Branding the Gospel

I’ve been thinking a lot more about the 'art of branding' and how I can think with practical “sense” about it. Here's a couple thoughts going through my head today pertaining to branding:

First, there’s Culture.
A culture has a texture – something you can see and feel. They can feel how rough or smooth you are when they face you. Is your surface a rugged edge or a cushioned environment? An environment is your season, not your foundation. In a spiritual culture your foundation, your goal and your message is the gospel. When someone meets the gospel they’re faced with a decision and they know it. For some it creates a cringing or for others it thrusts meaning. And that all depends on their former experience with it. Maybe they met, even desired it, but it felt irrelevant to everything in their journey but death. But…they might not have met the true gospel and now they have a bad taste in their mouth.

Second, there’s People.
Never choose to create a foundation that has any potential to downgrade the gospel all because of someone’s human opinion. All because of someone’s tradition. The only thing that matters is for your culture to become a redemptive healing place. If anything stands in the way of that tear it down immediately so Jesus can come back into your place. You can only do your best, I know, but God needs us to create environments that are inviting…even to a mainstream culture, so his message has no strings attached besides what it is. The number one reason the gospel fails to reach people is because of people.

Third, there’s Sense
If anything it’s wise to understand brand sense in a sensory world. Branding is an art involving: Touch, Sound, Sense, Sight. Branding is for those who desire: coherence, common sense, soundness, logic, wisdom, meaning, and just plain intellect.

Fourth, there’s Presentation.
Was the gospel meant to be delivered in the air? Can you just speak it out loud and it will penetrate a culture? Yes, but that’s just one piece of the pie. Let me add - A very important piece, especially to me personally.

Did Jesus do His greatest work through his gospel presentation or was it the way he lived? Was it through his sermons or through his quality time with those he has close relationships with? The answer is both.

I’d like to bargain that even though the sermons were immensely effective (and I’m happy about that since I am a preacher) the most effective way to live a Christian life is through 1) trusting our Heavenly Father. The movement we are a part of succeeds the most when we just stay close to him and do what he wants with every single part of our lives. This cannot be overemphasized nor watered down. 2) relationships - the kind where quality matters more than quantity. Where depth matters more than giftedness and intellect. God didn’t call most people to be preachers and sermonizers for the sake of preaching and presentation. He called all people to “make disciples” through relationships with others and a relationship with himself. The two great commandments are to 1) love God and 2) love others. Can you think of a better way to change the world than to create environments where it becomes most natural for the culture to love God and love others? That is, removing everything and anything you can think of that could get in the way of that.

Is the Gospel like a virus? When it enters the air it spreads like the flu. It did that powerfully at one time here in North America. But they’ve discovered how a vaccine for it – ignore it and do what you want. In Africa, the virus is beginning and succeeding but it will only last as long as the church doesn’t kill it. In America the church has killed the gospel virus with a vaccine.

Someone told me yesterday this: “I’m just evangelistic! That’s why I am going to do church this way.” My response was: “What does it mean to be evangelistic? Does it mean you have the ability to speak truth to the lost culture? Does it mean you just love to share Jesus in the way that worked for you 30 years ago? You’re not evangelistic! The evangelistic church is the one where people are getting saved. That’s it!” This person’s methodology and philosophy for evangelism is just a habit, not an effective God-led presentation for Christ.

Another question arises: Is your target audience worth it? Worth what? Worth the time and energy to understand them for who they are. They aren’t into cutting edge. They love tradition. They love authentic. They are this… Do you know that or preconceive that? They ARE worth KNOWING those answers.

Does your church culture look like that? Does your church culture resembles the needs of the churched or the unchurched? God loves his church, the one he meant to be filled up with the unchurched. His eyes see everyone, but his laser focus is on the unfound, the lost he desires more than we could comprehend to save.

These are the kind of questions and answers that could set you free to leverage your ministry into new heights.