Visitor's Perspective

Your people make a difference. Pastors, staff, volunteers and your entire congregation represent your church in the community. The words they say and the way they act communicate something about who you are as an organization. When others interact with them, they are forming an opinion about your church based on those people, even if they’ve never visited your building, or seen your brochure or website.

A damaged tree in my front yard really enforced this idea that any single person can...

Visiting your website should feel like stepping onto your church’s property. This is especially true when you’re thinking about catering to a first time visitor.  It’s been said by many folks, including myself, that your church’s website is your new front door.  So here are a few things you can do to make your site a little more visitor friendly. 

• Spread out the information.  You don’t cram all of the stuff in your church into one room, right?  Well, you shouldn’t squeeze every piece of...

There’s a grocery chain with stores near my house and work that I’ve boycotted on and off for the last several years.  It has nothing to do with their politics, prices or selection.  Instead it all comes down to customer service. 

I’m reminded of a concept I first learned about from Phil Cooke.  Basically anyone in your organization can be your brand at any moment. 

Sometimes the brand at the moment for the grocery chain is the customer service worker who’s more focused on a conversation...

My dad and I shop in different ways.  While we’re both Apple kind of guys, where we buy those slick looking devices differs. You see, even though we live in different states, we share something about our locations. For both of us Best Buy is the closest electrics retailer and the nearest Apple Store is about 30 minutes away. Yet when we are looking to buy the latest Apple gadget or accessory, I make the drive to the Apple Store and he ends up walking through the doors underneath the big,...

Jonathan Malm writes and speaks about the creative process. He created and edits ChurchStageDesignIdeas.com and Sunday|Magazine–a free online magazine about the creative side of Sunday mornings at church. Jonathan and his wife live in Dallas, Texas. 

Captivating Presentations

• It’s not about being cool.  That draws people to you, not to Christ.  That doesn’t mean you can’t be creative.
• It’s not the graphical elements that will be memorable. Think outside of the screen and the...

Churches can be great at putting together an amazing worship experience for Easter, but not so good at doing follow-up the next week.  We all know the importance of Easter—along with the opportunity and openness to reach new people in our community. 

It’s not uncommon to ramp it up for Easter and then take the next week off.  However, it’s that following week where we have just as much opportunity to make an impression on someone new.  It’s also our chance to show how the church helps...

My mother-in-law was shocked after church this past Sunday.  It had nothing to do with the service we went to, but instead the reaction my wife and I had to it.  We both liked it.  It harkens back to the classic Life cereal commercials where there’s no conceivable way Mikey would like a healthy morning meal, but in disbelief he liked it. 

See, the churches my wife and I have attended in our lives are fairly contemporary.  New music fills the theater-like worship center while churchgoers...

Sometimes when it comes to design, we make decisions based on wanting something to look cool.  In fact many times we may judge design solely on it looking good without taking into effect how it communicates something or how it can better help our organizations connect with people.

Fast Co. Design had an interesting article recently that looked at what good design can do for a business.  As I read through the list, I couldn’t help but think there are some good principles for churches to...

Thanks to everyone who came to our workshop about being a welcoming church at the Edmonton Day of Encouragement.  I appreciate your interaction and great questions.  A few of you asked for a copy of the presentation, so here it is.

My wife and I recently tagged along with my in-laws to a Sunday service at a popular church in the south suburbs of Chicago.  As I was drinking my free coffee (major bonus points) and walking around the building, my wife pointed out something she saw all around the church: information kiosks.  While it’s not uncommon to see racks of brochures about programs in a church, it was clear to me that this church had made a conscious decision to have them in multiple places.  Clearly, these kiosks were...