This Minneapolis pastor uses his church sign to spread joy — part dad joke, part holy missive

The Rev. Doug Donley hauled out his tub of worn plastic letters. It was time to make a new message.

He opened the door of the old-fashioned wooden sign in front of University Baptist Church in Minneapolis and, letter by letter, removed the phrase: "Mi casa es su casa — Jesus." Then, he added new lines, fit for February in Minnesota: "We want justice not just ice."

For a decade, Donley has been mastering a very specific craft: the witty church sign. Like pastors across the state and the country, he's dedicated to sharing his ministry on his analog message board. Part social justice haiku, part dad joke, part holy missive, his messages are designed to strike a chord with passersby.

"We feel like we're spreading a little bit of light out there, which is always good news," he said.

While his Dinkytown church has become known as "the one with the sign," "topical church signs," as Donley calls them, have grown in popularity over the past few decades here and nationwide. They've inspired coffee table photo books like the 2009 "Church Signs Across America" (which included a Fairmont, Minn., church's sign that read, "Is the Son in your eye?") and fueled social media accounts and #churchsign posts dedicated to sharing the funniest "sentence sermons" or calling out the cringeworthy.

Many follow a preachy-but-punny formula — giving a little poke at human behavior and suggesting Jesus' leadership. The man who wrote the book (actually, he's compiled five of them, starting with 2000's "701 Sentence Sermons") on pithy church signs, L. Jim Harvey of Michigan, has collected thousands of sayings that fall in this category. His personal favorite: "Give all you can. Because no one ever saw a hearse pulling a U-Haul."

Donley uses his sign a little differently. He aims to spark a smile and spread the good word, sure, but he also tries to communicate his church's liberal views to passersby and weigh in on issues and current events. He knows that many people wrongly assume all Baptists follow a conservative set of beliefs. He said his sign can counter that, and maybe draw new parishioners who connect with its messages.

"The way that we see God is all about justice and mercy and compassion," said Donley. "And we're all about inclusion and offering hope."

After the Supreme Court narrowly decided in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, the sign at University Baptist read, "Jesus would have baked the cake and danced at the wedding."

His sign also often reflects a very Minnesotan obsession with weather as well as Donley's own musical passions — reading simply, "Respect" to honor Aretha Franklin in 2018, and "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together to get through this thing called life" after Prince died.

"They pretty much come to me quickly," Donley said about his messages. "And also, those of us who have signs like this, we're checking each other's Instagram and Facebook feeds. And if we see a really good sign somewhere else, we'll totally steal it. It's actually not called stealing. It's called sharing resources."

His signs have included an Easter text message: "YOLO JK BRB — JC." (You Only Live Once. Just Kidding. Be Right Back — Jesus Christ). Weather jokes: "Spring is reloading … thanks for your patience — the management." And puns for the faithful: "Joseph, this is not my idea of 'stable' housing — Mary."

Donley previously used the sign only to share the title of his Sunday sermon. But he decided to use it to try to reach more people, in part because "it got too dang cold to change the sign every week."

Now he'll leave a message up for a few weeks, until inspiration strikes again.

"We found we could be a lot more provocative by saying something intriguing or funny to make you stop and think. And so that's what we've been trying to do," he said.

Author Harvey thinks every church should have a "sign ministry," even though he knows "there are some pastors who think it's kind of corny to do that."

Not Donley, who likes to quote author Anne Lamott's description of laughter as "carbonated holiness."

"I think your faith should be taken very, very seriously," he said. "But we can become so jaded sometimes that we need to have some humor."