SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
That God might have a sense of humour and use it to ramp up church attendance would be an abomination to those think religon is supposed to be serious.

Rachel Makohoniuk stands with her most recent sign at the Calvary Community Church on Franklin Avenue. Makohoniuk has been involved in spicing up the church signs with compelling and sometimes humorous messages for about two and a half years. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

At the Calvary Community Church, however, Yellowknifers coming to and from the downtown know that effective sign messaging can at least make one stop and think about life. Sometimes it is with a chuckle but other times, as with last month, it makes one reflect on the ironies of ethical practice.

"Christmas - a story about a Middle East family seeking refuge," read the sign, which was in clear reference to the Syrian refugee crisis.

Rachel Makohoniuk, a member of the church for seven years took on the role of making the signs about two and a half years ago. Until this time she has not revealed her approach to making the signs.

"It is a great location because so many people work downtown and so many people see it," she said.

"Before I got involved in this sign, I liked the Church of Christ (on Range Lake Road) sign because they have put up signs that make you think. Whenever I would visit friends in that area, I would look forward to seeing it.

"So I thought if I am thinking about the sign at the Church of Christ, imagine how many people would be thinking about our sign."

Makohoniuk said some of the responses she has gotten have been amazing. As president of the Yellowknife Guild of Arts and Crafts, she said while teaching pottery one night she heard one student going on about the sign.

"I had a student just randomly start talking about the sign at the church not knowing I was involved whatsoever," she said. "She said 'I don't believe in God and I don't believe it is true, but I kind of like the signs and I look forward to them.' That is good and that is why I do it - to get people thinking about different topics and different things."

Makohoniuk said she probably puts a sign up about every month, but often it depends on what is happening in current events or what is inspiring her at the time of season. In June 2014, as summer was coming, she put up one sign that noted the negativity of mosquito season.

"It was at the beginning of June and you start to remember why summer isn't awesome all the time. So I put up 'I Wish Noah had swatted those two mosquitoes.'"

The sign attracted a number of admirers including Mayor Mark Heyck who posted a photo of the sign. It received over 200 likes and 163 shares.

Later that year, during the 2014 Grey Cup in support of the Saskatchewan Roughriders she put up a sign reading "God doesn't have favourites but our pastor does. Go Riders!" The sign was subsequently put on the Roughriders webpage and received thousands of likes.

Makohoniuk said she makes an effort to be sensitive to the church's image as it is easy to Google "inappropriate church signs" to see how the idea can go over the top.

"People give me suggestions and generally do enjoy them," she said of her church's reaction. "If (my ideas) are too edgy, I will run it past some people to make sure it is appropriate. I don't want to offend anyone and (be) appropriate for our church." Karen Pryznyk, church council chair said the signs have been effective in being "topical and engaging."

"We haven't asked people if they start coming to our church because of our sign but that is possible," she said." It does provide the basic information about our church service time if people want to come. "We just want to give people something to think about as they drive or walk past ... maybe give them a smile."