First Impressions Impressions

Friday I was at Granger Community Church for their First Impressions Workshop.

I really enjoyed our day there... and learned quite a lot. I'm still processing a lot of it and how it translates to our church here. Here are just some of the impressions and quotes that really stood out to me.
  • "We don't care why people come (to the church). We just want them to come back!"
  • Church people have a very different set of expectations then people who are exploring Christ.
  • It's important to get the right feedback from the correct people.
  • People will experience something at our church... whether we plan for it or not.
  • "Whatever it takes, our objective is to raise the mood of the person attending before they leave."
  • We need to stop treating "blue rules" as "red rules".
  • When a person is presented with too many choices... he/she doesn't chose! Or we make a choice and don't follow up on it because we constantly wonder if there was a better choice.
  • Only 2 types of people read the entire church bulletin: new people, and ministry leaders hoping to see that their event is in it.
  • "If any organization should know how to value people shouldn't it be the church of Jesus Christ?!!?"
  • A church cafe is for the guest... not the members. It provides a common and familiar environment to help the fear of church to go away.
  • Focus the service for the 35-50 year old, successful, father of 2 male. Connect him and you'll connect everyone else around him!
  • Train greeters to like people. If they don't like people... don't let them greet!
These are a few of the notes I took... I'll be processing this over the next few days...

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