Churches using humorous signs to spread gospel
BY KATIE DREWS March 6, 2011 6:50PM
Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM
When the blizzard hit the Chicago area a few weeks ago, the Rev. Chris Gustafson changed the marquee outside his church in Niles to read: “Whoever is praying for snow, please stop.”
The Roman Catholic priest says he’s no comedian, but he often uses humor on the sign outside his parish to convey short spiritual messages to drivers and other passersby.
Right now his sign reads, “Under same management for 2000 years,” and next he plans to run, “Stop, drop and roll doesn’t work in hell.”
“My experience in life is that little things like that can be enough,” said Gustafson, pastor of Our Lady of Ransom at 8300 N. Greenwood. “If somebody’s having a hard time ... it’s a little tool that can hopefully reach them.”
A number of other pastors in the region use the same approach with their signage, usually as an attempt to connect with the community.
The Rev. Dan Marler, pastor of the First Church of God at 4600 W. 111th St. in Oak Lawn, said creativity is key.
“There are too many sources vying for everybody’s attention these days,” he said. “If you are communicating to anyone in our day, you have to figure out how to cut through the clutter — even if you are a church on the side of the road.”
For the past 18 years, Marler has been pastor, he has been writing his own one-liners, such as “God loves people who drive on 111th Street.”
On the North Side, the Rev. Bill Shereos, senior pastor at First Evangelical Free Church, 5255 N. Ashland, has posted messages such as “If you’re looking for a sign from God, here it is” and “Sign broken, message inside.”
Though many people don’t associate religion with comedy, humor can actually play an important role in faith, the church leaders said.
“Some people think when you are dealing with religion and churches and all that, it is very serious and needs to be taken seriously all the time,” Marler said. “I still think there’s room for humor.”
Shereos said it’s not about taking God lightly, but trying to get people to lighten up.
“Often times we have this resistance to spiritual messages,” he said. “But if we can relax, sometimes we can let those messages in, and humor has the potential to bring down those defenses that we put up.”
But can the entertainment level ever go too far?
All the pastors said they try to keep the messages appropriate. Marler said he knows some parishioners who came to the church initially because of his signs, but he has also gotten about a dozen anonymous letters over the years criticizing his playfulness.
On the Internet, some people poked fun at First Evangelical for its sign, “Jesus loves little children,” but Shereos said it was misunderstood.
Overall, Donald Seitz, who has authored three books on church signs across the country, said he was amazed by how many people have been moved by the words on a marquee.
“Usually in 10 words or less, they are communicating a very powerful message to someone who, at the most, has 10 seconds to read it and drive by,” he said. “But those messages seem to have an impact for a long duration. They encourage us to live better lives and to pray more often.”
ChicagoReligionNews.com
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