Are you looking for some tips for how to create an inviting atmosphere at your church for visitors? There are a number of ways to create an inviting atmosphere! However, if you boil them all down, there are some keys factors that your church may want to consider:
Cleanliness
Keeping your campus makes a difference! Most visitors don’t like to go places that are dirty. That includes all of your spaces – worship center, foyer, bathrooms, kids rooms, etc. Make sure you schedule ministry programs, events, and outside reservations in a way that you can maintain a clean space for the whole week.
Depending on your church budget, you may want to consider hiring an outside cleaning company. Another option would be to recruit a special team of volunteers to keep your building clean during the week. Your evening event that goes until 9pm means that a cleaning crew may need to get in there later that night or early in the morning on the next day, depending on the campus schedule for the week!
Simple Layout
When designing or adding on to your campus, create a simple layout that is easy to understand and navigate. Consider different factors like the square footage needed for your foyer compared to the seating capacity of the worship center.
Place the early childhood rooms just around the corner from the worship center. The young moms will appreciate it! When choosing where to put seating and tables, make sure there is plenty of room for traffic flow. Plus, don’t forget…
Good Signage
Create signage that is attractive and simple – that way, someone walking by and taking 0.5 seconds to read it will be able to quickly determine if they want to stop and spend another few seconds to read it. On your church campus, signage should help with:
- Directions: Signage should point people in the right direction to get to their next location. This signage should start from the moment they pull off the road to enter your campus, until they reach their final destination – worship center, kids rooms, bible study rooms, etc. Often, signs will need to include multiple rooms listed with arrows pointing to those locations, so people know where to go next.
- Information: Signage should show people where to go for visitor information, next steps information, etc. Since visitors aren’t familiar with your church campus, make sure the visitor information location has signage that is very easy to see once they walk in your front doors. For next steps information, whether it is a table, station, or wall display, make it a visible location with signage that is clearly visible as people begin to leave your campus. You want to catch them somewhere between the worship center and the exit doors, preferably closer to the worship center.
- Promotion: Signage should help advertise your worship services, ministry programs, events, etc. While you have to be careful to not “overpromote” by putting signs everywhere, strategically placed signage in the entryways, in the bathrooms, and other places can be quite helpful to visitors to gain a quick glimpse of what is going on at your church.
Placement is also important when considering how to implement good signage at your church. Identify places where people need to know information. Also, where they are most likely to see something? Go take a walk, starting from the road outside your church, and see if you can view your church through a visitor’s eyes. Would they know where to go? What signage would be most helpful to them?
If you’ve been at the church for more than six months, then this could be a challenge. Fresh eyes are extremely valuable, so consider asking a friend or a recent hire to assess your church signage.
First Impressions Team
Building a volunteer team for your first impressions ministry is another way to create an inviting atmosphere at your church for visitors! Also, building a first impressions team will go a long way towards making your visitors feel welcome.
Recruit volunteers who are extremely friendly and are able to assist visitors with their questions. It is helpful to have a location for first-time visitors to stop by, like a “Guest Central” or “First Time Visitors Desk.” Make sure you add a sign that says “First Time Visitor? Start Here!” to really draw in the first time visitors. You may also consider adding tour guides to assist them in navigating the campus their first time around.
Don’t forget, having friendly door greeters will go a long way too! Visitors are asking themselves if this is a friendly church. How they are greeted (assuming someone says hi to them at all) is critical to them being willing to get to know your church at a deeper level. Their first few minutes on your campus may determine if they ever come back!
Design of Campus
It doesn’t matter if your church has a large budget or a small budget. For your building space, the goal should be for your church building design to fit the look of the surrounding community. You don’t want to have a super nice building in a run-down area, and you also don’t want a cheap-looking space in a really nice area of town. By matching the design of your community, people will feel comfortable in your church because it resembles the other places where they spend the rest of their time.
If you are fortunate enough to be designing a new campus, adding on to a campus, or renovating a campus, then consider a few important touches that could help create an inviting atmosphere for visitors:
- Ample parking spaces
- Easy to find main entrance
- A spacious foyer with room to talk and visit with others
- Refreshments in the foyer area
- Plenty of seating in the worship center
If your church doesn’t have a physical location that you own, then consider finding a venue that provides the best possible fit to the factors listed above.
There are many different strategies for how to create an inviting atmosphere at your church for visitors. However, these essential tips will help you get started with creating that inviting atmosphere for visitors! If you have several growth areas that you’ve identified, start by working on them, one at a time. Before you know it, you’ll have that inviting atmosphere that you’ve envisioned.
