Church Relevance’s December 2006 newsletter, Discovering Your Brand, has been added to the site.

In many cases, branding refers to an organization’s logo, but a logo is not a brand. Rather, it is a symbol of the brand.

Branding actually goes much deeper than design and marketing and is a representation of the unique personality of your church. It should take into account your church’s calling, strengths, and core values. In fact, your church’s brand should be communicated at every touch point your with your congregation and community.

But before you can successfully communicate your brand, you must first be able to understand and explain what it is. If you need help discovering your brand, ask yourself the following 18 questions:

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We will be posting articles from Church Relevance’s newsletter a few months after we send them to subscribers. If you would like to receive the latest issues of Church Relevance’s newsletter as soon as possible, you may sign up to begin your free monthly subscription to our newsletter.

In The Christian Post, Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) shares his eight steps to dreaming bigger. Here is a summary:

1. Open your mind to God.
   If you’re going to do this, you’ve got to be quiet before the Lord. Schedule times of silence, of solitude.
2. Do some research.
   The Bible says that it’s dumb just to step out. (See Pr. 18:13) Think before you act. Read books, go to conferences, visit other churches but get the facts.
3. Start asking for advice.
   Leaders are learners.
4. Establish some priorities.
   You don’t have time to do everything, so you have to learn the difference between the important and the urgent, the helpful and the life-changing, and being efficient and being effective. Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. You need to focus on doing the right things.
5. Evaluate the cost.
   Proverbs 20:25 says, “It’s a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later consider his vows.” (NIV) You need to ask yourself three questions when you’re planning out a dream:
   (1) Is it necessary? (Can I reach my goal another way?)
   (2) What will it cost? (What’s the price tag in terms of time, energy, money, and reputation?)
   (3) Is it worth it?
6. Plan for problems.
   Proverbs 22:3 says, “A sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them. The simpleton never looks and suffers the consequences.” (TLB)
7. Be willing to risk. Face your fears.
   When you know your dream is from God, it gives you confidence. You won’t let people tell you why it can’t happen. What matters is that God has said to do it.
8. Do it now.
   There comes a point of decision where you’ve got to stop talking and start acting.

Following the God-given dream and plan for you church is the most important step to maximize your potential.

This February, The Barna Group published the findings of a survey that investigated Americans’ willingness to sacrifice and impulses toward self-oriented behaviors. Here is what they discovered:

The Good

• 74% of Americans have recycled something in the past month
  >> born again Christians were among the least likely groups to recycle
• 48% have helped a poor or homeless person in their community in some other way than handing them money in the past month
• 44% have discussed a specific spiritual issue or belief with someone who belongs to a different faith in the last month
• 25% (roughly) have volunteered some of their free time to help a church in the past week
• 25% (roughly) have volunteered some of their free time to help a non-profit organization that is not a church in the past week

The Bad

• 33% of adults say they have used profanity in public in the last month
• 31% have purchased a lottery ticket in the past month
• 28% have said mean things to others about someone else when that person was not present
• 28% of adults have read a magazine or watched a movie or video that contained explicit sexual images in the past month
  >> 35% of men
  >> 19% of women
• 18% have placed a bet or gambled in the last month
• 16% of adults have consumed enough alcohol to be intoxicated or considered legally drunk at least once in the last month
• 14% have had an intimate sexual encounter during with someone to whom they were not married in the last month
• 13% have told someone something they knew was not true
• 10% have gotten even for something someone did to hurt or offend them
• 10% have visited a website that showed explicit or uncensored sexual content in the last month
  >> 14% of men
  >> 2% of women
• 6% have inappropriately traded or downloaded music in the past month
• 5% have consulted a psychic or medium for spiritual guidance in the last monthÂ
• 4% admit to stealing
• 3% admit to recent use of illegal, non-prescription drugs
• 2% admit to fighting or abusing someone else

Additional note:

Adults under 40 - and especially those ages 18 to 22 - were more likely than average to engage in many of the morally questionable activities (the only clear exception was gambling, an activity in which younger adults are equal to that of older adults). The use of profanity is an example of shifting generational values: three out of ten Boomers [born from 1946 through 1964] had cursed in public during the past month compared to nearly half of the Buster generation [born from 1965 and 1983] and two-thirds of Mosaics [born from 1984 through 2002]. Busters and Mosaics exhibit lower than average levels of volunteerism, to churches and other non-profits - and are less likely to admit helping the poor. Defying their reputation as environmentally conscious, Mosaics were also the least likely generation to recycle.

Yahoo!’s Neighborhood Profiles Search allows your church to search by zip code to obtain free demographic research about your community. Areas of research include:

• Total Population
• Median Age
• Median Household Income
• Percentage of Single Households
• Percentage of Married Households
• Percentage of Families (households with children)
• Average Household Size
• Percentage of College or Better
• Percentage of White Collars
• Cost of Living Index
• Average Yearly Utility Cost
• Average Household Total Consumer Expenditures
• Average Household Education Expenditures
• Average Household Entertainment Expenditures
• Average Household Transportation Expenditures
• Average Household Retail Expenditures
• Average Household Non-Retail Expenditures
• Total Crime Index
• Personal Crime Index
• Culture Index

Additional Resources: Neighboroo

Suite101 has created an exceptional list of free online courses that your church staff can use to learn about marketing, management, leadership, and more. Courses that might interest churches include:

Leadership

• Building and Leading Effective Teams (MIT)
• Cross-Cultural Leadership (MIT)
• Lousy Listeners: How to Avoid Being One (News University)
• Practical Leadership (MIT)

Management

• Communication for Managers (MIT)

Marketing

• Building Your Brand (U.S. Small Business Association)
• Email Marketing (U.S. Small Business Association)
• Identify Your Target Market (U.S. Small Business Association)
• Marketing Management (MIT)
• Principles of Modern Marketing (Free-Ed.net)

Writing

• Cleaning Your Copy (News University)
• Get Me Rewrite: The Craft of Revision (News University)
• Culture Shock! Writing, Editing, and Publishing in Cyberspace (MIT)

Enjoy!

Project Management Source recently shared 61 tips to help you, your co-workers, and family save time. For a quick sample, here are 8 of my favorites:

1. Prioritize your tasks.
   Most people spend 80% of their time trying to complete 20% of their tasks. You could set aside ten minutes every day to plan your day’s activities.
2. Free 20%.
   When you plan your schedule for the day, ensure that you leave 20% of your day free. This allows for emergencies and interruptions.
3. Get it right the first time.
   Take your time to do a quality job. It may take more time to complete the task, but there is a lesser chance of errors. This way, you can avoid making time-consuming corrections.
4. Eat light, especially lunch.
   This will ensure that you don’t get sleepy in the afternoon.
5. Get a good night’s sleep and plenty of exercise.
   This regimen will improve your focus and concentration, which in turn, helps you be more efficient and productive.
6. Clean up.
   Go through and organize your papers, files and folders and throw away any unnecessary paperwork and correspondence.
7. Limit grocery shopping to once a week.
8. Say no.
   There are a lot of demands on your limited time, so avoid unnecessary wastes. You may hate having to turn down people but realize that saying no frees up time for things that are more important.

Breitbart.com reports that by 2030 we may be shuttled around by robot-driven cars, and some think that by 2015 robot-driven vehicles will be on the battlefield. While it may sound like science fiction, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will host a competition this November to test what could be considered the first generation of intelligent robot cars that understand and react to the world around them.

If these predictions are true, church attendance could benefit if people are willing to make longer commutes because they do not have to drive themselves. In essence, it would give the local church an expanded reach past its usual 10-20 miles.

[via Trend Hunter Magazine]

In the report Engaging Youth in Lifelong Service, Independent Sector and Youth Service America discovered that teenagers who volunteer give more money and volunteer more time as adults than adults who never volunteered as a teenager. Report findings include:

• 44% of adults volunteer
  >> 66% (roughly) of these volunteers began volunteering their time when they were young
• Adults who began volunteering as youth are twice as likely to volunteer as those who did not volunteer when they were younger.
• High school volunteering recently reached the highest levels in the past 50 years.  
• In every income and age group, those who volunteered as youth give and volunteer more than those who did not.
• Those who volunteered as youth and whose parents volunteered became the most generous adults in giving time.

These findings are good news to the church for several reasons:

1. Teenagers are volunteering more than ever.
2. If your church uses teenage volunteers, you are doubling their potential to serve as adults.
3. If you can get the parents of teen volunteers to also volunteer, you will be maximizing the teenagers’ future levels of generosity.

I believe that reaching and training up the next generation is the most important demographic churches can focus on. Clearly, it is a time that shapes who they will be in the future.

For more on volunteering, check out our previous post about Volunteers That Stick by Jim Wideman.

[via Church Volunteer Central]