Does the physical appearance of a church matter?

 When churches experience financial challenges one of the first things that often happens is that building maintenance and upkeep are often ignored. Long-time church members may not notice when the physical appearance of the property begins to go downhill, but guests and the neighborhood do. They see the weeds in the flower beds and the peeling paint on the windows and doors. When guests come into the church they see the worn or outdated carpet, the stained seat coverings and the torn and dirty hymn books. They notice the bathrooms that need cleaning and upgrading. All these things impact their decision about whether they will return or not.

Early in my pastoral ministry an incident really brought this home to me. Our pews were stained wood. They had been in the church for decades, I assume they were original to the building which was around a century old at the time. At the time our church was not air conditioned, and this Sunday was a hot one. We had a visitor attend that morning, and I was excited to hurry back to greet him after the service. I didn't need to rush. The back of his white dress shirt was stuck to the back of the pew! The hot day had melted the years of old stain to his shirt, and he had to physically unstick himself from the pew. Although I greeted him as warmly as I could, as he walked away with a large brown stain on the back shoulder of his shirt I knew we would not see him again, and I was right. Not long after that we covered our pews with cushioned seat covers.

The problem is we often view our church property through the eyes of people who have attended there for years. We don't notice how hard our pews are or the dirty carpet. We don't see that we do not have a secure children's area that our guests would expect. We ignore the chipped and dirty baseboards that our guests would notice. One night while traveling we stopped late to spend the night in a well-known motel chain known for being one of the better places to stay. We went straight to bed when we got our room. The next morning we noticed a part of a donut in the corner of the room covered with cobwebs. It had evidently been there for awhile, but no one who supposedly cleaned the room ever noticed it. We did and it has impacted our choice of motels while traveling since then.

If your restrooms are not clean, if your children's areas are not clean and secure, if the appearance of your church building appears to be run-down and outdated, your guests will notice and will factor that in their decision about whether to return or not. You may argue that these things should not matter, but they do. You make a decision about what restaurants in which you will eat and what motels you will stay in on these same criteria, and your guests will decide whether or not to return partly based on this issues.

If your church is serious about having guests and seeing them return, it must take a look at the appearance of its property. Clean the weeds out of the flower beds. Seal and stripe the parking lot. Repaint the trim, the front doors and window casings. Upgrade the restrooms and make sure they remain clean and well lit. Do the same with the children's areas and improve their security. The physical appearance of the church property will have a significant role to play in the church's impact in its community. It does matter.