Only Churches Struggle With This: The Dual Audience Dilemma

A welcome brochure is one of the things I often find myself helping churches design, despite the fact that I never suggest or recommend it. Why don’t I encourage churches to create these? Well, because to be honest I don’t pick them up myself. If I see a stack of flyers sitting on a table when I walk in your church door for the first time, am I going to grab one? Probably not, no matter how good the design is. I’m looking for a familiar face to connect with, not a colorful piece of paper. If I want to know where to find you on Facebook I’m going to Google search it. If I’m needing to read about your beliefs, I’ll find them on your website. However… I’m a millennial. For older folks who aren’t addicted to their phones and dependent on ChatGPT/Google, a well-designed welcome brochure is often the perfect way to communicate key info and help them get familiar with your church. So it’s worth it to have a welcome brochure in some cases. The important thing to ask yourself is this: Who are you trying to reach? Is your community one that will actually engage with flyers and brochures? If not, then your efforts and money are probably better spent elsewhere.

If you’re one of many (or even a few) churches in your area, branding that stands out should be at the top of your mind. A lot of pastors feel guilty upping their branding game because of their kingdom mindset. “We don’t want to just attract people from other churches because of our aesthetic.” That’s a logical concern, but it’s wrong. People from the harvest (the lost, those who aren’t attending church) are looking at your aesthetics too. When they see a church that looks and sounds the same as every other church in the community, what do you think they’re going to do? They're going to dismiss you. But what happens if you have a logo breaks the mold of the “average” church logo? What if you choose your colors and a tone of voice don’t play it safe like everyone else? You short circuit that pattern recognition many people have for churches. In the sales world they call this a “pattern interrupt.” Violate people’s expectations in a positive way (positive is key here), and you’ll disarm them, making them open to hearing the life changing news of the gospel. I want to be very clear, I’m talking about your church branding and core communications. Here’s what I’m NOT advocating your church look like on a Sunday morning. This church looked different by removing everything that would make them look Christian and simultaneously infringed on a dozen trademarks. Don’t do that! But, here’s my final thought: You’re not being inauthentic by branding yourself as different from others. You ARE different from others. God is doing a unique thing in and through your congregation. So capitalize on that!

How do you describe and brand your church without scaring visitors away or pretending to be something you’re not? Pastors will try, and most of the time the result is something like “We’re a church for everyone.” Or in more words, “We’re a welcoming community of people who love God and want to see the gospel reach every nation.” That’s great - so is every other Protestant church! This is a mistake I see pastors making all the time with their distinctives - stop it! What church leaders are trying to communicate (most of the time) is something like “we won’t turn you away because you’re different,” or “we’re welcoming and not judgmental.” But being hospitable and welcoming are just general marks of a Christian community, not distinctives. It’s great that you can say those things about your church, but they’re not something your congregation will rally around. Those things don’t give people a sense of unique belonging or identity, because they describe every other church. When you say, “We’re a church for everyone,” what you’re actually saying is, “We don’t know who we are.” I can hear some of you thinking “But we’re just your average church. The only thing distinctive about us is our street address!” I’m not saying you should pretend to be something you’re not. And I’m also not saying that every church should be trying to put their own spin on the gospel. Here’s my point: God is uniquely using your church to reach a specific group of people who are, by definition, not “everyone.” Rather than blurring the edges of that calling to be more inclusive or not scare people away, lean into it! Be known for your distinct church identity!

Whether you visit a Presbyterian church in Albany or a Baptist church in Santa Fe, there’s one thing you can always expect to find, one common element of our worship, one universal truth that unites us all… The worship bulletin. …and hopefully the gospel, but my point is that worship bulletins are basically ubiquitous in American Protestant churches. “You can’t move the announcements to page 3, it’s in the bylaws!” Joking aside, there’s something about worship bulletins that I want to touch on today, which could be the difference between visitors coming back to your church or looking elsewhere. That thing is what I’m calling a “handout half-life.” This is referring to the amount of time a handout survives before it’s tossed in the trash. Bulletins have an exceptionally long half-life, so they require special attention. I’ve never conducted a formal study on this (why would you?) but if you're like most churches, your bulletin is the one thing that visitors spend the most time staring at and interacting with (by a long shot). Think about it: They are handed one when they walk in the door. They take it with them to their seat. They look at it during announcements. They write on it or fiddle with it during the sermon. They take it home with them after the service, or at least to their car. Your church bulletin should be designed with this long half-life in mind. Does your bulletin look like something visitors will want to keep on their kitchen table and review later in the week, or does it look like it a piece of garbage? Short answer: Without an outside designer perspective, probably the latter.

Most churches try to stay away from politics: We don’t want to offend anyone. If we offend them, it should be with the gospel, right? Yes, and amen. But… In a post-Christian culture, One that is hostile to biblical family values One that is proud of their depravity One that calls good evil and evil good … any effective outreach requires that our speech be as salty as it is sweet. Does it take wisdom? Yes. Should we seek a clear conscience? Yes. But these guardrails do not exclude bold, unapologetic, and sometimes even provocative messaging in our church communications. Reasons like “We don’t want to give people more reasons to avoid church” and “We want to cast a wide net” have lead to many churches dialing back their true convictions in outward facing marketing. This feels safe, but here’s what it really does: Dilutes the message Waters down your unique congregational identity Speaks to no one in particular Gets lost in the sea of noise The solution to this isn’t to be inflammatory for its own sake. There are enough provocateurs out there already. Rather, the solution is to build a crystal clear message and brand around your church’s unique history, theological convictions, and context.

Having visuals and event graphics is great, but not just because those things make it easier to do promotion. The ultimate goal of an event brand is to make the experience “sticky” and memorable. To maximize that memorability, you’ll want to approach different types of events differently. There are tons of ways to categorize church events, but the one that matters for design and branding is timing. That said, here are the three different types of events (by timing) and how you can approach branding for each. Series Ongoing regular events in the life of your church that happen with a faster cadence (e.g. monthly or quarterly). For these, a new set of visuals for every event would almost definitely be overkill. However, there’s an opportunity for creativity. Instead of branding each event, consider giving the series a brand that persists throughout the year. If you need some variation to distinguish these regular events from one another, change something minor like a background color or a photo for each occurrence, keeping the design the same. Annual Annual events offer more flexibility and room to experiment with the unique event visuals. A lot of churches will approach annual events with an entirely new set of visuals each year, which is totally fine! As long as certain things about the event are consistent year to year, it can even become a beloved part of your church’s overall brand. Here’s what should stay the same for that to work: The event name Who the event is for What happens at the event (although there’s room to adjust this as well) You can also choose to treat Annual events in a similar way to Series events, keeping the core visuals the same and making minor tweaks. One-Off Do whatever feels right! One-Off events are an opportunity to go wild, but they’re also a chance to rely on the branding you use for everything else. If it’s an event you might eventually turn into a regular thing, then consider designing something simple to make it easier for people to remember. The goal of all event branding is to be memorable. If you don’t remember an event, it probably didn’t have an impact.

Advertisers are always looking for a way to get you to buy a product. To do that, sometimes they’ll parody or copy each other to make their message more memorable. It’s amazing how well this strategy works, but does it have a place in church branding? No. Copying another church’s messaging, branding, or marketing might look nice. It might even get more traction at first. In the long run, this approach is deadly. The first reason is that you could open yourself up to legal action. Many churches trademark their branding, which means you can easily break the law if you’re directly copying their image. Even if you don’t get sued, there’s a second and even worse outcome. Many people already think of churches (especially in heavily churched areas) like desperate credit card companies: always offering new incentives for people to switch churches. I’ve heard it called “sheep stealing,” “member trading,” and “transfer growth.” While it’s not always the intention of the leaders at one church to steal sheep, it would be wrong to encourage “church hopping” for such superficial reasons as slick branding. The solution Build your church brand around your unique story and vision. It’s that simple. But wait, is it ever okay to copy? Where is the line between taking inspiration and being a copycat? That’s what I’ll cover tomorrow.

Every church does some printing in house, but who do you pick for professional printing services? I’m a big proponent of using a local vendor, but not just for the typical “shop local” reasons. This will save your church time and money and give you better results. So, here are my top three reasons to choose a local vendor: 1. The Value of Physical Proofs In my years as a graphic designer and art director, the importance of getting a physical printed proof from a vendor has become more and more apparent to me. If you’re printing anything with brand colors or photography, you have a lot riding on color accuracy. Here are the cases I recommend asking for a printed proof (sometimes called a “match print”): Prominent interior displays Something you’re printing a lot of Semi-permanent banners or signs 2. Access to Experience If someone is running a successful print shop, you can bet they have technical knowledge of how to get their customers the best results. What type of paper to print your bulletin on, how to set up your artwork for a vinyl banner, or which bumper stickers are the easiest to apply? Most local print shops will be more than happy to answer your questions, if you just ask! 3. Cost Savings VistaPrint and other online print services may be easy to use, but they charge a premium price for that convenience. Between shipping costs and upcharges for every add-on, they’re often the more expensive option for churches looking to print materials on a budget. These are just three of the reasons I recommend churches use a local print shop whenever possible. If those weren’t enough, other reasons include investing in your community, getting consistent quality, maintaining a relationship with a local business, and having someone who can help if a print job goes wrong.

I recently helped a church rebrand where part of the new identity was the dreaded 👻name change 👻. The church was looking to plant a new congregation in a nearby community in the coming year, and they needed a name that could be shared between them, which was ultimately decided to be “Christ Redeemer.” Starting from scratch with the visual brand, I had nothing to draw on that would be familiar to their congregation. At many points in the project it was a toss up whether the pure excitement or raw terror would win out. Would the elders like the new design? Would seeing the logo concepts make them rethink everything? Would it fall on me if the congregation didn’t like the new name? These were the questions racing through my mind on the Sunday that the church’s leaders presented their new direction to the church as a whole. The next day I got a text from the worship pastor: “We showed the logo teaser and it was received very well. Some people were even teary-eyed.” “That’s great!” I thought. I kept reading. “But… a question came in via email that I’d like your help responding to.” Oh boy… Here was the question: “Hoping to learn about the decision regarding having the c in Christ lower case. I would like to understand this.” This was something we anticipated. For context, here’s the new logo they presented: {{ comp.video({ src:"/img/christ-redeemer-logo-presentation.mp4" }) }} Ultimately, here is the response we landed on: Thank you so much for engaging thoughtfully with the new logo. I love that you’re paying attention to these details—it shows real care for how we represent Christ and our church. You asked about the choice to use lowercase in the wordmark. That decision was intentional. The phrase “Christ Redeemer” is incredibly powerful—it’s really the gospel in two words. When we explored placing it in all caps, the effect was visually overwhelming, almost like the design was shouting. That led us to reflect on the paradox of Jesus himself: he had all power, and yet he did not come in power the way the world expected. Instead, he came in humility, laying down his life for us. We wanted the wordmark to hold that tension: strong yet humble, bold yet quiet. Lowercasing "christ redeemer" became a subtle way of embodying that paradox. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to the same kind of paradoxical life—living is dying, losing is gaining. If you’re interested, here’s a short article that explains some of the design thinking behind lowercase wordmarks in general: Why Some Logos Work Better in Lowercase. We found it helpful as part of our own process. It’s also worth noting: this is specifically a wordmark design choice. Whenever the church’s name appears in documents, online profiles, or other written settings, it will still be written as Christ Redeemer. Of course, the most important thing is not typography, but that our lives together point people to Jesus. The logo is just one small way we hope to embody that spirit. My hope is that every time we see it, it quietly reminds us that true greatness is found in humility, and true power in servanthood. Thanks again for raising the question—I’m grateful for your heart and your care for how we bear Christ’s name. Grace and peace, Hopefully this helps reframe changes and new chapters as an opportunity for pastoral care, rather than a bullet to be dodged! Be strong and courageous. In another post, I’ll outline the specific strategy we used to craft this letter, with explanations of why each section is there.

God’s narrative of redemption told through history has a clear central point: Christ. Throughout scripture we have hundreds of stories, genealogies, songs, and laws that seemingly have nothing to do with the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Still, we know that each one ultimately points to him. Lest someone accuse us of imagining layers of meaning that aren’t there, the Bible itself calls Christ the cornerstone of God’s redemptive plans for his people. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. — Ephesians 2:19-22 Christ is the cornerstone of the church. So how does this relate to church branding? Just like the ultimate and universally profound story God is telling in history, he is telling a nested story in your local congregation. Our job with branding and communications is to shine a light on how that micro-story plays a part in God’s macro-story. Making Christ the cornerstone of your communications means finding a memorable, own-able way to highlight God’s local work in your congregation to his global plans and purposes. Done right, every syllable and visual in your brand points back to the cross of Christ and the good news of the gospel. This means everything from your website headline to your logo should tell the same story, grounding your church in God’s archetypal story of redemption through Jesus. That’s why the first (and most critical) “C” of a kingdom-first brand is Christ.

In 2021, my wife and I moved back to our home town of Bartlesville, Oklahoma and joined the church we now call home - Hope Presbyterian Church. The church had hired a Ukrainian designer on Fiverr and got a fantastic logo design (it even won an award). But there was a problem… All they had was that logo. Their whole “brand” was limited to a gold color and a couple of webp’s. While the logo was aesthetically pleasing, it wasn’t enough to help their people “get” the mission. Each billboard, banner, and invitation card was inconsistent and time-consuming, even for the creative associate pastor. The more they tried to make their branding work in the real world, the more things got messy and out of alignment. Members with design experience were called on over and over again to come in and help “fix” designs, which always ended up being a band-aid for the real issue. What my home church went through is the result of a logo design without a true brand. They needed an easy-to-use branding toolkit with theological depth - one that would represent more than just the name of their church. A kingdom-first brand would have given their congregation ownership of the vision their leaders were casting, and would have attracted more visitors who resonated with the message they preached. And that’s why I stopped designing logos, and started developing kingdom-first brands instead.

A pastor scheduled a call with me last month to talk about a new congregation his church is planting next year. I can’t tell you the name right now, but it was a church who was running over 500 and was starting to struggle with shaping the culture and collective mission of that many people. If they didn’t get their branding and a visual identity in place before the plant, rebranding would have just gotten more expensive and difficult. They didn’t want to miss the opportunity but they lacked the confidence to rebrand with their internal team alone. Where do you start? To even begin a branding project, we needed to figure out the problem they were trying to solve. Did this church need to… REFRESH their existing brand? REPOSITION their identity under a new vision? or REACH OUT with their message? The church had just undergone a name church that was being announced later in the year. Their leaders were trying to cast a vision that was outward-focused and kingdom-minded. At first, this made me think it was a REACH OUT case, but the more I dug in, the more I realized what they actually needed was to REPOSITION. Why? Well, let’s look at their goals. The outward focus was a culture they wanted to create in their church body. While they ultimately wanted to reach out with their message (all churches should), they couldn’t do that effectively until they first grounded their church in a collective vision that included more than just their immediate membership. Their brand didn’t reflect the long term vision for the church, and it needed to visually align before both congregations could shift their focus to their region and community. Hopefully you can see how the REPOSITION approach was needed for this case. Instead of jumping in trying to scale up misaligned branding, we needed to build on their values and rework the brand identity from the ground up.