NASHVILLE, Tenn.—In an effort to highlight a new season of ministry, Lifeway Christian Resources unveiled a new logo and began a significant update and refresh of its website this month. This is the first major rebrand since the organization changed its name in 1998.
“We’re so excited about the result of our rebranding project,” Lifeway President and CEO Ben Mandrell said. “The new logo and visual elements reflect a new season of ministry for Lifeway. Our brand promise is true to the legacy of Lifeway and affirms our commitment to serve churches and provide fuel to their ministries. It’s time for fresh branding to carry Lifeway forward into a new era.”
The rebranding effort includes new looks for lifeway.com, as well as Lifeway’s sub-brands, including Lifeway Kids, Lifeway Women, Lifeway Students and Lifeway Worship.
The new logo replaces the oval cross icon to the left of the company name, while the familiar red is replaced with a harvest gold.
“The new logo visually represents Lifeway’s desire to honor its legacy while looking squarely into the future,” said Jon Emery, director of marketing. “We intentionally incorporated the cross into our name so it would be ever present and central to our identity.”
Lifeway Creative Director Christi Kearney said maintaining a modern representation of the cross was important. “The cross not only anchors the organization to our mission but also connects us to everyone we serve and hope to serve,” Kearney said. “As we explored new possibilities, we searched for a design that communicates a uniquely Lifeway message, in a clean form, with a strong presence. This new mark nods to our 130-year history of print, our commitment to a digital future, and our renewed focus on designful experiences.”
Customers will begin to see the new branding and logo on printed materials this spring as the rollout continues through 2021. The company is promoting the new brand with an ad campaign on social media.
Throughout the year, Lifeway will be introducing improved experiences at lifeway.com that will help church leaders find ministry resources they need to be more effective in the work they do.
“At Lifeway, church leaders come first,” Mandrell said. “We’re here to serve pastors, Bible study leaders, ministry volunteers and other spiritual difference makers within the local church as they seek to make and grow disciples of Jesus Christ.
“We’re humbled by the emails, phone calls and messages we receive from customers describing their experience of finding the right resource at the right time in their ministry,” Mandrell said. “But we know we need to keep improving the experience on our website. We’ve taken the feedback we’ve received from our customers and are making much-needed improvements.”
Lifeway’s Chief Information Technology Officer Jamie Adams said providing a more accurate, intuitive, personalized experience is part of a broader strategy to simplify the customer’s online journey.
“Improving the online customer experience at lifeway.com is a top priority for our team,” Adams said. “Customers will experience changes on our website throughout the year. We’ll be analyzing data with every step to make sure we’re anticipating customer needs and exceeding their expectations.”
Adams said site improvements will include improved search capabilities, a virtual Bible store, product personalization (i.e. Bible imprinting and more), new gift-giving capabilities, and an autoship feature allowing customers to set up an automatically recurring order on a schedule that works best for them.
In November, Lifeway launched a new ebook buy and share functionality to make it easier for leaders to buy and distribute books or Bible studies to their group members. Customers can also give an ebook as a gift.
Mandrell said the latest site enhancements represent another step forward in Lifeway’s broader strategy to provide more digital tools for churches and help them navigate ministry in 2021.
“We know the COVID-19 crisis created a unique challenge for churches as they found new ways to gather and minister to their communities,” Mandrell said. “We’ve been working on solutions for supporting local churches as they begin to rebound and regather in person. Our team continues to work on opportunities to better serve churches.”
In 1998, the Baptist Sunday School Board concluded a multi-year rebranding process changing its name of 107 years from the Baptist Sunday School Board to LifeWay Christian Resources. The Lifeway brand has largely remained unchanged in the years since.
“After nearly 130 years, we’re stepping into a new season of ministry. We have to keep moving forward and adapting to the needs of the local church,” Mandrell said. “We’re giving even more focus and dedication to our core customer—the church leader. By keeping the Word of God and His church at the heart of what we do, we’re ready for another 130 years of ministry.”
