I’ll admit it right now: I was the guy on the church staff who always wanted everything to have the cool “youth group” name. Usually, that name involved some fire, water, or out-of-context Greek word. I always felt the name didn’t matter in the long run; kids would come to youth group, and adults would attend church because that’s just what people do. 

Then along came the internet and access to everything imaginable. I remember my first job at a large church in Austin, TX, where everything had to be cool for people to participate. I say that tongue in cheek, but there is a shred of truth to the culture of Austin. Mainstream doesn’t attract the crowd there. You must be unique and different to gain the youth’s attention. If we are honest, isn’t that the real reason we spend time discussing branding and messaging? We hope to give ourselves a new look and attract a younger crowd. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that endeavor. The problem occurs when we brand something in a way that doesn’t match the experience. My dad (who has been a pastor for over 30 years) used to tell me, “What attracts them is what you must continue to do to keep them.” 

I have a simple mantra regarding church branding and messaging: clean and clear. Clutter and confusion create a terrible look; however, bait-and-switch tactics get churches into trouble. I specifically mean that people won’t come back because the thing advertised was not the same as the thing experienced. Bible studies, fellowships, camps, and retreats should be marketed as such. Here’s a quick anecdote to illustrate how tricky this can be. I decided to try something unusual for our church’s adult education program: a four-week class through the four epochs of church history. I branded the class “Ancient Solutions to Modern Problems.” It’s pretty catchy if I do say so myself. However, I ran into a problem after week one. Over 100 people showed up to the class, and many approached me afterward, saying they enjoyed the history lesson but were disappointed there was no practical solution for a modern problem. In my mind, I had assumed that everyone would understand that learning history helps inform one’s present decision-making. The whole class was a history lesson, but I had marketed a class with practical solutions. The following week, only 80 people came back to the class. I’m left wondering if a different name for the class would have retained a higher percentage of the people.

Here’s another anecdote of when I got this right entirely by accident. I was the youth pastor at Mt. Airy Baptist Church, and I decided to rebrand the youth ministry and all the youth programs. I knew I needed to go a different route because all the previous names were similar to my original thinking, where everything is named after fire or water. I landed on the brand “MA Students.” It was clean and clear. The literal design of the logo was clean and clear as well. However, I didn’t factor in the genius of 15-year-old high school boys. On the night I revealed the new brand, one young man in the front row raised his hand and asked, “Eric, what the heck is muh students?” Face…in palm. Everyone laughed, and to make matters worse, I had placed MA in front of all the new program logos: MA Big Group, MA Small Groups, and MA Gathering. The entire youth group was saying “muh” in front of everything. Also, I officially became “Muh Youth Pastor” that night. I decided to go with it instead of fighting it. That was the best decision I made in that position. Instead of hating the change to the brand, the students loved the funny memory attached to the brand. I had something clean and clear that described everything we did in one simple logo. 

The bottom line is brands matter in church ministry. We live in a reality where people decide if they like your church based on the look and feel of the website. Everyone under 30 is obsessed with “the vibe” of their environment. No one likes it when they feel betrayed by the marketing and brand because the program isn’t the same as the advertisement. I’m reminded of Galatians 6, where Paul contrasts the Judaizers and himself. One group is trying to entice people to get circumcised so they can make a good impression outwardly. Hopefully, no church in America is still doing this bait-and-switch! Paul’s motive becomes apparent in the following verse: everything is for the cross of Christ. Ultimately, nothing else matters in this world. You might have tens of thousands of people attend your event because of your social media marketing, but if the Gospel of Jesus isn’t front and center, nothing else matters, and the effort is a waste. I leave you with a simple challenge: create the most God-honoring, clean, and clear branding you can for the sake of the Kingdom of God.