God's ad agents
From catchy one-liners to provocative statements, churches have found another way to preach the gospel without saying a word.
By Paige Worthy, Jayplay writer
Photo by Josh Kendall
A Presbyterian church sign in Steelville,Mo in September 2004 reaches out to drug addicts and interested passersby alike.
"THIS IS A CH--CH." The sign caught my attention just as my little green car zoomed past a nondescript brick church on Massachusetts Street, but I knew very well I couldn't just stop in the middle of the road to get a closer look. "WHAT'S MISSING? UR!
It was maddening. The sign was behind me in the blink of an eye, and every time I read it i saw "UR" as "Errr," something like the sound I made when I finally figured it out. In the end, I had to drive past Central United Methodist Church six or seven times before I deciphered the witch hidden in those lines.
The Rev. Denise Hygh, pastor at Central United Methodist, 1501 Massachusetts St., says the sign is out there for just that reason: to make people curious and invite them inside. She says the church rarely used the sign before she came six months ago. When she saw how busy Mass Street was and what a great evangelism tool the sign could be, she says she made a commitment to be more open and inviting to passshery, even if it meant just getting them inside to ask about the message or an upcoming event. She says the sign's message changes as often as every two weeks, depending on what's going on at the church. "It's a clever way of talking about
God," she says.
Central United Methodist and Victory Bible Church, 1942 Massachusetts St., are two churches in the Lawrence area that use their outdoor signage to display thought-provoking messages as well as event announcements. Any church with the income to purchase a sign—often $4,000 or more—could have one, though. Not only are they clever, but they're also a way to bring new people in without expending a lot of manpower, says Aaron Ketchell, lecturer in religious and American studies. Churches that receive governmental financial support in countries such as France have no risk of closing. But in America, he says, "you have to do certain things to stay afloat."
He says the catchy signs are as much about marketing and keeping churches in the black as they are about spreading religion to new people. He says most sociologists of religion would agree that many mainstream churches are losing members. There's a certain art to preaching captivating the congregation is part of it that conservative churches make part of their style and allure, he says. The signs are a way for mainstream Christian churches to attract people in potentially large numbers without a huge marketing team.
But that isn't to say conservative churches don't use them too. Ketchell says the content of each church's sign is determined by how its members think of "what it means to be a religious person." In his experience, conservative churches tend to focus their signage on working toward getting into Heaven. He says one that sticks out in his memory — as one part hilarity, one part "fire and brimstone" — is, "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BURN IN HELL, YOU'RE GOING TO NEED SON-BLOCK."
Clearly, signs' messages can range from the funny and brain teasing to the thought-provoking or fear-inspiring. That's where authors such as Jim Harvey come in. He was inspired to write 701 Sentence Sermons: Attention-Getting Quotes for Church Signs, Bulletins, Newsletters, and Sermons when he was put in charge of the sign at a church in Maryland, where he lived at the time. He composed and compiled the little messages for several years until he had enough to publish in a book. He makes some of them up and collects the rest from television, radio, magazines, books and anywhere else he sees something inspirational or witty. He says churches can use the phrases to reach out to their "drive-by congregations" in addition to regular visitors and members.
Harvey, who now lives in Caledonia,
Mich., says he receives feedback from people on a regular basis, proof that his "sence sermons" are working their magic. He recently got a message from a family saying they drive by his church sign every Monday and that it has become the subject of conversation during their family dinner. Central United Methodist's Rev. Hygh says her church's sign, which sometimes has a creative message and sometimes just announces events, attracts new visitors every week, most recently to the Ash Wednesday service on Feb. 9. Even in my own experience, in the summer of 2000, the same summer that X-Men was released, I drove past a church on Rainbow Boulevard in Westwood with a sign that read "JESUS: THE ORIGINAL X-MAN." I didn't see the parallel and I wasn't quite sure what the church was getting at, but it still brought a smile to my face. I never imagined that four words on a church sign would brighten my workdays consistently for two months, but they did.
I don't go to church. I'm not even sure what my religious beliefs are. Yet I always drive a little slower down Mass Street to see what the signs in front of those churches will say that day. That sign is doing its job. It even got me interested.
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pworthy@kansan.com
Jayplay 03.03.05