Aug 2, 2008
Sermon series branding: If your church does it, does it help? If they don’t, why not?
It seems like there’s an increasing trend of churches creating complete designs—logos, websites, previews, commercials, hype—around each new sermon series.
Sermon series?
My present one is called “Luke”, my previous one was called “Daniel”.
They seem to last a couple of years each, so maybe I do need a logo.
I think with a bit of research, you will discover that their actually is a specific logo for the series you mention…I have seen it…though not quite as often in this age of Bible Gateway…*: ) If I recall correctly, the main colors…traditionally that is…are a black background with gold leaf style lettering.
I know what you mean. I tend to like Driscoll’s way of doing it, and I tend not to like the more “worldly” attempts at it (such as the sex series with accompanying road signs, websites, etc.). …this could also be because I simply like Driscoll.
As far as our own church, I’m sort of with Jerry up above. I preach through books of the Bible most of the time (on Ephesians this year). I could do theming and all of that, and actually would like to – but it’s sort of a one horse show – small church – if you know what I mean. If I wanted to do more with tech, it would simply add hours and hours to my week. I’m choosing my wife and kids over cool backgrounds and themed sermon series logos at this point.
One friend’s church does all that you mention, plus build an entire on-stage “set,” as if it were a Broadway production.
Our pastor is currently preaching the Bible cover to cover. He started in Genesis nearly three years ago. We are now in Deuteronomy. He has taken a break to do a couple doctrinal series on Church and Family Worship. However, there are no fancy logos, just expositional preaching.
I really like the Mars Hill (Driscoll, not Bell) format. Perhaps I am a sheep, but it does get me more excited. I really appreciate the artistry of the intro for his recent series on Doctrine.
Our current church does not do that. Our previous church did – and that is why we finally left it.
So, does it help? Well, it helped us finally move on God’s urging to leave that church. So, yes. It has helped me grow spiritually – because I’m now attending a church whose focus is on Christ, and Him crucified.
I’m just saying…
Oh man. You know how to get people fired up, don’t you? Personally I really don’t like the whole branding thing. To me it says that the Bible isn’t exciting enough on it’s own merit.
Regarding preaching through the Bible, here’s a great quote you may have seen before…
“Calvin had a horror of those who preached their own ideas in the pulpit. He said, “When we enter the pulpit, it is not so that we may bring our own dreams and fancies with us.” He believed that by expounding the Scriptures as a whole, he would be forced to deal with all that God wanted to say, not just what he might want to say.”
I do some of both. My current series is in Hebrews. But, when I did a series on “forgiveness,” we made postcards etc.
The word “branding” makes me nervous. I think if it is a matter of differentiating the product to make it more acceptable, then that is a problem. But, if the goal is to creatively proclaim the truth then we should be creative and shrewd.
Jesus said that there is an irony that the people of the world are more shrewd than the people of light. We are to leverage assets to make “friends.” (Luke 16:8-9).
Our sermon series’ usually have a title, and perhaps a unifying PowerPoint theme, but I wouldn’t go as far as to call it ‘branding’!
I think that all we need to do is help people capture a flavour of the major theme of a book of the Bible/ thematic series without distracting from the actual messages.
We want people to remember the Word and what it’s calling us to, not how amazing the production of stage sets, commercials etc. were. I think being so over the top can be unhelpful (as per Really Robin above).
mmmmm… my current church does it a bit, and it doesn’t bother me. usually there is some title that unifies each series or section of the series, and our graphic designer does a great job with the bulletins. i like it.
meanwhile, at my old home church, they did it too, and it bothered me to no end. i guess in that case, it did strike me as “branding,” and, well, it often felt like they maybe were using logos and catchy slogans as just a lot of hype in place of actual biblical substance.
maybe i find the difference lies in whether it’s used to get people on the same page as a body or to try to ‘entice’ people to be interested in the first place.
I use it to re-emphasize the theme of the book were in… our Colossians “series” was called “Complete in Christ”… Hebrews=Jesus is Better… but we have also had really creative titles like 1st Corinthians, and The Sermon on the Mount…
The only thing that I have found that really helps is for us to change the backgrounds for each series… it helps people remember what we were studying when we covered something.
I go to two churches (Uni and Home). The Uni one is far too old-school to do branding. The one at home probably should consider it.
I’m sure I only know what the series is because my Dad is the pastor. I think at the very least it should be clear to everyone what the series is.
At my girlfriend’s church they do a book but have a clear title for the series, as well as each sermon. I like that, it gives me an idea what the sermon’s about and what the series is like beforehand so I can come to it knowing what I’ll listen to.
I like the way Mark Dever tells his congregation his sermon titles in advance so they can invite non-Christian friends to relevant sermons. To me that’s a really good idea.
Mark Driscoll’s stuff…I like it, it totally fits his church as it’s blatantly the “cool” church. Not sure what it brings though. I think the other stuff is more important.
(Branding is not really a verb in the sense you’re trying to use it. Your “brand” or the “branding of” is what people think/feel when you are mentioned. Every church has a brand, even if they don’t try.)
Since this is 50% of my job at my church, I feel like I should represent the other side a bit.
I don’t think there is a blanket “right or wrong” for this kind of thing. Of course, it can go too far, but not every church that works up identities for their sermons are doing crazy things like “Good Sex.” Even if you preach through a book all year, that doesn’t mean you can’t do some things to break it up so people remember different sections better (it also doesn’t make you a better, or more Godly, preacher to work through the same book for a year).
I’ve recently begun to think of my role as helping to communicate effectively to the masses. It doesn’t mean I don’t think Christ is enough (and it’s a little bit insulting to have it implied). It means I want to use the skills he has blessed me with to make Him known. It is very much like in Acts 17, when Paul uses the statues to share the Gospel, or when Jesus talked about being “fishers of men.” He was using a reference that they, as FISHERMAN, would understand and be able to visualize.
As far as it being effective or not, I will say that it usually is. Sometimes we make mistakes, but most times it helps a lot (both with attendance and helping people remember key lessons and main ideas).
I was hoping to hear from you, Danielle.
“branding” is not my preferenace, but that’s more because I am old school… But it certainly can be helpful if the focus is right.
My problem with what a lot of churches are doing in this regard is that it seems to take away from the actual text in some senses.
Our jobs as ministers is to bring the word in as effective a manner as possible and if “branding” helps then go for it…
My biggest problem is when pastors say they have to “brand” everything or people won’t come.
It’s a fine line that has more to do with attitude and heart than anything else, I think…
happy to be of service ;-)
I agree with avclark about the attitude and heart. That’s definitely a big part.
if you got resources and manpower to do it, i don’t see why not. however, if that becomes a centric method of putting sermons together, i would disagree with such method. i believe, sermons begin from preaching of God’s Word to a preacher’s heart, not from consumers’ appetite.
Maybe I have the wrong idea of what you are saying, Abraham. I see branding as a way for the church to advertise to the lost.
I know it’s not a popular opinion, but the lost have no place in church unless drawn there by the Lord. The bible is clear that the gospel is foolishness to those who don’t believe. So, I don’t see how branding and advertising will help draw those not called to believe.
I’m just saying…
My old church did this and I was the media guy so I was in charge of the graphics, flyers, and occasional website. I didn’t mind it, but sometimes I found that the theme/topic/branding dictated where the messages went instead of the book/passages itself.
So hypothetically a theme of “Jesus, The Greatest Carpenter Ever?” through the book of Matthew might get me excited about hearing Jesus’ carpentry skills but I think the preacher/pastor may feel pressured to bring things back to the “theme/brand” instead of the meaning of the passages.
If done well I think it’s GREAT and useful for the church body to understand where the sermons are going and what they as a whole may address. Done poorly it overshadows the bible or even skews it.
Branding? Logos? Our church is still trying to get the hang of a website. We do a pretty good job of the ministry of Word and sacrament, visiting the sick and loving each other. I guess that’s still worth something…
It certainly looks like I’m in the minority.
Sermon branding for me fits the same place as parables for Christ.
The content of the sermon is the WHAT, sermon branding is the HOW.
“For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.”
It’s one instruments of many for a symphony that tells of Christ’s love and redemption.
I agree with Chris above who said that the Bible on its own is powerful enough to reach people.
I also think the person is wise who said he is choosing his family above hours and hours of technical preparation.
Yet I also think that many people are gifted with talents in technology and the arts, and it’s good for them to be able to use these gifts in sharing the Gospel.
Chris D.
Good question. Perhaps it is a question of why, how, and who. Why are you doing it? How does this fit with the vision/mission that God has given your community? Who are you hoping to appeal to?
As we can see above, many have indicated that they are beyond the flash and the advertisement. Others find it helpful to use multi-media as a means to connect with their people. If your community is in the middle of a highly affluent, tech savvy culture, then that might be an influencing factor.
Where do I stand? Well, on the one-hand I don’t really care. A good friend pastors a church and they have banners, signs, theme videos, etc. However, he spends way more time preparing the message than worrying about the aesthetics. However, there are many folks who buy the whole package from a larger, more ‘influencial’ church and then hopes that will be what is necessary to honor God and make disciples. That seems a bit lazy and I would argue that there are deeper issues at hand than whether or not they are ‘branding’ their sermon series.
Lastly, it would be prudent to understand the answers to the questions listed above before passing judgment on whether that practice is appropriate or not. It’s easy for me to forget what it was like being lost, what it was like being a young Christian, and be a lot more critical than I have the right to be. As a young preacher, I have to point myself back to John 13 and ask myself the question, “Does this honor God, teach the people, and convey humility.” I believe that in some contexts we must humble ourselves, even if that means a brochure/theme/web design in order to best serve our people. Even if we’re too mature in our faith to worry about silly things like that…
Please tell Kempton I said, “Hello!”
Casey C.
Our church does very infrequently. Sometimes it works, sometimes it isn’t all that helpful. When it’s helpful, it serves to help people readily recognize something. Unhelpful: creating something just to look flashy or hip.
I do like going to a church’s website and being able to easily find the latest sermon in a series by clicking on a “logo” that has been created (branded) for the series.
As others have pointed out, I think there is a difference between truly “branding” something and using media to create hype. Using it for hype doesn’t seem to fit well in the church.
I’ve talked to someone that goes to a particular large church near us, and his reason for going there is because of the “show” that they put on.
I agree with what avclark said earlier; the reason it sometimes bothers us and sometimes doesn’t is probably the Holy Spirit’s in us ability to discern the heart behind it. That’s why I think so many have said they like it with Mars Hill Seattle … because the heart there is still to glorify God and proclaim the Gospel, not just attract people to church while watering down the truth. Other churches may be motivated by the latter reason and it’s thus unattractive to believers.
[...] Sermon series branding [...]
[...] Sermon series branding [...]
There are three ways people are set up to receive info…visual, auditory, and kinetic. The more senses you involve, the more people will engage. What’s wrong with getting the message to the people any way that you can? Some people can’t just sit still and listen to someone talk and remember anything.
And why is a church service centered around hearing a guy talk anyway?
the last few series we at http://www.christcommunitychurch.co.uk have been called:
The rough guide to Ephesians
’42′ – the answer to life, the universe and everything
@Abraham
I wonder what the response would be if you broadened your question to include VBS or Sunday School curriculum “branding.”
The church I attend “brands” each series. I believe the idea is: we are competing with the world (which requires excellence). We want to attract people who might not usually be attracted to church and/or might be uncomfortable with more “traditional” church ways because it is unfamiliar to them.
That is a simple (and probably not the best) answer, but hopefully you get the idea.
I’m always curious on the cost of church clip art…
It seems at least churches could adopt a minimalist sense of style….if only there was a great forum for getting to the essence of things hmmm
I think when Jesus told his disciples to travel light…it was an attitude of faith as much as it was specific instruction…
I am dealing with backing off from sermon branding…here’s the issue. As a Comm Director we take the message series and brand it with a graphic…we can then make motions/stills to enhance the message visually. The poster gets hung in the church to announce the series…create awareness and hopefully get people excited…the same poster gets put on the front cover of the bulletin so it makes a nice visual uniform package. They problem is….we have two venues who want two totally different looks. One venue usually doesn’t like what we produce…too traditional….too edgy. SO even trying to find a middle ground is so much effort. What would you all do? We have traditional services and contemporary services….two distinct styles. Advice would be so appreciated!