I always find church names rather amusing whenever I travel. Churches over stretch to create meaningful names but often… well… fall short. Church names like “The Open Bible” Church… what like we really want a “Closed Bible” Church, thought there are probably a number of those already. One of the Best Ones was the “Free Will” Church. Is that combating the idea of “Against My Will” Churches. Well, there is an interesting article and conversation taking place over this article. Stop in to read the complete discussion.
I’ve been inspired by Seth today. He did a post on dumb branding strategies. It reminded me of conversations Emily and I have had in the past about business names that rub us wrong. In fact, call us small-minded, but we tend to boycott businesses that use these strategies to name their businesses:
- J & K Plumbing – People don’t care that the two people who operate your business have first names that begin with “J” and “K.”
- Town & Country Podiatrist – We get it. You’re hoping to sell your foot-fixing services to people in the city and in the country. Isn’t everyone?
- Fast Fotos – This bugs Emily more than me, but, generally speaking, we think it’s annoying when businesses purposely misspell words to get the first letters to match.
- Dress Barn – OK, that’s a real business. All I can picture is very big dresses that fit barn-sized women. You may want to consider what your name communicates before you invest in the letterhead.
In case you’re wondering, there are also some annoying branding practices I see within the church. For example…
- Churches that feel like every ministry and every event in the church needs a creative name with a logo.
- Churches that brand ministries that mean something to insiders but are meaningless to the audience they’re trying to reach.
- Churches that brand ministries ahead of the church itself.
- Churches that brand the church ahead of the teaching series they’re hoping will impact the audience they’re trying to reach.
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Enjoyed the post – my twin brother and I are both marketing coaches and one of the areas we enjoy working in involves churches. We are in Fort Worth and attend one of the large CoC congregations there – great to find your post (through my Google Blog Alert on “church marketing”).
It’s hard to know in a church what to call it. Do you say, “we are the Church of Christ in Fort Worth” – but what does that communicate to anyone not already a member. Nothing.
If we say we are the “Servants of Christ” church, it could sound like all we do is serve, feed the hungry, care for the poor, serve, serve, serve.
If we say we are the LIGHTHOUSE OF GOD – again, for non-church people, what are saying.
We are SALT & LIGHT (again, church-speak). We are the Great Commission Church of Jesus Christ (church-speak; pagans may think we pay our people a great commission for how many converts they make!)
Names are the hardest thing in churches. Plus all the different denominational labels complicate it alot.
Hopefully we will be better known for our impact on the world and community than by our name. In our area, I’m proudest most when people say, “I was helped by a bunch of people over at that big white church across from Wal-Mart.” cool. Erase the COC label and just put in its place:
WELCOME TO THE
BIG WHITE CHURCH ACROSS FROM WAL-MART
Everyone Welcome!
-Randy
Oops, I guess that could sound like we’re the biggest RACIST church as well!
Replace:
BIG WHITE-PAINTED CHURCH ACROSS FROM WAL-MART
Better? It’s hard to win.
-Randy