I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I am just back at Bridge St UC from a few days in New York City with my wife Ruth, brother Eric, and his wife Shelley. NYC is a remarkable place and very walkable, if you don't mind your dogs barkin' by the end of the day.
I warned the others that my invisible bumper sticker said I Brake for Churches because I was fascinated by the continued existence of downtown churches in this centre for commerce and tourism. Even the biggest of churches such as St. Patrick's Cathedral are now dwarfed by the sea of glittering "mine is bigger than yours" office towers. What I discovered is that many of them are using exterior banners and signs with thought-provoking slogans to let the endless stream of passers-by know that they are living Christian communities, not anomalies from the historical past. Park Ave. United Church, seen above, has another banner saying: Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.
Even ministries for those such as the venerable evangelist Billy Graham make their presence felt in the midst of the glitz of Times Square.
Not long ago I walked around the exterior of the Bridge St. building with graphic designer daughter Jocelyn. She works for the Toronto International Film Festival which now rivals Cannes as the largest in the world. Rather than resting on their laurels they are constantly asking how they can get their message out to the public, including through their signage. She had lots of great ideas about Bridge St. but said that first we needed to consider what story we wanted to tell. She called it "branding" and while I baulk a little at the commercial term, surely we have to be willing to tell our present-day, time-and-place story of the Good News of Christ effectively. Just assuming that people will flock to us because of our history is a death wish. We might as well say we are a dinosaur exhibit at a museum rather than a living, breathing organism, the body of Christ.
Are you comfortable with using creative ways to let others know who we are? Should this be a strategy for every congregation with dollars attached to do the work?
8 comments:
As to your today's comments regarding signage I think that this is an excellent idea, and that is why we the UCW donated an exterior sign to tell people in Belleville all about Bridge St. Church and its activities
That sign was an important start, but there are so many other opportunities around the building. Gotta love the UCW!
I agree, David - we have to start thinking "outside the usual box" in many areas...
So many signs outside of churches are a joke. Where do they come up with such bad messages! I think signage, advertizing is a good thing, but make sure it is good.
Agreed Laurie. Either cornball or indicative of anger within.
I always feel that the Marantha sign speaks to me as I walk by it. There are always questions to ponder, ideas to contemplate and images to marvel at. Its messages are inspirational and memorable and appeal to a broader audience. To me it reflects a church community that is interested in interacting and engaging with the community from beyond the confines of their church building.
In addition to signage that invites and incites, I believe we should think of ways to enhance our BSC website. I was looking around for churches in the Dundas area, knowing that I will be spending more time there in the near future. (Research is internet driven these days!) I was specifically looking for churches with handbell choirs (of course) and ended up enthusiastically connecting with a specific church because of their website. Supplementing the “who we are, what we are about and our mission statement”, features such as online donations, online prayer requests, online petitions/actions/responses to local, national and global situations, Observer documentaries, an online bible, picture, video and audio galleries, a kid’s page, etc., reflect using social media as a tool that makes a statement about the church community’s desire to be current, active, engaging and very much alive.
Maranatha
oops
Great observations Connie.
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