How is the entrance to the temple of your local church? What do you think it conveys to those who see it? Can a facade become an evangelistic opportunity?
In October 2021, the Communication Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Spain launched a project to renovate the facades, or entrances, of local churches. This month marks one year, and 15 churches have already participated in the initiative: Llíria, Valencia-Vives, Santander, Zaragoza-Torrero, Zaragoza-Gitana, Zaragoza-Actur, Puerto de Santa María, Barcelona-Sants, Barcelona-Guinardó, Logroño, Madrid-Alenza, Sagunto, Huesca, Burgos, and San Sebastián.
"The change in the facade of our church has been a blessing. The new format, the COMMUNITY OF HOPE banner, the colors chosen, the quality of the material and the design [have all] strengthened the identity of our church members, and we have more relevance for the local community," notes Pastor Adelín Resmelita, very happy with the new image of the entrance to the Santander church.
We want every Adventist church in Spain to share the same visual identity and transmit an orderly, legible, and clear image to its neighborhood and passers-by.
Weaknesses
Take a look at some of the facades of the churches in Spain:
Do you identify any problems with these entrances?
Each facade uses a different type of sign, colors, typography, style or materials; that is, it does not follow the visual identity of the Adventist Church at the international level.
Nor does it convey a corporate identity of the church at the national level.
If we think about those who see our facade, there is a lack of positioning of the Adventist denomination and an absence of impact so that people know who we are.
All these problems do not transmit a clear, clean, and coordinated image of our church. In some cases, it is difficult to identify who we are or to read the name of our church. In other cases, the name is not even there.
Wouldn't you like to visit a church in Cordoba, another one in Zaragoza and another one in Galicia, and see the same visual identity in their entrances?
Don't you think this would also send a message to those who don't know our church?
The proposal
What have we done to solve this situation?
We have proposed a national visual identity plan that is based on three basic common elements, with the same design shared by all the local facades, or entrances:
The sign above the entrance, with the background in white and the text in dark blue, corporate, very legible, clean, and clear. The banner, which is the element that stands out from the wall and attracts the attention of the passerby. On it appears "COMMUNITY OF HOPE", which is a translation of what each church is (or should be). Thus, the resident is walking down the street and sees this sign head-on. After reading "COMMUNITY OF HOPE" they look at the sign above the door, which reads "Seventh-day Adventist Church". In this way, we anchor the HOPE concept as synonymous with the Adventist Church, positioning the name of our denomination. In addition, the banner contains the national website, which is vertical, catering to the passerby so that they can read it and access it. The schedule sign next to the entrance, with the local website where they can find more information. We are also adding the ADRA sign in all the churches that request it.
Fortresses
What is gained by this proposal?
All local facades follow and share the same visual identity, which respects the corporate visual manual of the worldwide Adventist Church by using the same colors, typographies, materials, etcetera.
We achieve a national corporate identity, projecting a common visual image, no matter which church you visit. This also generates a certain feeling of unity and helps those who do not know us to recognize us more easily.
By introducing the concept of "COMMUNITY OF HOPE" we help people connect the name of our denomination with the concept that defines us: ADVENTIST = HOPE.
We have at least two Web pages from which passers-by can learn more about the church: adventista.es and the local Web. In this way, we gain in impact since it is a constant publicity that can generate traffic to our digital church project.
Finally, we gain presence in the neighborhood, relevance, readability and clarity, and the church members and attendees themselves feel more recognized!
An evangelizing project
This is not only a renovation project or work on the entrances, but also evangelization!
"For the church, the change has been very good; it has meant an important change of image. It is more visible than the previous one that was obsolete and, therefore, I think it has been very beneficial," points out Vicente Lafuente, elder of Valencia-Vives.
"With the corporate poster of the church in Guinardó," in the words of Pastor Eliasib Sánchez, "we have been able to promote the image [and] the name of the church, its activities, and worship service schedules. The impact has been positive: the neighbors who pass in front of the temple receive the message that we are a community of hope".
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