Church Signs - Make it Stop!
My wife gives me a hard time every time we travel and I point out yet another really lame church sign. I confess, I have this issue with churches that put up these horrible messages on their signs for all to see. Is there a special committee in many of these churches that comes up with these messages? This is my plea to all churches (especially it seems Baptist) to please carefully review what goes up on your signage - especially with a focus to make sure it’s theologically sound.
Take this jewel of a sign from a church in South Carolina. Is it just me or are things just a little out of order? Let’s see… apparently us Christians are to take stepping stones and turn them into stumbling blocks. Right!?!?
Did this church a) approve this message before it went up and b) even read the sign after it was posted?
You know, what is wrong with simple “All Are Welcome” or hey, here’s one… “Don’t have a Bible? We’ll give you one!”.
If this one isn’t bad enough, here are just a few other gems you’ll see smacked on the signs of churches. (And yes, these are real church sign messages - I wish they weren’t.)
“Oops I did it again”
“Don’t get depressed, come get blessed!”
“Jesus should be your steering wheel, not your spare tire.”
“Backsliding is the biblical term for the summer slump.”
“Go to church or the devil will get you.”
Please, please, please churches - don’t use your church signs for really bad quips. Use your signs to welcome those who may have never stepped foot in a church. Be welcoming.
And on a final note. If you are going to use your church sign to post some kind of message how about make sure it’s at least theologically correct. I cannot tell you how many signs I have seen that make me cringe. There is a church that I go by every day to go to work and one of their latest signs had “Talk to Jesus - You Just Might Not Need a Lawyer”. What?!?!?
One may think that I am a little over reactive to these signs. (My wife would be the first to tell you that!) But come on, this is the first thing many see before entering the doors of a church. Realizing the true church is the invisible church, one must still be considerate to the unregenerate; for the physical building of the church is what seekers first encounter in many cases - so what is the first thing they see? Is it “oops I did it again”?
UPDATE….
A friend in my Sunday School class emailed these to me and I just had to post them!
(I must say… very original. I wander what the methodist’s think about this one?)
(Does this mean half off tithing today?)
(I truly have nothing to say about this one. Really.)
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Comments
Jay, I see one of these signs on the way home from work every day. I don’t recall any of the words of wit, but let me share one with you that I saw around 30 years ago in Florence, SC, which I never forgot. It was at my own church, Cavalry Baptist, on Second Loop Road! A great church I might add.
First, a bit of background is required. There was a country music act at the time called the Kendalls. It was a father-daughter act and their forte was “cheatin’ songs,” if you know what I mean. You can still hear them on some country radio stations. They had a huge hit on the country charts at that time the title of which was “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away.” Use a bit of imagination and you will get the drift of the song. Well, Cavalry had these new signs placed at the end of the driveways. I am driving down Second Loop Road and see one of the signs with the following message, “Heaven’s Just A Sin Away.” I take a second look to make sure I saw what I thought I saw and nearly drove into the ditch. As I drove on and gave the message some thought, I had to agree the message was attention getting, thought provoking, and theologically correct. Heaven is just “one” sin away. If we have broken one of God’s laws we have broken them all. Therefore, Heaven is literally “a sin away” in the scriptural sense. I thought it was a clever play on words in view of the contemporary culture and have never forgotten that sign. Being a classic (as opposed to contemporary)country music fan, I call it “country music theology.” Wayne
Well I have to say that being in a Baptist Church, I am thankful that our Pastor does not put “messages” like this on our sign. Our church’s sign is used for annoucing special meetings, or visiting missionaries, etc.
I have to agree that many (perhaps even most) of these “wayside pulpit” signs are pretty lame. Now and then, however, I’ll see one that’s not so bad, and makes me think a bit, or even chuckle as well.
Making stumbling blocks of stepping stones..hah! It reminds me of a news interview I saw, where an air traffic controller said that, in the tower, “you’re never without a dull moment.” HUH?
I think the “Geico” sign that Washer mentions is sad. “Salvation so easy a caveman can do it”? As Paul correctly says, “Salvation is so hard only God can do it!!”
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Amen Jay! Another reason why “church marketing sucks!” ( Yes, there is a website http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com) i’m so disappointed that so many churches embrace these kiosk concepts as a first impression to the community around them. They must only think that this is just cute to do this. With statements like that it seems like they are really flying by the seat of their pants and want to either shock all other Christians on the road or to shock people who are not even sure about the church these days… Kiosk messages make me think of powerpoint being used horribly… Pink text on a purple background with 6 pt. curly font. So loud you miss the message and so off taste you cringe even looking at it… Kiosk billboards just don’t make sense for a church. WHAT IS THE POINT OR MESSAGE YOU ARE TRYING TO SEND!!!??? To hold just a few short “cute” phrases out on the corner of a street as maybe the only impression that some may every have about the depths of God is irresponsible to our calling. The 21st century is expanding the ability we have to share a message across the world. Your tiny little town isn’t just the only people that will read your billboard these days… Christians are being called more now than ever to think Globally in there message (Funny, we were always called to think that way) but cute little messages like these are narrow minded to our calling and are tragically off base.