All too often, brand awareness becomes less about commending the gospel and more about commending our particular church or organisation. Far too quickly it becomes less centred on Christ and more directly centred on a particular personality (often the pastor of the church, or director of the organisation). Brand awareness in the church so often boils down to making much of ourselves and keeping everyone on message, less so the kingdom will grow, and more so our church, organisation, or network will grow.

I have never had much time for brand awareness. There is something that sticks in the craw when people are evidently working very hard to make sure everyone and everything is on message and all things point back to whatever brand we are trying to build. I find it very hard to shake the feeling that much brand management amounts to making much of, or for, ourselves.

Of course, in the world of business, that is precisely what is going on. All things must recommend and praise the brand we are pushing. The more people hear and see the benefits of the brand the more they will buy our stuff. The more they buy our stuff, the more money we make. The more money we make, the greater our reputation. Ergo, making much of the brand equates to making much of, and for, myself.

The problem is when the same principles are applied to the church. We are not in the church to make much of ourselves. We certainly aren’t there to sell anything. But all too often, brand awareness becomes less about commending the gospel and more about commending our particular church or organisation. Far too quickly it becomes less centred on Christ and more directly centred on a particular personality (often the pastor of the church, or director of the organisation). Brand awareness in the church so often boils down to making much of ourselves and keeping everyone on message, less so the kingdom will grow, and more so our church, organisation, or network will grow.

One way this works itself out is that we generate very corporate churches. Everything must be as slick as possible. All people at the front must appear respectable and everything said must pass a test of credibility. No mistakes or oddities can be tolerated in services. What is God-honouring is very closely tied to the highest quality presentation.

The problem with this is that much hand-wringing goes on when we hit passages of scripture that perhaps don’t tally with whatever passes as credible in the eyes of secular reason. Things like miracles and some of the harder OT passages become a bit embarrassing. Given that everything must be ultra-slick, we are extremely careful who will have anywhere near the front of a service. Anybody who doesn’t fit the mould will not be given any opportunity to grow in those areas. Indeed, if highest quality presentation is deemed most God-honouring, training people to lead and preach won’t happen from your pulpit because the quality will inevitably dip from time to time. The brand-aware corporate church becomes something of a show that must be maintained and presented to the highest standard.

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