Our own Josh Cody appeared in a story on the Canadian talk show 100 Huntley Street about the effectiveness of church signs. Josh is the contrary voice going up against the authors of Church Signs Across America, a woman who came to church because of a church sign and a couple of guys who change the sign at their church every week.
Appearing via Skype, Josh spends more time talking about the importance of church marketing than he does ripping on lame church signs.
Church signs are a constant source of wonder and disbelief around here. A while back we talked more in depth about what works and what doesn’t for church signs.
John
September 16, 2010
We used to live by a small methodist church. My wife and I drove past it everyday two or three times a day sometimes. At one point there sign said
ASK ABOUT
OUR PRAY AS
YOU GO PLANS
It took us sadly a week to realize it was saying “Ask about our Pray as you go plans.” A spinoff of pay as you go cell phone plans. We thought it was really creative and witty, because we would remark how strange the sign was, but then when we figured it out we were like, thats pretty good. Of course the next week the sign went back to something cliche’.
Bridget A.
September 16, 2010
Thanks for the post & thank you Joshua for your nuanced responses. Communicating the gospel & doing it effectively is of utmost importance. We’re always working on that here at Huntley Street. I’m glad churchmarketingsucks.com is having the discussion and providing tips with humour along the way.
Bridget A.
Sarah
September 17, 2010
I go to my church because of the sign. It said “Want God, not religion?” and my answer was YES. (Technically, it wasn’t a sign, because the church met at a school building and didn’t have a sign. It was on the billboard on the same block as the building. Close enough.)
I found out after I had been going a few weeks later that was actually the church motto and it was something the leaders and members truly believed. I became a member, and now, three years later, still there and active in leadership and serving.
The sign was fresh, clever, hit a nerve, wasn’t sucky…and it worked.
Jonathan
September 29, 2010
I think Joshua sets up a false dichotomy in this interview. He says that he has an aversion to setting up something so people will see it as opposed to being like Jesus and personally engaging people. There is no reason that it has to be one or the other.
Joshua Cody
September 29, 2010
Hey Jonathan, thanks for the comment. I apologize that my remarks came across implying a dichotomy.
In this portion of the interview, I was trying to address the unfortunate reality that many churches seem to feel adding a church sign is enough, and then the impetus is on the community members to change.
Even when this isn’t the case, it’s difficult for the situation not to appear like that. Even if a church is engaging in both ways, the average person will see the sign, but never the personal engagement. So for their purposes, that’s what this church is doing.
I’d say, dichotomy or not, these signs raise a difficult situation.
Joe Woolworth
September 30, 2010
Thanks for taking on the topic of the effectiveness of church signs. I posted a collection of 25 funny Church Signs and 1 Stupid One if anyone is looking for examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the church sign world. http://marketingjesus.net/25-church-signs/