Our Thoughts

During my travels serving churches, I’ve noticed that very few churches have a balanced response to what is a core facet of a healthy church: exposure. Exposure is critical to understanding who you are as a church and finding your way. And while I know that there are some church "hermits" out there, there are just as many church "followers" to ensure that there are large crowds on each side of “the exposure ditch.”

Let's start with the underexposed church. These are churches that rarely expose themselves to the world outside their walls, or have limited knowledge as to what’s out there in their own community. Their leaders tend to rely only on their denomination or a few "model" churches to provide insight into how church is done. By not being exposed to other churches in their community and what they are doing, these leaders probably don’t fully understand who they are in the context of the community—leaving them without a sense of how the community perceives them.

In order to fully understand God’s will for your church, it helps to be exposed to what He’s doing in other congregations. This helps each church see the role it can more effectively play in the bigger picture of what God is doing.

If under-exposure is your default, make a point to visit churches that do not match your flavor. Visit growing churches and struggling ones. Do not judge them. Ask yourself, "Why do these church-goers like this? Why is this church successful (or not)? Who is not attending this church and why?" In order to get away from your own church on a Sunday, some pastors might have to commit hard to taking a break. It is difficult to take a break if you and your church are not in the habit. Let me challenge you that every church leader needs an exposure break—an opportunity to see others fighting the same "good fight" they are fighting. Stepping out of the pulpit and stepping into someone else's back row will enhance your perspective in so many ways.

The other side of the ditch is the church that is overexposed. This church tends to chase whoever they feel is the most exciting at the moment. They follow trailblazing churches and often change what they do to match what they think the most innovative churches are doing. The end result is that these overexposed churches never really gain a sense of who "they" are and don’t fully understand that God's calling cannot be borrowed or imitated from someone else. They often read tons of blogs and listen to tons of podcasts.

Overexposed churches are often unconsciously looking for the "silver-bullet" that’s going to take their success to another level. They can end up becoming puppets to church fads—and while they can spout out a who's who list of popular Christianity, they less frequently take a hard, inward look at who they are and let God show them how to commit to who they are supposed to be for their community.

It is critical that we as church leaders get exposure to what God’s doing in other churches. But it’s also critical after seeing what God’s doing in other churches to come back and ask the question, “who are we and how can we learn from this exposure to execute better on who God has uniquely called us to be?” As a result we can use exposure to understand ourselves better, communicate our DNA more effectively, and become more deliberate—instead of constantly reinventing ourselves.

Perhaps an approach that might work best is to pre-define seasons of exposure—moving inbetween months or years where you are pursuing exposure deliberately, followed by extended periods of head-down execution of what God is showing you. 

As you think back on whether you have been over or underexposed, what next season do you need to step into? 

We often run into a church that is in transition, looking for decisiveness on tender topics... "Should we have multiple worship styles?" "Do we go more acoustic?" "More Hillsong?" "What about the hymns?" "Why are we not attracting certain groups of people?"

These are the issues I tend to love the most. The reason I love them, is because I like to dig into the heart of the issue. I love to go beyond the surface "love for old hymns" and ask, "why do 'these' people like 'these' songs?" I am convinced that the answer is almost always deeper than we expect. 

As we have dug into this time and time again, one clear trend appears...

People gravitate to the worship style in which they experienced their high-water-mark with God.

I do not care if it was banjo-led worship. If that is what you experienced your closest connection to God with, you will long to hear the banjo played like this yet again.

Our love for our favorite genre of music is a heart's attempt to reach back to these special times. For example, older folks like older songs, but not simply because the songs are older. To these people, to any people, the worship style they like the most tends to be the style in which they felt closest to God (I am partial to some Rich Mullins myself). 

We were working with a church recently that was struggling with this change. By listening, we picked up on some interesting undertones. It led us to propose that if someone wants the songs sung today like they were thirty years ago, this person is more than likely struggling with two things when someone tries to bring about change:

1) Their greatest moments with God were in their past (instead of looking to find fresh times with God in their future). This is an area where we, as leaders, have a responsibility to guide them to search out their future close moments with God.

2) Their inability to learn all the words to all the new songs that we do in our A.D.D. song rotations (and small "very cool" overhead text) just makes them want to give up.

With this in mind, we worked with the leadership to cast vision for fresh experiences with God and to teach them a short list of new songs over several months. When we arrived back at the church 7 months later, the over 70 crowd were as much or more engaged in modern worship than the twenty-somethings were.

It would have been easy to write the older crowd off or to give them their own service with their own style. It took courageous leadership to look past their initial complaints and take them to a new place in worship. But isn't that what leadership is all about? Leadership is about taking people to a place they should go in spite of where they want to go.

What it created in this church's older crowd was a longing for new places with God, instead of just a pursuit of past places. That is a beautiful thing. As leaders, what are we pursuing and where are we taking those we lead? Are we allowing them to camp out in their past, or are we challenging them to pursue God afresh today.

Where is your congregation? Maybe it is time to... "Sing to the Lord a new song." Psalms 96:1A

Have you ever noticed that the average designer looks like they are in the band? Ever notice the odd coincidence that so many music people also dabble in design? Ever wonder why? Let me play a few chords of the common bond between music and design... When a musician begins learning, let's say... guitar, she first learns how to play the notes, but then begins to learn on a higher level how different notes and sounds make up the songs that create different moods. Soon, the developing musician learns the chords that stir people up, slow them down, and make them wax melancholy.

The longer she plays guitar, the more she learns the characteristics of the sounds and is able to see the direct correlation between chord and emotion. She learns how to use her instrument to create whatever reaction she desires. She can make the audience laugh, cry, bang their heads or squeeze their lover's hand—all with the choice of notes and the combination and speed thereof. A great guitarist is someone who has mastered the elements of music and combines them like a mad scientist to create specific response. She does not merely play the guitar. She plays the audience.

How different is design? Instead of using the tools of notes and timing, designers use color and shape to instigate a response. In the same way, they combine elements time after time and begin to learn the responses they create in the hearts and minds of the viewer. This correlation between the musician and the designer is a simple bond... the study between creative inputs and human outputs. Great chefs, great comedians, great interior designers all have it—it is an innate drive to know an audience and bring elements together that would captivate them in some way.

The reason a guitarist often makes a good designer is that he/she has already strengthened their sense of deliberative mood setting. They bring the same root logic into a new medium and they are far ahead of those that are just starting to hone that gift. The challenge, as it is with musicians, is that they often only learn to play their songs for just one group of people. Sure, you know how to make a 20-year-old sing a worship song, but can you master the sounds of the 60-year-old's worship set? In the same way, many designers can only play design tunes that reach certain age groups. They are not masters of their craft, but yet masters of their target audience.

To the musician and designer: never stop studying the correlation between your elements and the response that follows it. At the same time, never stop expanding the reach of the notes you play. In doing so, you become all things to all men... reach them.

How to know when the issue is church branding vs. something else altogether

Great branding is inspiring. It is easy to recognize. When we do not have great branding, it can even haunt us. It can lead us to feel that it is the one thing that is holding back our growth. The challenge is that rebranding is not always a quick-fix for our “growing” concerns. It can actually do more harm than good.

A friend of mine who speaks at a lot of churches recently shared about a small church he spoke at. The pastor mentioned to him some concerns about their lack of growth. My friend immediately called out that the church name and website both did not fit the community. He was right. He shared his plan to tell the pastor to go through a rebranding that would “fix” it.

Here is the challenge with his advice. This church had not grown in 8 years in spite of its prime location in a thriving community. It had already changed its name and done a rebranding 3 years ago. If this church rebranded again, it would spend tens of thousands to implement the change. Do we think it would get different results?

Just think: How would you react to a restaurant that keeps changing its name but has the same menu and service? The first rebranding might inspire you to give a disappointing restaurant a second chance. However, if you have a second disappointing experience, you will likely never return. And what’s worse, you might tell all your friends about it.

It was true that this church was dealing with poor branding—but it had a much deeper problem. A problem with what we call “connectivity.” Connectivity is about passing the people test. If we do not learn how to pass the people test, branding cannot help us win. As a matter of fact, branding often only reveals the gravity of our disconnect.

Branding is a visual promise that we make about an experience people will have with us. When we don’t deliver on this promise, we risk increasing the amount of visitors who never return. Rebranding when we are not ready can effectively increase our “burn rate.” It can cause more and more of the community to count us out entirely.

If visitors are not coming back, it is flawed to think that branding is the core issue. I have never heard someone say, “I did not like the worship or the pastor, but their website is so great—I think I will join the church.”

Branding goes much deeper than a logo and paint swatches. True branding is a bridge from the core of who you are to the people God has called you to reach. It is a promise you deliver on in all you do. It reveals itself on the surface as your communication, design, identity, or image.

If we are not connecting with people that come through our doors, no amount of branding can solve our problem. But, if we are connecting with people, the right branding can be a catalyst to new levels of growth.

It is time to diagnose. Do we have a branding or a connectivity problem?

Branding cannot secure what a church with poor connectivity cannot reach.

Looking to increase your connectivity in order to rebrand?

To learn more about connectivity, visit artistrylabs.com/consulting. 

One of the greatest challenges found within the church is the ability to process our own churches from outsider perspectives. Our denominations, church buildings, and websites all say something to a visitor about what we value. Guess what? So does our signage. And quite poignantly, it actually says something to visitors about how much we value them. Too often, it says, "Sorry visitor, this church is just for people who already know their way around." Sometimes it says, "We only had the plans and resources to put up the walls, not to guide you through them." Or perhaps, "We are scrappy and less professional than your children's elementary school. Each room has its own sign style, depending on what decade it had our attention"

Sorry for being so direct, but as institutions that have been given a mandate for providing direction to a lost world, churches lag dramatically behind when it comes to providing direction within their four walls. Many churches have defaulted to expecting visitors to ask for directions or to find their way to an information booth. There is only one problem with that: the average un-churched visitor is suffering from complete anxiety about being there in the first place. You might as well put a spot light on them and announce their presence via loudspeaker.

Great signage is about welcoming.
Visitors are not supposed to feel like an imposition. They are our guests. They deserve our forethought, our care and direction. Greeters are important but can never replace a sign that gives direction to the restroom from someone exiting the service. Signage is a part of your fundamental infrastructure for acclimating people, helping them feel comfortable and at home.

When you walk in Starbucks and see their latest graphic on the iron stand, or when you see the light-post banners lining the entry at Disney World, two things are happening that you are likely to miss. One, your expectation level for what is being offered goes up, and two, subconsciously, you are ascribed value by them and you begin to feel all the more welcomed. Just like the "happy birthday" sign strung across your living room doorframe, or the "welcome home" signs at the airport for the soldiers returning from war, signage tells people they are valuable. It is a deep thing that you rarely recognize, but once you notice it, is it any wonder you are polarized to be a part of it and want to make it a part of you? Great signage simply does that.

Ask yourself, "Is my church built to make visitors feel as if you thought of everything for them, or does it make them feel as if they are an afterthought; uninvited to the party?"

Great signage is about branding.
Gone are the days of white letters etched in brown plastic. I was recently in a meeting with a church of about 10,000 members when the Director of Marketing asked me to describe my take on the style of the church's interior. We were fast friends so I tongue-and-cheek replied, "historic contemporary", and moved on. It took a second to sink in and as I talked on in another direction the Media Coordinator burst out laughing. "Historic contemporary is about right!" We all had a good laugh and we knew what our obstacle was. The décor was reminiscent of a decade gone by. It was a reminder of the time in which that style was contemporary, but everyone knew that time had passed. Guess what the major perpetrator was? The signage.

It is not sufficient to just have signage. Signage, and anything else overtly visible for that matter, indicates the era in which you are most highly invested. If it is not contemporary, it simply indicates that today is not as important to your church as yesterday was. The style and
quality of your signage are value indicators. Are they boring or colorful? Are they busy or simple? Are they respectable or "cool"? The answer goes a long way to telling a visitor what you value as a church.

What that means is that smart signage solutions will have to be able to adapt to changes in style. Furthermore, smart churches will use their signage to reinforce the growing spirit of their brands: the essence of who they are as a church. It ultimately becomes part of your intangible asset list that makes visitors all the more respect you, and regulars inherently more proud to belong to your church. Let's face it; it is hard to lead a team these days with poster-board and magic markers. There was a day we could do that as a church and get results. The challenge is simply that low standards equate to low vision. The standards by which you communicate tell the world about the worth of what you offer as a church; challenge is, the world has pretty high standards for communication.

Ask yourself, "What does our signage tell the world about us? What does it indicate about our values?"

Before you make a signage change.
Understand that signage is an investment in both the welcoming of visitors and in the sense of belonging of regulars. If you are not able to do it right, wait until you can or do it rightly piece by piece. Signage belongs everywhere a visitor or a regular might be entering, standing, or simply wondering, "Where is the??" It belongs on the outside of your church welcoming us in. It belongs in the entryway. It belongs at the base of every check-in line. It creates flow. It removes anxiety. If you make it professional and consistent, it creates positive intangibles.

Another major factor to consider before you blanket the church is modality. Smart signage can grow with you and adjust to you over time. It should be an investment that you can carry to a new facility. It should be updateable so you can grow as a church and turn the "Pre-K" classroom door sign into a "4 Year Olds" sign as you break into multiple classes. It should allow for adaptations to your branding efforts and create a single investment point that yields many years of migrating design style.

A client recently called me to share the effect of a recent signage overhaul. He laughed, "I have had more people come up to me and tell me they were excited about what was going on at the church than I can remember. I even have had some people step up and make major financial commitments towards the vision. This all within the last two weeks and all we changed was some paint and our signage."

My friends, signage welcomes, it enhances a sense of belonging and it indicates the standards of your vision. It is an intangible with great effect. Your vision is in your signage. "Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by." Habakkuk 2:2 (Amplified)