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
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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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