The sign in front of the building reads “Blessed Ramadan.”

“We are a welcoming, caring, respectful community,” said a member of the council.

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But the building isn’t a mosque or Islamic Center — it’s Pilgrim Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ congregation in Duluth, Minnesota. And Pilgrim isn’t the only Christian congregation in Minnesota wishing its Muslim neighbors well during Islam’s holy month, when believers fast from sunup to sundown.

The Blessed Ramadan campaign was organized by the Minnesota Council of Churches, which has 25 members representing a number of denominations and synods across the state, including the Church of God in Christ, the National Baptist Convention, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

“In Minnesota, there has been a significant amount of Islamophobia, and yet that is not who we are in Minnesota. We are a welcoming, caring, respectful community,” said Jerad Morey, program and communications director for the council.

The signs are a public gesture of goodwill, Morey said, at a time when Muslim-Americans need a gesture of goodwill.

By the time Ramadan began Sunday evening (June 5), the council already had distributed close to 1,000 signs and ordered another 1,000. Councils in other states like Kentucky, Ohio, New York, and Washington have also promoted the campaign, he added.

The Rev. Jennifer Amy-Dressler of Pilgrim said the Duluth congregation has been intentional in learning more about its Muslim neighbors.

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On Friday, one member told Amy-Dressler about the signs available for download or purchase on the Minnesota Council of Churches website, which read: “To our Muslim neighbors / Blessed Ramadan / blessedramadan.org.”

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By that evening, the church had printed a sign to place on its lawn and others for its congregants to take home and display in their windows, the pastor said.

It felt like an important gesture, given the growing Islamophobia across the country, she said. And earlier this year, the mayor of neighboring Superior, Wisconsin, had defended a comment he made on a friend’s Facebook page, referring to President Obama as Muslim and saying he had “destroyed the fabric of democracy that was so very hard fought for.”

Obama has spoken openly about his Christian faith.

Especially because of incidents like that, Amy-Dressler said, “We wanted to make sure we were putting out a positive message.”

The Minnesota Council of Churches also referenced negativity against Muslims, “from neighborhood hate crimes to campaign rhetoric,” like presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. And, Morey noted, “Islamophobia and anecdotes of Muslims feeling persecuted seem to be increasing in our social networks.”

In addition to creating the signs, the council is also organizing Taking Heart interfaith iftar meals, when Muslims break the day’s Ramadan fast, for the 10th year with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.

This article originally appeared in Religion News Service.