McDonald's executive turned Anglican minister, Ted Brush says that as Sydney Anglicans plan for Connect 09 they have much to learn from the cooperative business models that underpin the major fast-food brands.
He explains McDonald’s and Sydney Diocese share a very similar ‘franchisee’ organisational structure.
"There are some key similarities organisationally between McDonalds and Sydney Diocese," Mr Brush insists.
"Both have a centralised structure that manages matters such as property, financial oversight, insurance, recruiting and staff training. This is the franchise model."
A major issue for Sydney Anglicans is a reluctance to act cooperatively, believes Mr Brush.
"Though any McDonald's store owner is a fiercely independent business person, McDonald's as a system simply does a much better job than us when it comes to operating cooperatively," Mr Brush says.
"In our case, a diocesan-wide initiative such as Connect 09 operating at all levels - regional, deanery and local parish level - would harness the strength that is inherent in our organisation.
"But seldom is such strength realised due to our desire to do it ourselves. Even the sharing of ideas and tools and materials is something we do far less well than many in the corporate world."
Mr Brush says the most obvious lessons are around branding.
“While we would not want all of our church buildings to be identical, something even McDonald's no longer achieves, the distinctiveness of our church "shopfronts' is something we might make far more of," he says.
"If the public face of every parish and church property in our diocese was recognisably "us', we would have a much more visible presence in our communities."
Mr Brush lists signs, stationery, websites, local media releases, posters, banners and business cards as examples where a branded identity would be useful.
"[These] identify us as part of a greater whole, and if that were supported at diocesan level in the same way, then an initiative like Connect 09 would have a city and region-wide presence for relatively little effort," he says.
Mr Brush says that churches find it far too easy to dismiss the insights from corporate marketing.
“At the heart of making Connect 09 successful must be action driven by the realisation that most of the people to whom we would proclaim Jesus simply do not enter our church buildings " ever," he says.
Mr Brush says this requires a radical rethink on the part of Sydney Anglicans.
"We rightly realise that we can never match the kind of enormous marketing effort that organisations such as McDonald's employ to drive their sales. However, I suspect that in that realisation there is also, more often than not, a tacit ignoring of what the marketing programs actually represent: an enormous focus on the outsider," he says.
"I suspect that in saying we cannot match the marketing resources of corporate giants, we consider ourselves justified in therefore not making a proportional effort to reach those beyond our doors.”
Story behind the logo
The man behind the Connect 09 logo is Collin Xavier, CEO of the Xavier communications group.
"It is probably the most important thing that I will do in my advertising lifetime," Mr Xavier says.
"I used to say that all my best work ended up wrapping up the fish and chips. That is why it’s a passion of mine to work with others to promote the gospel."
Mr Xavier says the best logos operate as "memory genes' in that they are a very powerful way of reinforcing and replicating an organisation's message.
"The concept behind the Connect 09 logo is intended to reinforce the central idea of Archbishop Jensen's initiative: that a diverse and colourful range of people will be brought together around Christ " the gold figure " at the centre," he explains.
"The jigsaw is a meme that will immediately provoke a host of connections in people's minds: the way all the different pieces fit together" going out and finding the lost piece."
Mr Xavier's passion for evangelism is fuelled by his personal experience of God's grace.
He and his wife Helen became Christians nine years ago after spending over 50 years in "a works-based', "cultish' group.
"It was with great joy that we came to understand what Jesus has done for us on the cross and since that time we have shared a deep desire to help to spread the good news about Jesus," he says.
They now attend Meadowbank International Church, a congregation of Christ Church, Gladesville.
Mr Xavier's contribution to the Connect 09 planning has included strategic advice based on marketing research.
"The reason that I became involved with Connect 09 was a deep conviction that I have to use the talents that the Lord has given me to help build the church," he says.
Pray. Connect. Expect.
Executive Director of Connect 09, the Rev Andrew Nixon has just released the new Connect 09 logo and slogan “Pray. Connect. Expect.”.
Mr Nixon says the slogan emerged from ‘talking with lots of people who are thinking hard about Connect 09, people ‘who are excited by the possibilities in their own parish or organisation and right across the whole diocese’.
“These three things just kept emerging as the basic building blocks of Connect 09,” he says.
Mr Nixon emphasises that this is an ‘internal’ slogan, designed to encourage church members to become excited about the initiative.
“Under God, the impact we make in 2009 will depend on the extent to which our people get on board," he says.
"We hope that "Pray. Connect. Expect.' will help many catch the vision and start to do just that: pray, connect and expect."
However, Mr Nixon agrees with Mr Brush that sharing branding will help raise public awareness.
“One benefit of doing Connect 09 all together and at the same time is that we can raise public awareness. That is not easy in a city of four million," Mr Nixon says.
"But visual cues are very powerful. A consistent logo, as well as message, across over 260 parishes gives us a good crack at it, and locally there is that added momentum of clearly being part of something larger going on.”
Mr Nixon is hoping churches will embrace and promote the Connect 09 logo.
"The logo belongs to all of us and the more we use it, the more we raise the profile of our campaign in our local areas and throughout the region."
