with the leadership, followed with buy-in from church members.

“I had to start with the leadership team,” Martin said. He invited 100 church families to his house for dinner over the course of two months to talk about the brand for the church. “I told them this is what God has shown me.”

Some 2 percent of the membership left during the re-branding, Martin said. But once the lay and staff leaders bought into the church's vision, they were effective in communicating it to their community. Today, one-third of the church is made up of new believers.