So you’re in the beginning stages of building a college and/or young adult ministry at your local church. You’ve talked to a few college-aged students. You’ve had a group over at your house to discuss what’s to come. Now you’re envisioning what it could look like as the community of college students and young professionals grow and thrive in your church–and probably what it takes to get there. And in the midst of all the dreaming and planning, there are two things that are at the forefront of your vision: the name and logo.
We’ve all struggled or thrived with the creative process of designing a visually pleasing art piece that communicates who you are and what you do. When it comes to an upcoming Retreat, maybe you’ve figured out the spiritual theme or goal, but now you have to figure out how to present it on TVs, social media, and anywhere else you can spread the word. Grasping the basics of design in your college ministry is crucial for enhancing outreach, communicating with students, and sharing the Gospel. Luckily for Pastors today, understanding the concept of a user-friendly, easy-to understand design is easier than ever.
WHY DESIGN?
Young adulthood is a period of transition, exploration, and self-discovery. It is a time when individuals navigate the challenges of identity formation, career choices, and relationships. A one-size-fits-all approach to ministry no longer works in today’s culture. “Design-thinking” allows ministries to delve into the unique needs, preferences, and challenges of young adults, fostering a more personalized and relevant experience. Displaying a unique design has the potential to make or break a first impression. Ten years ago, the front door to the local church or ministry was, well, the front door. Today, a college student can learn just about everything they need to know from your presence on social media, your website, or wherever you decide to spread the word and/or invite others to your college ministry. The obstacle is, however, when a young adult spots an Instagram account with a highly pixelated profile picture that exceeds the boundaries of the frame, it is easy to cast it aside without any remorse.
Samford University has an opportunity for all their College Ministry Partners called the College Ministry Expo, where ministries from around the area are able to set up a table and talk to hundreds of college freshmen looking for a home church. Metro Young Adults took the opportunity to set up a space, but it seemed that a plain white table with some connect cards and goody bags was not enough to compete with another church’s big fabric backdrop with their noticeable logo and matching tables with iPads and iced coffee. What it may sound like is: “spend more money to seem more attractive”, but the actual difference was that the more attractive church used an easily noticeable logo with an intentionally designed layout catered to young adults’ interests.
This is not meant to scare anyone away from trying to reach young people with the Good News. Your church’s spiritual foundation and disciple-making strategies could be par to none. Your group of college students can be welcoming and fun. Your services and events might be very Spirit-led and powerful. But lacking certain elements (or worse: having too many) in your outward appearance to the community can easily communicate that your ministry is exactly what it’s not: lame.
While we unfortunately live in a time where everyone seems to judge a book by its cover, it’s also easier than ever for ministers to gain the tools and knowledge needed to visually bring their specific ministries to life!
HOW TO DESIGN
It’s easy to become overwhelmed when all shapes, sizes, colors, fonts, and layouts are at your fingertips. Luckily, there are plenty of online resources to help kick start some creative ideas that you can build upon. You can find ready-to-use graphics from different websites based around ministry (for example: Church Motion Graphics, Igniter Media, Canva, etc.) with a “pool party” graphic that just needs the time and place. I highly suggest using resources like these because there are simply too many events, fundraisers, handouts, and more in the year for one person to make everything for it from scratch. Using the template as-is can absolutely work... until you notice that another church across town happened to use that same template for their event. These templates are great as a starting point!
This is where you (or whoever creates your designs) have the opportunity to build upon what’s already given and make it uniquely yours! Yes, it’s easy to run with something that’s already made; That’s what you paid for, right? But there’s more to your creations than just promoting events. Every Instagram post, every event poster, and every pop-up display is a chance to tell others who you are, rather than just what you’re doing. This is where design softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Affinity, or Canva come in.
One of the most used and affirmed creative resources is Adobe. If you're able to budget for a somewhat pricey monthly subscription, Adobe is going to be your number-one deal for photo editing, graphic designing, video producing, audio engineering, and more! You may not need all of these for your ministry at the moment, but as your understanding of “design-thinking” grows, you may find yourself eventually needing these. Other cheaper resources include Affinity Designer (very similar to Photoshop, no subscription, but lacks some tools and features) and
Canva (free online, but very limited without a subscription). There are even more options to research and choose from, but these are probably some of the most well-known in the church
community.
WHAT TO DESIGN
Now that you have been given some tools to get started, there are still some things to keep in mind. It’s one thing to have the ability to design, but it’s another thing to design well-made compositions that catch the eyes of young adults. Designing includes more than just a TV slide, but a variety of different areas that help convey the big picture that is your college ministry.
1 - POST IT
The easiest and most interactive resource for outreach is social media. If you’re leading a college or young adult ministry and do not have an Instagram profile and/or Facebook page, stop reading this and go create one now... If you’re new to social media, it can be intimidating and difficult to master. Here are some helpful tips to owning an efficient and active social media presence.
The best way to begin using social media is by actually posting photos of your young adults, events, and other random outings. It may seem like the most obvious answer, but this is more significant than some may believe. A picture with some smiling faces will likely get twice as many more interactions than a graphic. It’s okay to post graphics to spread information–in fact, that’s encouraged as well–but posting true pictures of people show the outside community that your ministry is active and involved! Here’s a tip: try combining an event graphic with pictures, and see how your interactions differ online! One of the best current-day ways to use social media is by creating TikToks (or Reels on Instagram). As of today, TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram are the platforms most used by Generation Z. Some may have their own opinions on certain platforms, but if you’re wanting to increase your reach to the young adult community, using these may just help you in a tremendous way.
When it comes to having an active ministry, you undoubtedly want to appear active. That’s why it’s important to stay consistently active on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, or wherever. This doesn’t mean you have to post something everyday, but having some sort of schedule in order to post 3-4 times a week is valuable to reaching others and keeping the conversation going with your students and young people. This could include photos, announcements, memes, interactive posts, reels/TikToks, or whatever else you can think of. So you’re going to be encouraged to do something that most other pastors wouldn’t encourage you to do: spend some time on social media this week and see what’s trending or what works!
2 - THE PHYSICAL WORLD
Another resource to research is where to order promotional materials. If you’re depending solely
on your announcement slides and social media to convince others that College Nights are awesome, prepare for little outcome. In order to make an impression, sometimes it includes bringing those designs into the real world. Hand-held signs are a great way to welcome others and make young adults feel as if they’re in the right place. Backdrops and banners create opportunities to catch attention and even snag some photos. Invite cards with a QR code let young adults walk away with more connection and information than when they entered. Bracelets, t-shirts, and hoodies are comfy ways to allow college students to sport the church and help spread the gospel in their generation. The list goes on, but designing and investing in physical material is crucial to the outreach process of your ministry. Some online resources to check out could include Mr. Church Marketer, StickersBanners, Uth Stuph, and Central Screen Printing. There are a plethora of options to choose from, so be encouraged to find what supplier works best with you!
3 - GET ON THE WEB
Now that the young adults in your area see you on social media and notice your merch, they’re going to want to learn more about how to get involved. If your church has a website, then it’s time for your college and young adult ministry to take advantage of that. Creating a web page is a great way to educate people about when you meet, if you have small groups, upcoming events, and how to connect with you. A stylish website that flows well and informs effectively can help guide young individuals towards being the newest member of your local ministry. At one time, Metropolitan Church hosted an event that was advertised on the local Christian radio station. This caught the attention of a young adult listening to the radio, leading her to look up more information about what other events and ministries Metro had to offer. It also led her to the next Young Adult gathering, where she was quickly befriended and became involved with a new church
community!
Now, designing a webpage probably seems more confusing than posting on Instagram, but try talking to whomever is in charge of building your church website and let them know what info you feel is important to present! If you don’t have a website or web page, there are a few very easy-to-use and FREE online website builders that will enhance your outreach experience. Try checking out Wix, Squarespace, SnapPages, WordPress, and feel free to find another option that has the tools and features you’re looking for. Another helpful tool along with a web page would be the link tree. Link trees are online landing pages that lead others to certain online areas, like other social media, website, newsletter, or just about anything. You’ll see a lot of these in the “bio” section of certain social media pages. This is another free resource to help young individuals navigate from one area of your ministry to the others! The best resource for this is simply called LinkTree.
ABOUT THAT NAME AND LOGO...
As you continue to preach and spread the Gospel to college students, the Kingdom will grow, and these young people will continue to hunger for Jesus. Your ministry can be a lighthouse to the local young adult community; they just need to recognize it. In the beginning stages of understanding design and using these resources, you may perceive that there’s something missing. There is one property that all these areas should have in common, especially when it’s for ministry. Everything created for the local college ministry should share an identity (some may use the term “style”). Whether you’re recording a TikTok, wearing a new t-shirt, or updating the web page, your identity, logo, and/or name in these should be easily detectable. It must communicate who you are, as well as look good on screens, hoodies, profile pictures, and promo material. This can be the most difficult and tedious design to land on, but the name and logo has the potential to be an icon and lighthouse for every struggling young adult in your town. Helpful tip: don’t overthink it, and look to other successful college ministries for inspiration. It’s okay to take notes from the big guys sometimes.
And lastly, remember that in everything you design, do it with all your heart, because design is also a form of worship (Exodus 35:30-35). As you spread the word to others about who you are, keep in mind that you should continuously be sharing the love of Jesus. Even in your designs. And remember, you aren’t alone. If you’re struggling or have questions, don’t be afraid to ask other young adult pastors about how these ideas have or haven’t affected their ministries. You have the resources, support, and prayers as you take the next steps on this creative journey.