Your Church Brand is a Discipleship Tool

After almost a decade in the design and branding industry, I’ve become convinced of something: The fastest and best way to a tangible community impact through a vision-driven church is by kingdom-first branding. Of course, not every church is ready to focus on branding… stability and trust need to come first. But if your congregation has those pre-requisites checked off, a kingdom-first brand is the most powerful way to galvanize your members and reach your community with the gospel. The idea of being kingdom-first isn’t something I came up with — it’s firmly grounded in Scripture. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. — Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us to make God’s kingdom our priority, and he will provide for every need we have. Pastors have all kinds of desires for their ministries. Some want to see their church grow and multiply, so they can plant in nearby neighborhoods and cities. Some want their congregation to be more unified, healing fractures and restoring broken relationships. Some want to be known for their generosity, partnering with local organizations to serve their community. Some want to see members of their congregation discipling one another into a deeper knowledge and love for Jesus Some want to influence local and state politics, advocating for causes that align with God’s law Some simply want to resist the spiritual depravity of the culture around them I think it’s clear from scripture that God wants all of these things for every church, and much more. But these goals are not our ultimate priority. Advancing Christ’s kingdom is. So what does a kingdom-first brand actually look like? A kingdom-first brand doesn’t worry about attracting members from other churches (the kingdom doesn’t grow when we play “church musical chairs”). A kingdom-first brand avoids losing your church’s unique story in an attempt to look trendy A kingdom-first brand makes Christ the cornerstone of your communications. He is the cornerstone of the church, after all (Isaiah 28:16-17; Matthew 16:18; Mark 12:10; Ephesians 2:19-21) A kingdom-first branding approach gets to the heart of this question: how does your ministry uniquely relate to Christ, Congregation, and Community? I’ll be exploring those 3 C’s in the near future. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.

The approach revolves around one key idea: Branding is culture-shaping. If there is an attitude, an ethos, and ongoing transformation you want to see in your church, then your brand is an indispensable tool. But too many churches see it as an afterthought! When your people encounter your logo, website, bulletin, and even interior decor week in and week out, they’re being shaped and molded. The way they live out their mission and daily lives is influenced by what images and ideas they’re immersed in when they participate in the life of your church as a whole, not just the Sunday morning service. If you approach your brand with a culture-shaping perspective, it becomes an asset that seamlessly integrates with your church and mission. Rather than being something tacked on to make things “look good,” your brand becomes a symbol that represents the real lives, relationships, discipleship, outreach, worship, and struggles that make up what it means to be a part of your congregation. Branding is culture-shaping. P.S. I was originally going to be more specific and say that good branding is culture shaping, but that’s actually misleading. Bad branding can shape your church culture too. You may have heard sermons or even preached one yourself on the idea of “nominal,” Sunday-only Christianity. Be careful you don’t fall into the trap of nominal, outreach-only branding. If your brand is a generic mark that gets slapped on your website and bulletin to fill space, people will notice the disconnect between what your branding is trying to be, and what your church identity is actually like. That kind of branding creates a sense of confusion, aimlessness, and messiness that you probably aren’t going for.

Let’s talk about First Baptist Aurora. This was a church that once thrived but found itself dwindling in numbers and energy. That is, until Pastor Robert stepped in with a vision to create a community where high school dropouts and doctors, recovering addicts and homeschool moms, could all worship side by side. He wanted people to feel like they truly belonged. The church started to grow again, but there was a problem: their visual identity didn’t match the new life happening inside the walls. So, I partnered up to help them rebrand. Two words shaped our entire process: historic and urban. We pulled colors from the church’s own brick, molding, and stained glass to create a palette that felt timeless yet fresh. The church’s beautiful stained glass windows inspired a modern logo and sparked a key design element: the arch. We used arches everywhere, from logos and icons to social media graphics, creating a look that felt unified and deeply tied to the building’s architecture and story. The result? A brand that bridges the old and the new. Today, First Baptist Aurora has not just a growing congregation but a clear sense of identity. Visitors connect more quickly, and the leadership has tools to keep building momentum. Here's the takeaway for pastors: A good rebrand isn’t just about looking pretty! It’s about helping people see what God is doing in your ministry are and inviting them to be a part of it. P.S. You can see the full case study here, including our in-depth process and more images/video.

If your church can’t seem to nail down a cohesive brand, the natural response as a pastor can be to rewrite your mission statement, come up with better wording for your values, or integrate vision casting time in leadership meetings and sermons. Those things are all good. Every church needs distinctives to call out their purposes and identity. Here’s the thing though: if you don’t feel like your congregation is “getting it,” the problem probably isn’t your distinctives. So many times, the problem is just brand execution. If you have no consistent or recognizable visual identity, you’re going to struggle giving your congregation a clear sense of who they are and who they’re called to become. A well-executed brand is an investment that multiplies. I’m talking about every letter you mail, piece of content you put on social media, every bulletin you print, and every tee your church members wear to the grocery store. Those things all have the collective power of a war horn for your members and a call to join something tangible for newcomers. Invest in a unified visual identity and brand strategy and you’ll reap a harvest.

It’s no secret that people remember images better than words. Studies show we can remember 65% of visual information after 3 days, compared to just 10% of written/spoken info. That’s a 6x increase in retention! But why does it matter for churches? Good question. Something I’ve learned is that a brand isn’t just a logo, colors, or fonts. A church brand is an opportunity to tell the story of what God has done and is doing in that local ministry. Said another way: your brand is the visual aid for people to easily remember what their church stands for, and the story God is telling there. This ties in closely to the examples we have in the Bible of when the Lord commanded that a monument be built to signify his mercy and might. In Joshua 4:1–10, God tells the Israelites to take twelve stones from the Jordan River and set them up as a memorial. This visual monument served as a lasting symbol to help future generations remember how the Lord miraculously stopped the river’s flow, allowing His people to cross on dry ground. These stones were set up intentionally as a tangible visual aid to reinforce the Israelites’ generational memory and faith. To add even more layers, God also instructs that twelve stones be used. Why twelve? To symbolize the twelve tribes who crossed over the Jordan that day. In the same way, designing an intentional brand identity with symbolism and permanence is the most powerful way to help your people remember their God-given identity as a body and look to Christ, week in and week out.

Strip everything away, give your church a generic name, and make the logo a cross. Go black and white with your color scheme. Congrats - you have a timeless brand! I’m being a little bit sarcastic, but there’s an element of truth here. Over-simplification is usually the fastest, easiest way to a truly “timeless” look. However, it’s not the only way. And for churches, it’s almost never the best way. The history of the world is timeless by definition, but definitely not simple. God’s creative and recreative work is anything but minimalistic. The way God works is simple but deep, focused but rich with meaning. So too is the story being woven together in your ministry, whether it’s 200 years old or a brand new church plant. What is God’s perspective of your church? If you want a timeless brand identity, this is the question you have to answer. Once you start narrowing it down, your logo colors and fonts become clear and easy choices. Rather than trying to become timeless by using Helvetica and no colors in your brand guidelines, you should be looking for ways to incorporate the truth of who God says you are as a congregation. Does it take more work and intentionality? Absolutely. Is it hard? Anything worth doing is.

I’m an extreme sports fan, and those who know me know that I would never pass up a chance to try one. Of course, I’m no Red Bull athlete, so it usually looks like me attempting the low-stakes version of whatever the true pros are doing. One of those sports I’ve casually enjoyed since high school is rock climbing, and believe it or not, there’s a nice analogy to branding here. In bouldering (climbing lower with no ropes above a crash mat), a route or particular climb is called a boulder problem. A beginner climber like me can climb any V1 boulder problem with ease and most V2s with moderate difficulty. Some V3 problems are too challenging at my skill level, while others are doable after a few attempts. (Don’t be too impressed - the scale goes up to V17). There was this one V3 problem giving me trouble on my last visit. I kept falling over and over, until I eventually felt so fatigued and frustrated that I gave up. Why am I sharing this story? I think it’s appropriate that they’re called “problems,” because they have a solution that takes more than brute force and raw strength to solve. They take strategy. All around me were more experienced climbers who could have showed me the trick to get past my sticking point. With their expert advice, I could have probably reached my goal with only a couple of tries. Even better, I probably could have learned tips from them for other problems too. Here’s the thing: If you want the fastest way to your goal, don’t be afraid to seek guidance from someone who’s done it before.

Every day around mid-morning, I take a bathroom break and that’s when I write these posts - gross I know, but it’s the perfect amount of time and I have no distractions (now you won’t be able to get that image out of your mind, so you’re welcome). Context aside, when I’m motivated and inspired it’s easy, but today I had some serious creative block of the “stare vacantly at a blank page and start the same sentence five times over” variety. I have a hunch this doesn’t just happen to creatives. Most of my readers are church leaders, I’ll wager that you probably experience that wall too. If so, maybe you can benefit from the two strategies I use to overcome creative block. 1. Short term strategy Exercise is my immediate strategy for overcoming it in the short term. I’ll go home after work, grab my dumbbells, and start lifting. Something about an intense workout stimulates my creativity and writing energy. However, that only works on that day, and if I can’t get a workout in, I’m in trouble. 2. Long term strategy My long term strategy to overcome creative block is to write daily. I used to think I didn’t have time for something recreational like writing, much less every day. But I realized that as long as I put it on the other side of something I enjoy more (chess puzzles), I could force myself to take 5-15 minutes and crank out a thought. Writing became a habit I was cultivating. Something you practice with regularity and discipline becomes easier and easier, and those creative block moments get fewer and farther between. Even when it takes a bit longer to get rolling, the groove is greased and the engine is still warm from yesterday. If there’s something you know you should be doing (maybe writing, maybe calling to check in on members, maybe something else) make it a small part of your daily routine and see how much you start feeling empowered when those “block” moments hit.

After almost a decade in the design and branding industry, I’ve become convinced of something: The fastest and best way to a tangible community impact through a vision-driven church is by kingdom-first branding. Of course, not every church is ready to focus on branding… stability and trust need to come first. But if your congregation has those pre-requisites checked off, a kingdom-first brand is the most powerful way to galvanize your members and reach your community with the gospel. The idea of being kingdom-first isn’t something I came up with — it’s firmly grounded in Scripture. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. — Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us to make God’s kingdom our priority, and he will provide for every need we have. Pastors have all kinds of desires for their ministries. Some want to see their church grow and multiply, so they can plant in nearby neighborhoods and cities. Some want their congregation to be more unified, healing fractures and restoring broken relationships. Some want to be known for their generosity, partnering with local organizations to serve their community. Some want to see members of their congregation discipling one another into a deeper knowledge and love for Jesus Some want to influence local and state politics, advocating for causes that align with God’s law Some simply want to resist the spiritual depravity of the culture around them I think it’s clear from scripture that God wants all of these things for every church, and much more. But these goals are not our ultimate priority. Advancing Christ’s kingdom is. So what does a kingdom-first brand actually look like? A kingdom-first brand doesn’t worry about attracting members from other churches (the kingdom doesn’t grow when we play “church musical chairs”). A kingdom-first brand avoids losing your church’s unique story in an attempt to look trendy A kingdom-first brand makes Christ the cornerstone of your communications. He is the cornerstone of the church, after all (Isaiah 28:16-17; Matthew 16:18; Mark 12:10; Ephesians 2:19-21) A kingdom-first branding approach gets to the heart of this question: how does your ministry uniquely relate to Christ, Congregation, and Community? I’ll be exploring those 3 C’s in the near future. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.

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!

I was looking through a “Church Creatives” Facebook group I’m a part of and I came across this post: While the top comment here is a little snarky, he’s absolutely right: Having a well-defined visual brand all starts with defining your vision. What does your logo stand for?

For most people, the word “branding” brings to mind symbolism. Brands use symbols to convey a bigger message and create an association between ideas, people, and products. There’s also a strong Biblical precedent for visual storytelling and symbolism. Moses lifted up the image of a serpent in the wilderness. The Lord’s instructions for his tabernacle were packed full of icons and symbols. The early church used the ichthys to represent their shared Christian identity. Applying this to a church communications, we focus on the logo as the main visual symbol, and most people naturally want it to represent as much transcendent meaning as possible. Here’s my hot take: All the symbols in the world can’t make up for unclear foundational ideas that underpin your church identity. Symbolism in a logo means nothing without core distinctives. How do you know what those distinctives are? You have to do a little digging. Tending your brand sometimes means breaking out the shovel and getting to the root.