Essential Ingredients for a Memorable Experience at Imagine Church

Before Imagine Church had its soft launch in September, Tyra and I had the experience of visiting different churches on Sunday mornings.  Churches are like people — there are no two identically alike. When I visit another church, I’m often looking for ideas to borrow or I’m evaluating.  In some churches we visited, like Elevation, I found many ideas worth borrowing.  In others, I also found there was much to evaluate.

Something I remember about one church was the smell.  Everything about it smelled . . . old.  In another church, what I first noticed was the clutter. Stuff was scattered everywhere.  Sunday School literature, Bibles, hymnals, umbrellas, a llama grazing on Cheerios in the corner.  The blinds on the windows were all pulled to varying heights.  The carpet needed replacing.  The bulletin boards all had outdated information tacked on them.  And no, there wasn’t really a llama in the corner.

I’m sure of this:  the people who gather in these churches on Sunday mornings have met there for so long they don’t see or smell these things the way I did as a guest on the particular Sunday I visited.  They no longer noticed the smell. The clutter had become invisible to them.  But a newcomer would notice these things immediately, and the message conveyed would be threefold:  1) We aren’t expecting guests; 2) What we are doing here is not that important; and 3) We don’t take pride in our church.

Every Sunday morning, people walk into Palisades Episcopal School for worship with Imagine Church.  They often determine whether or not they will return the following week before the preacher even opens his mouth.  It may not be fair, but I know it’s true.  The moral of this story:  Environment matters.  Let me suggest three things that can make our worship environment irresistible.

1.  Is the Setting Appealing?

I love taking my car to Volkswagen of South Charlotte for service. Somebody took the time to create an appealing setting for people to work in while they wait for their cars to be serviced.  There is a well-appointed living room, but also a bank of work stations with free wireless Internet,  a comfortable chair, and a power outlet.  I wonder if churches put as much thought into designing the worship space for guests on Sunday morning?

Let’s be creative enough to take the physical space available to us and make it comfortable, attractive, and appealing.  We know it’s important that our physical environment be as magnetic and irresistible as possible.

2.  What Are the First Impressions?

We only get one chance to make a first impression, but first impressions also convey a message.  If the setting is uncomfortable, it makes people uncomfortable!  If our church is disorganized in the places people can see, they will assume it’s even worse behind the scenes.  What’s true of organized is true of safe as well.  A children’s environment that appears safe communicates that we value our worshipers’ children just as we value our own.  Attention to detail communicates that we know our target audience, and that we took the time to investigate what would make them feel comfortable when they come to worship with us.

3.  Fresh Eyes

The longer you live somewhere, the more things tend to disappear in plain sight.  That’s why, from time to time, we all need to look at our ministry environments with a set of fresh eyes.  We must learn to see what our guests see before they do!  So I want you to know that you’re empowered to walk through our spaces at PES  on Sunday mornings with a critical eye.  What’s distracting?  What looks tired?  What needs to be put away or moved?  What can we do better?

In the final analysis, giving attention to these three things will be worth it.  When guests walk through our doors on Sunday morning, they will know that something significant is going on.  For some, they will know immediately that Imagine Church is a movement  they want to be a part of, and that they want their children to take part in.

So let’s take a look at our ministry environments, even while we’re in temporary quarters at the school.  They matter.  Let’s make them the very best  they can possibly be.