Ten Tips For Open Churches

Following on from yesterday's post about why churches should be kept open, here are ten tips for open churches.

1 Get a sign. Don’t keep it a secret that the church is open. The unsure visitor may not bother to walk down a path if they expect the church to be locked. This is especially important if your main door is not visible from the road.

2 Engage children. Have something for younger visitors to do. It might be a trail round the church, or just some colouring-in. If you have a children’s area for Sundays, make sure it’s presentable and clean. A young family visiting is unlikely to return on a Sunday if all there is on offer for their kids is some tired soft toys and curled up colouring-in covered in bat droppings.

3 Promote a living church. If you have a guidebook or leaflet, or information points around the church, make sure they include information what happens in church. For example, use the font to tell the visitor about Christian baptism. Literature that is exclusively about history and architecture gives the impression that the building is a museum to a dead religion, not a living community of faith.

4 Encourage prayer. Have somewhere people can light a candle or leave a prayer request. Provide resources for people to pray round the church, inviting them onto a journey of discovery. Avoid having only a side chapel set aside for prayer; this gives the impression that the rest of building is just a tourist attraction. Turn your tourists into pilgrims.

5 Be open as much as possible, and have consistent opening times. Nothing is more off-putting than ‘St Swithun’s is open every other Wednesday between April and September from 10.30am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm, except when there is a full moon.’

6 Invite people to join you on a Sunday. Advertise your service times, and give people an idea of what to expect. Include photographs of what the church looks like when it’s being used for worship. Remember that your visitor might be doing a recce for a Sunday.

7a Make it easy to donate... A contactless donation point is a must for visitors who don’t carry cash, and you’re more likely to get a donation of £5, rather than the 37p of loose change in someone’s pocket. If power or internet connection is an issue, then provide a QR code so people can give online. Give people the option to GiftAid.

7b … But don’t guilt-trip your guest. Ask for donations sensitively. Remember your visitor is your guest. Don’t make your fundraising target the first thing your visitor encounters, and don’t guilt-trip them into donating. Remember your visitor might be a potential new member of the congregation. A notice which says it costs £40,000 a year to keep the church running, and that the burden of this falls on a small and ageing congregation, is going to a massive turn-off for anyone wanting to become part of your church family.

8 Have a Visitors’ Book. Not only does this give you a sense of how many people are visiting, but, more importantly, it gives the visitor the opportunity to make a connection with the church they have visited, either by commenting on the beauty of peace of the place, or by noting the reason they have visited.

9 Promote a safer church. Show your visitor that you take safeguarding seriously, and this is a place which is safe. Go the extra mile and provide helpful phone numbers (e.g. domestic abuse helpline, Samaritans, Childline) for people who might have come seeking refuge.

10 Be hospitable. If you can, provide facilities for visitors to make a hot drink. Leave out biscuits. Accommodate people with gluten, dairy or caffeine intolerances or allergies. If you’re able to, leave the loo open, with sanitary disposal facilities.

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13.2