17 Feb Tips for Sharing Ministry Space – Part 8: Time for Decor – Portable Signage

This post is part of a series on how to share environment space with other ministry teams. It might also be helpful for children’s ministry leaders that work in a portable setting.

• Intro – Share and Share Alike
• Before Decor – Plan Together
• Before Decor – Communication
• Before Decor – Creating Agreements
• Time for Decor – Think Portable
• Time for Decor – Hanging Stuff Up
• Time for Decor – Shared or Movable Backdrops
• Time for Decor – Portable Signage
• Final Thoughts & Our New Space

Time for Decor!

SIGNAGE OR DECOR – HOW ABOUT BOTH?!

Signage is key to any environment. Signs and/or displays can offer direction, convey a message, and support teaching points. But, while signage usually has a specific function – that does not mean it needs to only be functional. With a little creativity, signage can also be a great element of decor. Yes. I know. I find a way to make everything a piece of decor! But the reality is that while most signs and displays have a specific purpose for hanging in a space, they can also be used to enhance the theme of an environment or tailor the space to the needs of a particular ministry.

WHITE BOARDS, MAGNETS AND MORE!

Being that we share space with other ministries, our signage must be portable. We can’t paint or hang things directly on the walls of our environment. Personally, I would love to have the 252 Basics – Basic Truth words (wisdom, faith, and friendship) painted directly on the walls of our environment in huge letters, but that would not work in a multi-purpose environment. In addition, our small group leaders like having certain information accessible to them visually (i.e. the weekly bottom line, monthly memory verse, Life App definition, and basic truths) with leading the kids through certain activities.

But again, since our environment is multi-purpose, we can’t have these things displayed on posters or anything that is affixed to the walls. As a result, we had to come up with a solution for how to display the information our leaders needed in such a way that it could be removed when we were done. We started out with options that “concealed” our information or could be removed completely, but have since moved to utilizing display boards that can be used across multiple environments.

Basic Truth Signage

For a long time, we had our basic truths hanging on large signage from the ceiling. These signs were portable. We intentionally hung them from the ceiling in a way that allowed us to quickly put them up and take them down each week. You can read about how we hang things from the ceiling here. When we moved away from our island theme we stopped using those signs and moved to just hanging the main word of the basic truth on the wall.

These signs are individual letters; mounted to a piece of wood that’s been painted the same color as the wall. When we want to remove the word, we lift the entire thing off the picture hanger in one piece, leaving behind a small nail that is hardly noticeable.

Life Apps, Memory Verses, Bottom Lines

For a while, we wrote the Life App for the month, the weekly bottom line, and the monthly memory verse on white boards that were designed with two side boards that were hinged as doors. The doors would close over the center board. This worked well because leaders had the visuals they needed while working with their groups, but we were able to close the doors when we were finished on Sunday morning, giving the display a more professional appearance when kids were not in the space. 

There is one thing to be aware of if you choose chalkboards or white boards to display information. You need someone with good handwriting to create the displays in each room that your boards are utilized – every month. While this is a great portable solution, it can become tedious.

When we re-tooled our environment, we’ve moved from white boards to hanging signage on stainless-steel magnetic boards. Around that same time, 252 Basics changed their language from “Virtue” to “Life App,” so we decided to capitalize on the app theme. We created app button visuals that have magnetic tape on the back. They define what is hanging on each board and then we print out the poster images from the Large Group Visuals to match the app button each week.

Everything we have hanging in our environment, whether it be signage on the wall or posters on magnetic boards is portable. The magnetic boards work nicely because every ministry team can use them for their specific environment. If you can hang it with magnets, it can be diplayed on the boards!

How do you hang things on the walls of your environments? Do you have any short-cuts or tips for how to hang things portably? Be sure to share your ideas in the comments below.