Sentence Sermons - part 2

In his book "701 Sentence Sermons", L. James Harvey gives several excellent tips for excellent text for church signs and wherever else the church uses that sentence sermon -- see Sentence Sermons - part 1.

Below are are a few tips based on Volume 1 of Harvey's book.

• Condense the English.
  You don't need to include every word of every saying or quote. You can even rearrange the messages to better fit the sign. Most signs have only 3 to 5 lines for brief text.
• Consider line breaks.
• Decide what wording makes the separate lines read better. Revise the wording as needed, but keep the meaning clear.
• Use a line break for natural speach pauses.
• Use a line break for most commas.
• Consider the speed of passing cars.
Even passengers in a moving car have only a few short seconbds to read and understand the entire message.
• Consider your church's theogical views.
  Don't use sentence sermons that run contrary to your church's views.

Communion: Eat. Pray. Love.

Sometimes we can get spiritual messages from the world around us. That's what happened to me recently. While reading "701 Sermon Sentences" ideas, a possible church sign message related to communion popped into my head ...

COMMUNION -
EAT PRAY LOVE

You could even add a tag such as "Join us Sunday". The message is accurate, relates to the modern world, and is spiritual.

We don't really give much communications "push" to Communion. Maybe we should! Perhaps we  could develop a graphic and then add color posters or flyers (mini-posters) around the church "advertising" Communion in addition to using the words on the church sign that week. That's how the above graphic was born.

If we treat a "Communion Sunday" as one at which we expect lower attendance, it will likely happen. What would happen if we instead treated and advertised a Communion Sunday as a special one.

This reasoning does not exactly fit those few churches that have Communion every Sunday, of course. But in any case, perhaps we shouold "advertise" communion better.

Sentence Sermons - part 1

When I cruised through a local Cokesbury store, I noticed a paperback titled, "701 Sentence Sermons" by L. James Harvey. The cover showed a church sign. After a quick skim, I added the book to a small pile for the checkout.

Harvey stresses that the book is about a lot more than just church signage. He coined the phrase "sentence sermons" because he says that church signage should be short sermons. Also, he didn't title the book about church signs because he strongly encourages churches to use the sign "sentence sermons" in several ways, not just on signs.

In our modern multimedia world, some churches give less importance to the non-computer, non-video variety of media that is available. But excellence in communications means that churches need to employ a wide variety of media.

Types of "sentence sermons"

• Advertising of upcoming events (keep to a bare minimum, Harvey says).
• Bible-oriented messages.
• Wisdom messages [a famous quote, for example]. These may reach a currently unchurched person better than quoting scripture.

Places to use "sentence sermons"

• On the church roadside sign (duh!).
• In church staff email sigs.
• In Sunday bulletins.
• In church newsletters.
• In a tweet.
• In a blog entry.
• In sermons!
• As a teaser in an ad.
• [your idea here].

If you have a church sign that allows for messages, you may also want to pull ideas from Volumes 2, 3 and 4 of this Sentence Sermons series by L. James Harvey.

Another book that looks interesting is "Signs for These Times" by Ronald Glusenkamp. That one includes chapters oriented on themes and seasons. The book also includes a topic an scripture index. That could come in very handy for finding a sentence sermon that relates to an upcoming Sunday sermon.

Sermon planning
Sermon planning should include planning sentence sermons. Plant them on the church sign, in email sigs, and in the bulletin. Then watch them bear fruit.

Ask congregation members to suggest a brief "sentence sermon" about the Sunday sermon. Post an accepted idea on the church sign for the next week. Then announce (in church or in the Sunday Bulletin or newsletter or news blog) whose idea it was.