From: "Clergy Mailing List" <>
To: CLM2 <>
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 23:35:54 +1000
Subject: CLM 833 Body Language of Your Church

Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 833                        (Longer)

Ministry Perspectives: # 38/42

by Revd John Simpson,
(General Superintendent, Baptist Union of Victoria, Australia) 

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THE BODY LANGUAGE OF YOUR CHURCH
--------------------------------

Silly as it may seem, most people already have formed a few ideas
about your church before they ever go on site.  And they will form
a few more should they manage a visit to a service.  The body
language of your building speaks with great clarity and the
messages conveyed may not necessarily bring you much comfort.   

Surprisingly little thought seems to be given in many churches to
the way the church building appears to the community.  While much
effort is directed into making services meaningful, seeker
sensitive services do not necessarily lead to seeker sensitive
facilities.   

Visitors Look Through Different Eyes

It is the old story.  How we see our own home is very different
from the way visitors see it. Familiarity blinds us to the letter
box perched on a tangent, or the front door which needs a coat of
paint, or the cat's scratch marks on the lounge, or the kids shoes
and bags all over the floor: ordinary things we simply accept as
being "hallmarks of our place."  But the visitors notice without
prompting.  They see it all with a different set of eyes.   

And so it is with your church.  Familiarity blinds us to our church
building "hallmarks" which are painfully obvious to the visitor.
Examples?  There is no shortage of them.  Take the special church
display board still detailing the Christmas Carol Service in March.
Either this church is way behind the pace or getting the message
out early.  Most observers will conclude the church lacks speed.   

Or take the church bus which picks up young people for Sunday
School and youth group.  The church's name is in full view, well
almost, apart from layers of mud and grime which are part of the
presentation. No one can remember when it was last washed.  What
kind of body language is that?  

Notice Boards and Other Considerations

How about the common oversight amply demonstrated on many church
notice boards? Although the new pastor was inducted last year some
time, the church board faithfully  provides information about the
previous pastor who has been long gone.  Quite apart from being of
no practical help now, it is as if the new pastor has not arrived
yet.  Well, about as helpful as failing to show the new service
times.  It is a bit embarrassing when visitors show up early (or
late). We should fix it; make sure we put that on the next agenda
for the deacons.  

But there is yet more.  Many notice boards are amateurish, dull,
poorly maintained, badly located and hard to read except for
pedestrians with 20/20 vision.   In these days of professional
presentations, many church notice boards belong to the 1950's.  And
when alterations are made, they are sometimes done in a style or
colour different from the rest of the lettering on the board. These
may be low cost up dates but will not impress the curious. Such
boards happily portray a congregation unintentionally presenting
itself as being out of touch with the interests, needs and
expectations of contemporary Australians.  They are wonderfully
effective exercises in mis-communication.  

Now if they care to look beyond the notice board and the church
bus, your visitor may see a lawn which is badly in need of a mow.
One church creatively solved the problem by having a resident sheep
tethered in the church yard: not as noisy as a motor mower although
there were other draw backs.  But if the lawn is a jungle and the
garden beds over run with weeds, you cannot blame a visitor for
concluding that these people don't care too much for what they are
about.  If you add in guttering which is falling off the roof line,
or down pipes which have worked loose, or badly peeling paint then
you have a church with a serious self esteem problem.  

The Hurdles Which Lie in Wait for the New Player

Now, let's imagine that our visitor (blessed with remarkable
fortitude) has actually made it to the foyer.  Their chances of
getting inside are still marginal.  They will need to scramble over
a mountain of notices about conferences which are now past, various
papers which no one has bothered to distribute (but which are
effectively hiding the visitors' book) and semi historic letters
from "full time" workers in para church outfits or far flung
places.  Unclaimed offering envelope packs sit idly by a sea of old
weekly bulletins.  

Somewhere not too far away there will be a map of the world with
coloured, fraying ribbons - some connected to the map by drawing
pins, others hanging loosely.  The latter used to connect
photographs of missionary heroes with their supposed global
location.  But don't do too much research here.  You may be hard
put to find anybody who is really sure where those ribbons should
attach to the map.  Some of those missionaries have either switched
to other endeavours or retired but no one got around to removing
their photos.  The Missionary Committee will be fixing this up
before too long we're told.  

If you are really hospitable, you will point out to your keen
visitor to take care as they walk down the aisle.  The carpet was
laid about the time Noah tied up at Mount Ararat.  It is a bit of a
joke for the locals except when the unsuspecting go head over
turkey.  It is a mystery why the carpet was not pensioned off a
while back.  But it is one of those perennial chest nuts: do we fix
up the carpet or threaten our outreach budget?  Tough call this
one.   

Well, they made it to a pew but they won't be sleeping. Those pews
have been keeping the neighbourhood chiropractor in the latest
Volvo for many a day.  Perfectly designed to ruin a good morning.
Fortunately no one has seen fit to provide cushions. It would be
such a shame and, besides, it would spoil the ambience of the
building.  Out of place.  A concession to the flesh.  

Take a good look at the pulpit.  Now there's a fortress for you.
Sure, we hold the preached word central to our tradition but this
is really something else: genuine all round protection for the
preacher.  An earthquake nudging ten on the Richter scale would not
damage this one.  If the Titanic had been built this way, the
iceberg would have bounced. Instead of bringing the Word close to
the people and their needs, this pulpit places it in a cold and
distant world altogether.  

Old Churches and New Churches

It's true that older churches generally face more problems with
maintenance and find it harder to send good body talk to visitors
and passers by.  But more recent buildings may have problems too.
Some architectural styles date faster than others and today's
modern structure may be tired in a decade or two and in need of
serious surgery.  While the newer churches have mostly done much
better with their notice boards, their gardens and overall layout,
many lack adequate signage within the facilities.   

Oddly, your average visitor will navigate happily around the car
park at the local shopping centre and go to water in a strange
church car park (a special blessing for larger churches) or in
nearby streets.  People seem to be on edge in getting to a church
for the first time: they look for signs which are often not there.
It is an unspoken invitation to confusion.  Is there a special park
for visitors?  Where is the entrance to the foyer in relation to
this spot in the park?  What are the unwritten rules, the parking
do's and don'ts?  Whose spot am I taking? What's the culture here?
The locals don't think twice.  Not so for the new arrival.  

And it is just as easy to be disoriented in a new church as in an
older one but for the opposite reason.  Where the older foyers tend
to produce claustrophobia, the new ones offer a reasonable
opportunity for losing your bearings.  Add in a few extra passage
ways, doors and smaller halls and you could easily end up in the
rest room simply through following the wrong crowd.  A worrying
possibility unless the bladder is making its presence felt.  

With all those seats (in the sanctuary, not the church loo), where
do you sit?  Whose seat might this be?  Will the sound be
acceptable, the view satisfactory?  The seats appear comfortable so
that's a plus.  They're using a screen so at least there is no need
to fumble with a hymn book. Ah, an usher.  I have found a safe
place after all that driving around the car park, after the
unexpected detour to the toilet, after finding the right door.  Let
the service begin.  Out of confusion, order comes.  

Meet the Environmental Enhancement Team

How do we get the church building and surrounds to tell the right
story? Who is going to fine tune the pitch?  It takes a dedicated
group to pull it off: the really special people in the congregation
are the hedge clippers, the lawn mowers, the gardeners, the sign
writers, the rubbish removers, the cleaners, the fix-it people who
can tackle anything and everything with minimum drama and little
prompting.  They may not be the up front identities but their
contribution is just as strategic.  

This crowd of behind-the-scenes workers merit a lot more attention
and affirmation than they normally receive.  The working bee to
tidy up the church environs complements the worship leader, the
service planner and the preacher.  When a church appoints an
Evangelism Committee, they also need an active, committed
Environmental Enhancement Team as well. You can't have one without
the other.  

Are You Running a Funeral Parlour?

So what is the message your church building is sending out quietly
every day?  Have you been for a walk around your property lately to
look at it through a visitor's eyes?  Have you driven past it in
the traffic?  What conclusions might people be reaching about your
identity, your mission and the way you value it?  Let's hope they
are positive.  If there is a chance that they are otherwise, it is
time to act.   

Just one more consideration.  Do those who drive by every day
actually know you are there? Some churches which have bothered to
research their neighbourhood regarding the visibility of their
building are often dismayed to discover that their building is seen
as just another....building. Not even a church.  In one case, a
neighbour thought the church was actually a funeral parlour. Now
there's a non verbal message for you.   

Listen carefully to your church's body talk.  Many others are.  You
may be in for a surprise or two!  

- John Simpson 

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