A Different Approach to Church Signs: It Is Going to Be OK

A Different Approach to Church Signs: It Is Going to Be OK

October 28, 2015 by

Most church signs are pretty lame. It’s easy to focus on the pun-filled slogans that get more clicks and groans. But what about a church sign that actually works?

Do we want to be the church that looks busy, or do we want to be the church that offers hope?

The other day I was driving out of downtown Minneapolis, past a lot of construction and onto the freeway gridlock of rush hour. It was one of those hurry up so I can wait situations.

Church Sign: It Is Going to Be OKAnd then there on the side of the road, surrounded by construction equipment and just before the freeway entrance ramp was a church sign that said simply, “It is going to be OK.”

Yes. What a breath of fresh air. A simple message that wasn’t trying to be funny, wasn’t telling me I was going to hell, wasn’t emphasizing a dogmatic position that most passersby would miss. And—perhaps most importantly—it wasn’t trying to communicate too much. You simply can’t communicate the entirety of the gospel message as people drive by your church.

But you can give a little hope

Church Sign Story

The construction themed sign came from Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church. And I’m not the only one who noticed.

The church has received calls and emails about the sign, and they’ve even seen people stop to take pictures in front of the sign.

Earlier this year the church decided to change up their approach to the slides on their sign. Before the change their sign mostly advertised the church’s major events. But Associate Pastor Nate Melcher wanted to offer something more.

“I asked myself a simple question: Do we want to be the church that looks busy, or do we want to be the church that offers hope?” says Nate.

Simple

So often everything about church marketing can seem complicated. There’s all this technology to figure out or there’s this massive strategy you need to put together. It can feel incredibly overwhelming.

But sometimes it’s pretty simple.

Do we want to be the church that looks busy, or do we want to be the church that offers hope?

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Photo by Nick Magrino.
Post By:

Kevin D. Hendricks


When Kevin isn't busy as the editor of Church Marketing Sucks, he runs his own writing and editing company, Monkey Outta Nowhere. Kevin has been blogging since 1998, runs the hyperlocal site West St. Paul Reader, and has published several books, including 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading, The Stephanies and all of our church communication books.
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4 Responses to “A Different Approach to Church Signs: It Is Going to Be OK”

  • Eric Dye
    October 28, 2015

    This beats the usual church sign fan fare! :)


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  • Joe Gallant
    November 2, 2015

    Interesting one – on the one hand this could be seen as potentially irresponsible, we don’t want to offer people false hope when we believe that for those who don’t have Christ it’s certainly not ‘going to be ok’.

    On the other hand, we should be about communicating, creating the opportunities to start conversations – and it seems if they’ve had a lot of responses they’ve been successful at this.

    We can only take chances and make the occasional change to see how we can best communicate the hope that really is on offer with the gospel!


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  • GP Hintz
    November 2, 2015

    Simplicity is key. I love that many are starting to see that powerful principle. These are the messages that stick with us.


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  • Barn
    November 24, 2015

    Fantastic!!


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