Brand Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

These guidelines outline Christ Methodist Church’s brand strategy, verbal identity and visual identity. They should serve as both guidance and inspiration to create effective, recognizable, and distinct communications.

While the Christ Methodist Church identity is well-defined, it’s also flexible enough that others should be able to create future assets with the aid of these guidelines. Close attention to the guidelines will help ensure all communication efforts remain consistent and true to the spirit of the brand we’ve built together.

STRATEGY

Our brand strategy includes a set of strategic components that capture the essence of who we are. Every touchpoint of our brand should be anchored by our foundational brand strategy. Distilled into compact words, phrases, and personas, these elements help us stay focused and grounded, and serve to define our ideal reputation.

Mission

Why we exist.

We exist to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ among all peoples.

Vision

Our Values

Personality

Target Audience

What we aspire to be.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be a gospel-centered community who magnifies Jesus Christ as we worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly while serving the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized, spreading scriptural holiness in our city and to the nations for the spiritual awakening of all.

The Spirit in which we carry out our mission.

 

Act in Love

Move in Faith

Submit to the Truth of Scripture

Commit to Prayer and Worship

Live and Serve in Community

Brand personality defines our voice and distinctive character. It reflects how we show up and addresses the following questions: What do we want people to think about how we sound, look, and act? How is our personality different from any other church?

Authentic

Warm and welcoming, we are a community where anyone can come as they are – because we aspire to love with the love of Christ and desire deeply to walk alongside them.

Courageous

Guided by the power of the Holy Spirit, we boldly go – bringing peace, hope, and life where spiritual awakening is most needed by the power of the gospel.

While each attribute offers its own distinct value, it’s the combination of these traits that makes a brand truly ownable. 

Passionate

Grounded in the Gospel, we express our faith with magnetic enthusiasm – inspiring others to act in love and deliver the good news

Now

We encourage everyone to live with urgency – embracing the present moment to bring the gospel of Jesus in a world of uncertainty.

Our target audience persona is representative of the people we need to reach in order to grow and fulfill our Mission.

 

1. The Next Generation

2. Young Families

CORE NEEDS

Christ

Truth

Community

Authenticity

Peace

Empathy and Acceptance

“Head and heart” teaching

Rooted relevance

MESSAGING

Our verbal identity has little to do with the content of our message, but a massive impact on how we deliver it. It informs everything from word choice to sentence structure and overall tone, all intended to help us consistently reflect our brand strategy.

A verbal identity is a brand’s unique way of communicating through language. Just like individual humans, brands have distinct voices, rhythms, and ways of speaking. It’s how brands with similar offerings and value propositions distinguish themselves from one another.

BRAND VOICE

Authentic

Our brand voice and tone is how we speak to the world. Defining our voice helps us own a distinct personality and remain consistent across our communications. This is the persona we will adopt when communicating as Christ Methodist Church.

AUTHENTIC COPY IS…

  • Conversational

  • From the heart

AUTHENTIC COPY IS NOT…

  • Fake


  • Formal


  • High and mighty

Courageous

COURAGEOUS COPY IS…

  • Confident

  • Earnest

  • Grounded in truth

COURAGEOUS COPY IS NOT…

  • Passive

  • Brash

  • Aggressive

Passionate

PASSIONATE COPY IS…

  • Emotive

  • Evocative

  • Enthusiastic

PASSIONATE COPY IS NOT…

  • Cold

  • Apathetic

  • Zealous

Now

NOW COPY IS…

  • Self aware

  • Inspiring

  • Action-oriented

NOW COPY IS NOT…

  • Slangy

  • Detached

  • Intense

CORE MESSAGE

Similar to a campaign slogan or tagline, this is the sharpest articulation of our brand idea. It embodies our point-of-view, brand personality, and values rather than a single part of the ministry.

USAGE: Anywhere space or time is limited, such as billboards, sign-offs, swag, and email signatures

 

All for Christ, for all people.

CONVERSATION STARTER

A one-sentence description expressing who we are, what we do, and why we’re different. Because it’s high-level information, the conversation starter is intended to prompt further discussion

USAGE: Anywhere we introduce ourselves, such as social profiles, search data, or marketing collateral

 

We glorify God by making fully devoted followers of Jesus—equipped to carry the gospel wherever they go, especially to those the world overlooks.

LOGO

The logo is the primary identifier of our brand. It is employed to quickly communicate our name and identity to the world.

PRIMARY LOGO

Our logo is the primary identifier for our brand. It captures our name, mission, and legacy.

SYMBOL

The symbol represents our brand in a succinct, simple and symbolic way.

OTHER LOCKUPS

To maintain flexibility and cohesion across a variety of applications.

HORIZONTAL BRANDMARK

When spacing prohibits using the primary logo, this horizontal lockup can be used.

STACK WORDMARK

The wordmark is the primary logo with the symbol detached. Use this version when the symbol has been used elsewhere on the given application.

HORIZONTAL WORDMARK

ON COLOR

When combining the logo with brand colors, always ensure there is ample contrast in color pairings. The following examples are approved combinations.

SINGLE COLOR

The logo should only ever appear in one color, white or black depending on which version provides the appropriate amount of contrast.

SCALING

The logo has been carefully crafted to read well, even at small sizes. There is no limit at large scale, but be careful at smaller sizes. If legibility is an issue, it’s too small.

Recommended minimum size is 20 pixels for screen, and 1/4 inches in print.