Mennonite Weekly Review

Brands might seem like products of consumer culture, but everyone has them — even Mennonite churches, even Christianity in general.

And Christianity in America has a branding problem.

A brand is “the truth about an organization or product that is widely perceived,” says Barth Hague, former vice president of marketing services for Mennonite Mutual Aid. Hague spoke Oct. 18 in Wichita, Kan., to a gathering of the Mennonite media group Anabaptist Communicators.

Your brand is what people think of you — your company, your product, your church. The perception might be based on firsthand experience and careful judgment. Or it might be rooted in abstract notions of status, tradition and image. Ford or Chevy? Mac or PC? The choice might make perfect sense, or it might be an unexplainable part of who you are.

A company or a church doesn’t create its own brand. People give you one. “You’ve got a brand whether you like it or not,” Hague said. He remembers someone once claiming that “we’re the church; we don’t have an image.” On the contrary, he said, consumers decide whether a church’s brand is strong or weak.

For young American religious “consumers,” Christianity is a weak brand, even a negative one. The Barna Group, a research firm that studies faith trends, found last year that just 16 percent of non-Christians in their late teens and 20s have a “good impression” of Christianity. Common negative perceptions, the Barna study found, were that Christians are judgmental (87 percent), hypocritical (85 percent), old-fashioned (78 percent) and too involved in politics (75 percent).

Further, many respondents based their perceptions on experience, not stereotypes. “I was surprised,” wrote David Kinnamon, president of The Barna Group, “how much their perceptions were rooted in specific stories and personal interactions with Christians and in churches. When they labeled Christians as judgmental … it was frequently the result of truly unchristian experiences.”

So we can’t necessarily say that people would think more highly of Christianity if only they knew us better. “Millions of young outsiders have significant experience with Christians and Christian churches,” according to the Barna study.

The first step to improving the Christian brand is to accept that perception is reality. It doesn’t do any good to dismiss negative perceptions of Christianity as inaccurate. If the brand has problems, change is necessary.

A great brand doesn’t begin with a sharper logo or catchier slogan. Change has to start inside an organization. “It’s what’s below the water line that counts,” Hague said. The public sees the tip of the iceberg. The bulk of the ice below — the inner life of congregations — is where improvement has to happen before “consumers” will see an attractive “product.”

Branding Christianity requires honesty. Our “advertising” must not mislead or deceive. We have to accept the fact that certain biblical principles will attract some people and repel others. Christians who aren’t straightforward about where they stand will only damage the brand in the long run.

Jesus says in John 3:21 that “those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” Each believer’s life is a commercial for the Christian brand. A brand may be the truth that is widely perceived, but others won’t see that truth clearly unless we practice it.