We visited our "homeland" in Germany (Ostfriesland) recently and were told that what you see on the very top of most steeples there tells the tale as to what type of church it is.
Back in the 1500's when the Reformation came about, most of the churches in "our" part of Germany became either Evangelical Reformed or Evangelical Lutheran churches.
The people wanted everyone to know just which type of church was theirs, so the decision was made that all Lutheran churches had swans put on their steeples and all Reformed churches had roosters put on theirs
I have no idea where the goose came from, but everywhere we went, we could see one or the other of the specific birds up on their perches.
There are exceptions to the rule: One church that already had a swan, wanted to keep that swan, so they did. But everyone knows that, so it's OK.
The most remarkable thing for me is that my home church (Germantown Presbyterian Church) in South Dakota, had a rooster perched atop its steeple when I was a little girl. Of course, they built a new church in the 1950's I think and the rooster got lost in the shuffle.
It is a neat little detail - in Germany.
We visited our "homeland" in Germany (Ostfriesland) recently and were told that what you see on the very top of most steeples there tells the tale as to what type of church it is.
Back in the 1500's when the Reformation came about, most of the churches in "our" part of Germany became either Evangelical Reformed or Evangelical Lutheran churches. 
The people wanted everyone to know just which type of church was theirs, so the decision was made that all Lutheran churches had swans put on their steeples and all Reformed churches had roosters put on theirs
I have no idea where the goose came from, but everywhere we went, we could see one or the other of the specific birds up on their perches.
There are exceptions to the rule: One church that already had a swan, wanted to keep that swan, so they did. But everyone knows that, so it's OK.
The most remarkable thing for me is that my home church (Germantown Presbyterian Church) in South Dakota, had a rooster perched atop its steeple when I was a little girl. Of course, they built a new church in the 1950's I think and the rooster got lost in the shuffle.
It is a neat little detail - in Germany.
The Lutheran church has a swan because of the dying words of martyr John Huss. "Huss" means goose in his native tongue. His last words as he was burned at the stake "They will roast a goose now (for ‘Huss’ means ‘a goose’), but after a hundred years they will hear a swan sing, and him they will endure. This is the reason the swan was chosen to be atop the Lutheran steeple. I like for the true meaning to show through since this man lost his life for preaching the word of God.
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