How can a church use the StoryBrand Framework?
Maybe you read Blue Like Jazz or in 2015 you hopped on the Scary Close bandwagon along with thousands of other Donald Miller fans.
Then you saw this other book by Donald Miller - Building a Story Brand - and you thought, “Well I know we want to tell testimonies at our church, let’s check that out!”
And now your head is reeling because a) the book threw you for a loop being a business book and b) you are completely rethinking how your church should communicate to your congregation.
Don’t worry, you aren’t alone!
A few years ago I was the Director of Communication at a big church and had the same experience you did. I want to show you some of my favorite ways to use and implement the StoryBrand framework at a church.
But first…
Don’t get hung up on who the hero is
One of the biggest pushbacks I hear in speaking to churches about how they can use the StoryBrand Framework is, “But Jesus is the hero!”
To be blunt, this is just a silly semantics argument. If it helps, don’t think about it in terms of a hero, but instead, think about the main character.
The people you are trying to reach view themselves as the main character in their life story. Their problem is sin. We step in as guide to offer them a plan out of sin (Jesus), call them to salvation, and show them what life will be like once they are a part of the family of God.
Don’t get stuck on the whole hero word. It’s about the intent, not the specific word itself.
Now that we have that out of the way, here are ways you can use the StoryBrand framework at your church.
Reframe and reword your announcements
One of the best places to use the StoryBrand Framework at your church is when you give announcements.
Most church announcements sound like this,
“On Tuesday night we are going to have a [event]. It’s going to be a really fun time! We’ll have food, fellowship, and it’s just gonna be a great time. So be here on Tuesday at 6:30 because you don’t want to miss it!”
I’d be willing to bet if you watched the video of your past 4 weeks of announcements they’ll all sound something like that.
So how can you use the StoryBrand Framework in your announcements? Condense your announcement down to Problem > Solution > Call to Action > Success.
“We’ve heard from many of you that you struggle to understand the book of James. We’ll be hosting a Book of James 101 class so you can begin to understand the lessons in this simple book and how you can immediately apply them to your life. Show up on Tuesday at 6:30 and you’ll learn how you can use life’s trials to grow closer to God and live a life of genuine faith.”
If you want to throw in a cheeky, “Oh, and because our church loves to eat we’ll of course have food” at the end, that’s perfectly fine. But make sure your congregation knows how the event will impact their life, not just how excited you are about the event.
Rewrite your website
Your church history. Your staff. Your current sermon series.
These are all important but few people will visit your church because they see on your website you’re doing a sermon series about faith. Many church websites spend way too much time talking about themselves and not enough time talking about the website visitor. Your church can use the StoryBrand Framework by refocusing the text on your website to be about the people you are trying to reach.
When someone visits your website they are thinking one thing, “What does this church have to offer me?”
The first thing a website visitor needs to see is how you are going to make their life better. Will they find community? Will they find relief? Will they find hope?
The people who live around your church face unique challenges - a church reaching farmers will have a different message from a church reaching CEOs.
Do they both need Jesus? Yes, of course. But few people end up on your church website after Googling, “How do I find Jesus?”
You have to think about the issues the people around you face, what challenges they face most often and target those with the words on your homepage. How is your church the solution to that?
It’s not that we are using a bait-and-switch tactic, “You wanted community, ha! Here’s Jesus!” The point is to offer a fuller experience of what they desire through Jesus. “Here you’ll find community, and the best friend you will ever have is Jesus who loves you more than anyone else.”
Social Media Posts
This is in the same vein as the announcements we give… A great way for churches to use the StoryBrand Framework is by writing captions focused on the people who will be reading it.
Look back through your social media posts for the last two weeks. How many talk about your church and how many talk about the people you are trying to reach?
The shift is subtle but can make a huge difference.
“Join us for worship tomorrow at 10:45am” vs “Come worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ tomorrow at 10:45am”
All the same suggestions made for announcements also apply here when you post about something coming up at your church: Problem > Solution > Call to Action > Success.
Picture usage overall
A lot of churches show pictures of their stages, of the preacher and band. While it’s important for people to know what to expect at your church, more than that they want to know if they’ll belong.
The best way to show this is by featuring images of the types of people who are at your church. This goes for your website, social media, anywhere pictures are.
Lobby pictures are great for this because they show how people dress when attending your church. Questions people always ask are, “Do I need to dress up? Can I wear shorts?” The easiest way to let people know the vibe of your church is by showing images of people who attend.
A final note
This is probably the best tip I can give you as you seek to use the StoryBrand Framework at your church…
A good rule of thumb is anytime you type “we” or “us” see if you can’t flip it to say “you.” Because ultimately your church isn’t about your church, it’s about the people.
If you want to chat for a few minutes about specifics for your church, I’m here to serve! Grab some time on my calendar.
