Building a warm & welcoming church (even if the heating is broken)

A recent survey has revealed that many people find churches an unwelcoming place to be. It comes after a LGBT campaign group asked it’s members a serious of questions relating to the church and religion, and the results are quite alarming.

The survey points out that mainly younger people find churches are seen as intimidating, daunting, and a place where they are not welcome. This is of course very upsetting news, but Andy Walton who writes for Christian Today, says that the results aren’t that surprising. When you consider an old large Victorian building, it can be quite imposing, and the gothic deco exterior may be quite unfamiliar with youths, and this look can be related to scary films and such like.

Another reason for these upsetting results may build down to the falling numbers of the Christian community. a recent faith survey shows that between 2001 and 2011 the number of Christians born in Britain fell by over 5 million, that’s a staggering 10,000 fewer new christians per week. And the bigger picture isn’t much better wither, between the years 1930 and 2010, the number of UK church members and been cut in half, and by 2025 it is estimated to fall again by another 50%.

So what can we do about this? Well the old adage that churches are cold places is now a thing of the past, most have modern church heating systems fitted, and every week we are fitting brand new church boilers, church underfloor heating, and electrical church heating systems. If your local church doesn’t have a modern heating, system, the chances are that in the near future they will have. So as well as making a church a physically warm place to be, it must also be a warm hearted place to be. We all know how nice it feels to receive a warm welcome from a friend or loved one, so it should be the same for a church. Some people may be apprehensive or nervous to visit a church for the first time, and the only way they will get over any misconceptions they may have is to actually make the visit.

To outsiders, imposing church buildings, services and other church services may be unfamiliar, and even a little odd, so that needs to be embraced. Only by making the effort to welcome all people into the church community will those barriers be broken down. Negative media coverage often doesn’t help, but that’s the case for any religious building, to temples and mosques to more obscure religions. So we all have to double our efforts, and welcome people with open arms and open hearts.

If you want to make your church a more welcoming place and think that making the heating system more effective will help, our modern church heating solutions are available right now. Give our team a call today to see how we can help you.