24-7 Branding: Trinity United Church of Christ
By Kristasphere
Yesterday, I kicked off a conversation on 24-7 Branding - how organization's identities convey or don't convey in the interactive space. For a current example, I'm going to look at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL. Trinity has been getting increasing media coverage because it is the church home of presidential candidate Sen.Barack Obama. Trinity's website recently got on to the radar of Sean Hannity of Hannity and Colmes on Fox News channel.
The conservative Christian columnist Erik Rush wrote this piece on Sen. Obama's church.
He labels the church separatist, cultish, racist, and draws a so far-fetched-it-is-comical comparison to the Branch Davidian sect - all based on what? Wait for it. The church's website.
Specifically, the editorial was based on Mr. Rush's impressions after viewing the church's "About Us" area of the site, including the 12 point vision or creed, which centers around the church's motto of being "Unashamedly Black, and Unapologetically Christian." The vision outlines the church's commitment to the community in which it resides, which is composed primarily of African-Americans on the South Side of Chicago. Fox News picked up Mr. Rush's column, and in a 2-part series on the Hannity and Colmes show, Sean Hannity first interviewed Mr. Rush and later, Trinity's senior pastor, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Mr. Rush's Interview is here. Rev.Dr. Wright's interview is here.
Having watched both interviews multiple times on YouTube, I'm 99.9% certain neither Mr. Hannity nor Mr. Rush did their homework on this story, as any journalist worth their salt would have. There is no indication that either Mr. Hannity or Mr. Rush ever attended a worship service or Bible study at Trinity to gain any first-hand knowledge. I can guarantee you they would have been acknowledged warmly like any other visitor and gotten a hearty hug,smile, and welcome from the membership during the 'sharing of the peace' portion of the service. Nor, does it appear they did any research on the United Church of Christ, or they would know it is a mainline Protestant denomination which has been in existence since 1957 with congregations throughout the US. (Mr. Hannity mistates the church's name throughout the interview, and never gets it right once.)
Like Mr. Rush, all Mr. Hannity referenced in the interview was the vision statement in the About Us section on the church's website. My purpose here is not to debate Mr. Hannity's ignorance of theology. What I am suggesting is how an organization's web persona and that organization itself have become one and the same in our society.
Thankfully, Trinity was prepared. It also appears they took the time to supplement their vision statement online with what they term, 'Talking Points' to the plan, so as to elaborate on their intent and substance. I will note here that Dr.Wright is a highly respected theological scholar who has 4 earned degrees and speaks 7 different languages. I can personally attest to you nothing at Trinity is done or said without a sound, intelligent, theological basis to it.
In terms of the impact to an institution or a brand, it doesn't matter if this is a church, or a Fortune 500 corporation in question. That a section of the website of a large house of worship all of a sudden becomes a serious flashpoint for a US presidential election should be a wake-up call to businesses around the world. As I stated above, organizations can't rely on society or the media to perform due dillegence prior to judging or writing about them. Public or private, for-profit or non-profit, institutions have to ask the question:
"If the media, a customer, or advocacy group, never talked to a single member of our organization, are we confident the brand identity on our website effectively represents us?"
Specifically, the editorial was based on Mr. Rush's impressions after viewing the church's "About Us" area of the site, including the 12 point vision or creed, which centers around the church's motto of being "Unashamedly Black, and Unapologetically Christian." The vision outlines the church's commitment to the community in which it resides, which is composed primarily of African-Americans on the South Side of Chicago. Fox News picked up Mr. Rush's column, and in a 2-part series on the Hannity and Colmes show, Sean Hannity first interviewed Mr. Rush and later, Trinity's senior pastor, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Mr. Rush's Interview is here. Rev.Dr. Wright's interview is here.
Having watched both interviews multiple times on YouTube, I'm 99.9% certain neither Mr. Hannity nor Mr. Rush did their homework on this story, as any journalist worth their salt would have. There is no indication that either Mr. Hannity or Mr. Rush ever attended a worship service or Bible study at Trinity to gain any first-hand knowledge. I can guarantee you they would have been acknowledged warmly like any other visitor and gotten a hearty hug,smile, and welcome from the membership during the 'sharing of the peace' portion of the service. Nor, does it appear they did any research on the United Church of Christ, or they would know it is a mainline Protestant denomination which has been in existence since 1957 with congregations throughout the US. (Mr. Hannity mistates the church's name throughout the interview, and never gets it right once.)
Like Mr. Rush, all Mr. Hannity referenced in the interview was the vision statement in the About Us section on the church's website. My purpose here is not to debate Mr. Hannity's ignorance of theology. What I am suggesting is how an organization's web persona and that organization itself have become one and the same in our society.
Thankfully, Trinity was prepared. It also appears they took the time to supplement their vision statement online with what they term, 'Talking Points' to the plan, so as to elaborate on their intent and substance. I will note here that Dr.Wright is a highly respected theological scholar who has 4 earned degrees and speaks 7 different languages. I can personally attest to you nothing at Trinity is done or said without a sound, intelligent, theological basis to it.
In terms of the impact to an institution or a brand, it doesn't matter if this is a church, or a Fortune 500 corporation in question. That a section of the website of a large house of worship all of a sudden becomes a serious flashpoint for a US presidential election should be a wake-up call to businesses around the world. As I stated above, organizations can't rely on society or the media to perform due dillegence prior to judging or writing about them. Public or private, for-profit or non-profit, institutions have to ask the question:
"If the media, a customer, or advocacy group, never talked to a single member of our organization, are we confident the brand identity on our website effectively represents us?"
Full Disclosure: I was a member of Trinity UCC from 1988-1993 until I moved away. I have also been a licensed Protestant minister for the past 7 years. Unfortunately I did not know Sen. Obama. With membership hovering at 5000 during that time, this is understandable :-)
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2 Responses to 24-7 Branding: Trinity United Church of Christ
My company learned this lesson when Greenpeace ranked all of the competitors in our industry on how green they are. We did not fare well primarily because we did not market all of our environmental commitments on our web site. It goes to show that these "evaluations" are more an indication of marketing savvy than of actual environmental impact. Sincerity and humility are negative attributes in these cases.
Our competitors who don't recycle a Styrofoam cup without issuing a press release about it did much better.
As for Mr. Rush, I have never read one of his columns before. As an evangelical Christian and pretty conservative guy, I am struggling to stay connected to the Republican party that I used to loyally serve. This is one of the reasons; we have confused the party and the Church. The Republican Party is not the Church. The Church is not Republican.
Further, America is not the Church and the Church is not America. People of faith have absolutely no moral obligation to be patriotic or nationalistic. The center of Christianity is now firmly in the southern hemisphere, in Africa and South America. Americans are no longer the guardians of the faith, if we ever truly were.
So when Mr. Rush says "Trinity United clearly embraces things African above things American," I say, "so what?" This is supposed to be a slap in the face to Trinity?
I attend a large church in North Carolina that is probably only 5% African American. We are hyper-educated upper middle class white folks, with a few hyper-educated upper middle class Latinos and Asian immigrants mixed in. And what do we embrace? Among other things, we embrace Africa. Not because we are a cult or we are suffering from a "politically correct delusion," but because that's where we see God is working. We want to be involved in His agenda, not America's agenda and not the Religious Right's agenda.
I am amused by Mr. Rush's closing... "Any argument against this assertion is politically-correct delusion, reverse discrimination and a hypocrisy – a very dangerous one." He says this without first hearing any of these arguments. How clever of him to somehow know that anybody who disagrees with him is deluded. It must be wonderfully comforting to be that arrogant and live in a magical world where everything is simple and clear and reasonable people never disagree.
And anybody who disagrees with me is a jackass.
I guess I am a jake, then. I won't stoop so low as to call you names. I will only say you are wrong, on almost all points.
Trinity puts Africa the mother land first. If you were to take
their 12 points and substitute the word white for the word black. You would be screaming (and rightfully so) racism. If you are going to be the president of the USA then it must be first. Sorry that is just the way most people would see it. When TUCC awarded Farakan (I know I mis-spelled it) they showed their true colors.
Being racist does not just apply to whites. Blacks can be racist, all races can. TUCC is obviously a Black Sep. Group.
This nation was founded on Judeo / Christian values. It just was. If one doe not like that perhaps they should move to a nation that was not. What a person believes and practices religious is the core of who they are, unless they are liars and fakers, who are "religious" for other men's eyes. So if a man is a member of a church who puts the fatherland first, and who says to support ayrian causes, etc. runs for president that info should be outed. That man would be a racist.
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