The Christian Leadership Alliance was a pretty amazing experience. I’d never been around so many Christians for so long. There were guest speakers, praise and worship leaders, dramas, classes, vendors, etc. And while I heard some great things – most of it went in one ear and out the other. This could account for my “holy” deficit. But one class I attended on BRANDING got me thinking.
First of all, they define “branding” as a promise you make your client. For instance, WalMart says “Low Prices”, and Delta says “You’ll Love the Way We Fly.” Our instructor pointed out that in order for a brand to stick – every point of contact with the customer has to reinforce the promise. I give WalMart a YES, but Delta might want to rework theirs a bit.
So..I was thinking about the Christian brand. What is our promise? Not the Jesus promise, but when we put on the label CHRISTIAN, what do we promise to be? Promise to do? How do we promise to act? And are we reinforcing that at every point of contact with a lost world?
Movies always show Christians as judgemental, gossipy hypocrites. Ouch. Are we reinforcing or refuting THAT brand? Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between Christians and non-Christians which means our brand could be, “Change your religion, not your lifestyle.” Not good.
The teacher said before you can build your brand, you have to define what it is. What do YOU think the Christian brand is? If you want to know if you’re living it, ask a non-believer, someone with full access to your life, to tell you what they think it is based on YOU.
Let me know how that works out. I’d do it, but I don’t think “sarcastic” would look good on a logo.
You should be able to tell a Christian without seeing them at church or them telling you that they are a Christian.