How many forwards have you gotten before that include church signs? I especially appreciated the one that supposedly showed the debate between two churches in a Southern town concerning the question of whether or not dogs go to heaven.
Apparently that little exchange was an invention which I’m both sad (it is kind of funny) and glad (not what you want to communicate to the world about the church) to hear.
Of course, that’s just one of many sites and forwards dedicated to this subject. You can see funny or witty signs, but sometimes signs may be missing the mark.
I appreciate the idea of putting something on a sign that gets people to stop and think about your church. “Hey maybe they’re talking about something interesting in there.” “Maybe they are the kind of place that isn’t so stuck up that they can’t have a little fun.”
At the same time I wonder how often people see these signs and they simply reaffirm negative stereotypes of the church- we live simply to judge, our ideas are outdated, we’re angry, etc.
There are a couple of pieces that come out of this. First, these church signs are meant to give a first impression. What do you want people’s first impression of your church to be? If you had to sum up your church in a phrase, what would you want it to say.
Second, what would you want your own personal “church sign” to be? What do you want to speak to people, what do you want them to see when they talk to you? Do you have a couple of catch phrases about your life or faith that you use to catch people? I know that when people answer the question, “how are you doing today” with “blessed” or “better than I deserve”, I’ve thought it an interesting way to open a conversation.
It’s something to think about. How do you effictively communicate yourself and your faith quickly and in a way that gets people to dig deeper?
