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Hundreds or thousands of people might walk past your church’s external noticeboard every day. What does it tell them about your church? Does it look traditional, out-of-date, cutting edge - or is it simply falling down. What does that tell people about what kind of church yours is? Some good examples of how to use your noticeboards are in the book. Here are some more:
 This Portsmouth church (which had better remain anonymous!) had this empty, broken noticeboard standing outside for months. It suggested that the church was run-down, or perhaps even closed. They’ve now replaced it!
 The Church of the Resurrection in Farlington replaced its old-fashioned noticeboard with these signs, placed either side of the main entrance. The first thing to notice is the white lettering on a blue background, which makes it easier to read. They have also used the Church of England logo (top of picture, right) and their own parish logo (top of picture, below).
 There is a good use of symbols here. Family-friendly services are denoted by a symbol of a parent and child, and musical services denoted with a musical note (right hand side of picture, left).
There’s nothing too complicated about the services times here either: not too much about what happens on the First, Second, Third or Fourth Sundays of the months -
 Here’s a church that has included a lot of information on its noticeboard. St Mary’s, in Fratton, Portsmouth, included the diocesan crest, C of E logo and its own parish logo, as well as details of all Sunday services, contact details of clergy and office and other information. Again, the white lettering on a blue background is good, but is there may be too much information here for it to be easily read on the main road alongside it.
One of the principles in the book is that photos of people work much better than text, abstract images or photos of buildings in terms of giving people an idea of what you, as a worshipping community, actually stand for. Here’s a fantastic example from St Paul’s, Holgate, in York. These are all real people who go to this church. This photo has been turned into a banner which is hung outside the church. It’s on a main road, so anyone driving past can see that this is a group of normal-looking people of all ages. The tagline ‘A place to belong’ is also great. So many people assume they have to believe before they can belong to a congregation. This helps to emphasise that they can belong first.
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