Churches and other places of worship and signage have a long history. This is due to the essential nature of the relationship between signage and churches where signs have over the years helped build, inform, and even at times amuse their congregation. In our blog today we will be discussing the relationship with churches and signs, how signs can be effectively used to help places of worship, and some of the most popular sign types at play with today’s churches.
Why Do Churches Rely On Signage?
Churches and other houses of worship rely on signage to help share information with their present and future congregation. That can include information such as the churches location, service times, and any other specific news or items that may need to be relied. Does a church for instance have a visiting pastor or a special service for Easter? That information can all be relayed to congregants on a sign.
What Should Be Included On A Church Sign?
Whether you have a digital church sign or a static monument-style church sign, you will likely want to incorporate a few key items including the church’s name, a logo if you have one, your street address, and perhaps a few words that inform potential parishoners a little about the church. If you have a smaller sign you may want to focus solely on the name and the logo. If you have a digital sign or an interchangeable readerboard then you can showcase a significant amount of messages that can change overtime. These digital signs is typically not where you would incorporate items you’d want permanently placed on your monument sign that often is around or connected to the EMC.
How Have Church Signs Changed Over the Years?
Church signs up until the advent of digital signage predominantly consisted of interchangeable readerboard signs often by the road in front of the church. These signs allowed parish leaders to customize the message as needed by manually interchanging the leaders on the sign to convey the message they needed to share at that time. Though these church signs have become increasingly surpassed by more modern EMCs (Electronic Message Centers), there are still a number of churches who rely on their readerboard signage to reach parishoners.
What Benefits Do Digital Signs (EMCs) Provide for Churches?
EMCs, otherwise known as Electronic Message Centers, are digital displays that provide churches the ability to more quickly and ably adapt their messaging to reach parishoners. Likewise these signs also can allow for graphics to be incorporated in manners that were not previously possible with readerboard signs. If you want to for instance showcase a Trunk-or-Treat event for Halloween you can add your text along with perhaps fall leaves or colors into your message. Each digital display varies both in their functionality and their cost; however, overall these have increasingly become popular tools for more churches as they strive to stand out amongst the many other signs we see on the road.
Why Do Some Churches Use Signage for Funny Sayings and Humor?
You may have driven by a church in your area, perhaps even one you attend, and seen a saying such as “This is your sign to come to church.” You perhaps chuckled and most likely later in the day you remembered that sign. That’s largely the point as some churches have embraced signs as an opportunity to provide some good humor, while also getting you to think about church itself. Though not all churches lean into such messaging, and even those that do they may not use quips constantly and instead interchange these messages with more routine announcements, it has increasingly become a popular way to use signage to stand apart while also perhaps imparting a moment of humor or wisdom into a passerby’s day.
(Humorous church signs have been so popular that a website in 2003 (now defunct) created a tool to develop quippy church sign images.)
Who Can Service My Digital Church Sign?
Our Ortwein Sign service team can help you with your digital signage needs! Though digital signs vary our team has expertise with a variety of EMC manufacturers and we can work to assist to the best of our abilities getting your EMC back up and working for you if it is out of commission. Give us a call at (423) 867-9208 or visit www.OrtweinSign.com/Contact-Us to request service for your signage today!