Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

The billboard caught my attention: “The place to be seen is Crestwood Baptist.”

I did a double take. To be seen?

What about the place to be loved? The place to be in community. The place to grow.

I’m not sure what message that church was trying to get across, but it felt like an appeal to the country club clique, not a wide embrace that I hope most churches extend.

But the billboard did jog an important reminder: We should check our signs. 

Fall is typically prime church-shopping season. Folks are building their school-year schedule, trying to figure out how to map out their weeks and some are, for the first time – or the first after a long time, trying to find a place to worship. Our church, for instance, had five visiting families on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

Prospective visitors may be slowing down in front of the church, trying to find the worship times on the main sign. If your sign still wishes people a happy summer, then you’re sending a signal of irrelevance – or laziness. Cobwebs and weeds send a message (and not a good one). So too does a sign with half of the letters missing: “W lcom to o r ch rc !”

Your sign should be clean and clear, offering a warm welcome, along with service times, phone number and website.

Your congregation may be into kitschy sayings. I’m not gonna judge. As long as the sign is well-kept, puns are the prerogative of the sign-keeper.

A good sign represents a commitment to hospitality, though we all know that evangelism is much broader and deeper than plastic letters tucked into felt folds.