Visit AspireOne.com As Published in Willow, the magazine of the Willow Creek Association, in Fall 2003

Developing Your Church's Brand

To Grow and Navigate Transition

It’s one of the buzz words of the new millennium. Branding. Though it’s been around forever, it has taken center stage in the global business community, and churches that are trying to gain a competitive edge against an increasingly secularized landscape are now using the term as well.

One of the better definitions describes a brand as a promise made with the customer and built up over time through consistent communication and delivery of that promise. The very mention of the brand’s name should trigger a series of expectations not only about the product or the company — its quality, purpose, etc. — but any number of images and associations, which consumers can relate to, both emotionally and rationally.*

Churches are beginning to get very intentional about what they’re promising. They’re beginning to take long, introspective looks into their value systems and are checking those values against the perceptions of those they’re trying to reach. These values, these promises, are how a church is branded to the outside world.

Willow had a recent conversation with two of the consultants who volunteered their time and helped the WCA in our recent rebranding process. Both Roland Jacobs and Dawn Nicole Baldwin brought valuable real-world experience to the table and led a team of staff and volunteers through an arduous but highly satisfying nine-month process of re-evaluation and refocus that helped crystallize the message of the WCA as well as refining our ministry promise.

Both Jacobs and Baldwin have been busy helping other churches enter into a similar process and have successfully brought about significant changes in several WCA Member Churches thus far. We asked them to share their experiences and knowledge as it pertains to helping churches convey a sincere, unified, and solid brand.

*Bradley McGurk Partnership Web site