Back in the 1980s, I remember reading some facts about Christian television. The profiled demographic of the average watcher was a female who lived in the South and was in her mid 50’s. While people from a differing demographic did watch Christian television, the pool of support the broadcasters drew from came primarily from an aging demographic of like-minded people. The perimeter of their ministry did not have sufficient access points to draw in those people who would channel surf past their sometimes garish and outdated presentations. Like Christian television or any outreach of the Church, we need to be willing to rebrand our image as the Spirit leads so that we can say, as Paul said, “I have become all things to all men, so that I may, by all means, save some” (I Corinthians 9:22). 

A business or ministry must occasionally rebrand itself if it is to remain relevant to a customer base or to the unredeemed culture it desires to reach. Rebranding is a process that creates a new look and feel for something that is no longer working at its full potential. The goal of rebranding is to influence a person’s perception of a product or service. In matters of faith,  it helps people who are pursuing an encounter with God to not be hindered in that pursuit by an outdated delivery system. When we work with God in this process we will recreate our image to bring us up to date and relevant to the needs of the people we desire to reach.

A spiritually healthy rebranding will never compromise the essentials of our faith or the integrity of our message in an attempt to gain a new image or expand our audience base. Rebranding is simply about adapting and upgrading the vehicle that transports our message. It’s not about changing the core content of the message. 

It is too easy to shut the door to something new, untested and maybe even a bit uncomfortable. We can assume our limited demographic is all we are called to reach when God has another plan.

Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Moving the content of our message from Jerusalem to the remotest parts of the earth will require that we be willing to rebrand the vehicle of our message for each new leg of the journey.