If you were asked to express the gospel of the Kingdom of God in just a few words, could you? If someone asked you to describe the Church of God in a short phrase, what would you say? Could you boil down God's Church and the message He has given us to preach into a brief, yet precise, statement?
In the marketing discipline of branding, this is the kind of exercise that helps reveal what is known as a critical essence or brand essence—a short phrase that succinctly articulates the heart and soul of an organization. It expresses what makes the organization unique and admirable and embodies the values that characterize each representative.
Companies that are highly successful in integrating their communications and aligning each member of their organization are so largely because each made the effort to forge a very succinct, clearly understood and easily communicated critical essence. And we can learn much from them. Some examples of critical essence statements are:
Nike—"Authentic Athletic Performance."
Hallmark—"Caring Shared."
Disney—"Fun Family Entertainment."
Certainly, God's Church is not a business, but the work can benefit greatly from such a clear, succinct articulation of who we are and what we do. The more clearly we can express our purpose, our unique attributes and our most admirable aspirations, the better we can communicate and integrate our messaging and unify the efforts of each contributing member.
Not Branding the Church or the Gospel
Seeking to gain a clear understanding of our critical essence does not mean we are marketing or branding in the traditional sense. It is simply not possible to represent the true gospel or the true Church by reducing each to a slick, shallow icon.
God's Church has nothing to sell and will never change who it is or what it does to appeal to any market. God's people are delivering God's message. It is not ours to modify. We are to say what God tells us to say or our work is in vain (Isaiah 55:6-11).
The gospel of the Kingdom of God is not multiple messages, but one message reaching two different biblically defined segments: first, the world and second, the called within the world. God's Spirit working with the called enables them to understand and receive His message as an invitation to know Him. Those God is not working with respond very differently, if at all (Luke 8:10).
Further, a critical essence is not a means of growing our membership, as adding members to the Body of Christ clearly belongs only to God (John 6:44; 1 Corinthians 1:9). The Church of God has always been and always will be non-proselytizing. To use another marketing term, this is one of the "differentiators" that sets us apart from all the religious clutter hindering the preaching of the true gospel.
Our "targets" for God's message are not defined by marketing measures, but by the Word of God. Though the "market" for the gospel message is the whole world, God is opening the minds of those He chooses to respond, encouraging them to seek Him out. The clarity of God's voice in the Church's messaging will resonate with them.
God's Spirit leads those God has called to seek the same things, namely the Word of God in the message and the Word of God in themselves. By these we are led into a relationship with God, so that we may truly know Him. UN
