Billboards for the Spiritual Journey

At our annual fall retreat in 2003, Friends from Harrisburg Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania focused on outreach. One Friend shared an image that came to him of a billboard, with a message on it, inviting folks to attend a Quaker meeting.

After several Friends recovered from a mild case of apoplexy, the idea was referred to the Worship Committee. Some Friends probably were hoping the idea would be seasoned and eventually end up in one of our many Quaker graveyards.

But Spirit was moving: Friends did their homework, and costs were determined. The meeting approved moving forward, if we could secure a grant from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. The yearly meeting was very excited about the project, and we received $5,000.

Suddenly, we were like the dog that had chased a car and caught it! We had money but no message, so Friends were encouraged to submit ideas for the billboard. What do we do next? What message did we want to convey? Which of the Quaker testimonies should we lift up? What makes Quakers unique?

We had twenty suggestions. We concluded that as a faith group we have no monopoly on working for peace. Similarly, many churches value simplicity, integrity, community and equality too. Finally two messages were approved by the meeting. One was about silent worship, and the other celebrated Pennsylvania as the birthplace of Quaker settlements in America.

Each billboard appeared for two months, near our meetinghouse in the city of Harrisburg. They were highly visible to thousands of motorists every day. The billboard that read: “On a Spiritual Journey? Please Join Us in Silent Worship” has since spawned bumper stickers, signs on and in buses, vinyl banner in three different sizes on our property, and t-shirts.

This outreach campaign has attracted seven people. One of our first “billboard visitors” was a woman who had been telling herself for years that she needed to get to a Quaker meeting. She said she was waiting for a sign. She probably was looking for something more subtle than a billboard, but conceded that maybe it took a billboard to end her procrastination! She has become a convinced Friend and is very active in committee work. Her membership alone was worth $5,000—and the soul searching we went through as a meeting to unite on a message was priceless.

Don Owen lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and is a member of Harrisburg Monthly Meeting (PYM). He is a teacher, facilitator and lawyer and has been practicing law and teaching law related subjects since 1971. He may be contacted at donowenesq@aol.com.