There are many ways that your church design can make a good first impression on guests. We’ve covered obvious areas like lobbies, cafés, and worship spaces, but the small details matter too. Here’s a closer look at how the furniture in your church building helps make a good first impression.
Flexibility is Key in Your Church Design
We frequently stress the importance of flexibility in your church design. For example, multi-ministry spaces can support your church vision for ministry, but flexibility on a smaller scale matters too. For example, in this first photo from Archbold Church, you can see two seating areas for people to congregate, with four chairs around a center set of ottomans. These ottomans can be pulled apart to create additional seats, which makes it easy for a group of four to become a group of six or eight. If they had placed the traditional coffee tables in the center of each grouping, they wouldn’t have that flexibility.
Installing Attractive Table Options in Your Church Building Café
These next two photos are examples of how flexibility can be inviting in a church building café setting. For younger folks on the move, a higher table frequently feels inviting. Sometimes people can have a conversation without even sitting down—and in fact, some churches choose not to provide stools at all with smaller high-top tables. On the other hand, older or shorter people might appreciate having an opportunity to sit down at the standard height tables pictured here at the Archbold Café.
Another important element of flexibility comes with square and rectangular tables, which can be easily pulled together to accommodate a larger group of six or eight people, while not leaving anyone feeling left out or unable to easily place their beverage and snack on a table.
In this image from the Bethany Wesleyan café, there are high tables in the back and lower tables in the front, creating a pleasing visual scenario where all tables are easily visible, and friends can be quickly located. The metal chairs in this café were also intentionally chosen to fit in with their church vision for ministry in their community.
Creating a Living Room Feel in Your Church Building
In contrast with the sleek metallic look at Bethany Wesleyan, the church leaders at Berachah Baptist Church wanted to create a very homey feel for their café. To support the welcoming sense of having a comfortable space to hang out in, they included a living-room-style area off the café in their church design. This “extra” space is in keeping with their church vision of helping guests feel at home in their church building.
Notice that even the smallest details of church design can help create a good first impression for guests. In our next post, we will address another important smaller detail: signage. All these good tips come from our free i3 webinars, which we share each year to help church leaders like you to stay up to date with important church design considerations. Stay tuned for next year’s lineup and keep reading our blog for more helpful tips.