I was once invited to preach in a church where hanging on the back wall was a giant llama rug. It wasn’t just made of llama fur or hair or whatever, it had the image of a big, fat llama. I don’t have anything against llamas. I just didn’t see the connection of why this llama needed to in the church sanctuary. Was there a secret llama parable I knew nothing about? Was this a zealous llama-tarian sect? Did it have a holy llama blessing? Maybe it was a reminder to pray for the Dali Llama! If I had these questions, I guarantee their guests did too.
When was the last time you went into your church sanctuary and looked at it like you had never seen it before? That is hard to do. You may need to bribe someone who hasn’t been to your church to come and look for you. It’s difficult for us to see things like llama rugs because we grow so use to things as they are. Ultimately we want to create inspiring worshipful atmospheres. When you walk in the sanctuary, you should be in a place that helps you get ready to worship. You also need to make sure you eliminate as many obstacles for your guests to enter into worship. How great would that be for a guest to not only come to our church, but choose to enter into worship?! Now imagine they would be open to worshipping, but they are too distracted wondering what is going on with the giant llama rug. And if I’m being honest, the llama rug is not the weirdest thing I have seen in a church. Come on folks!
Here are a few tips to create an inspiring, worshipful atmosphere. First, less is more. If you overcrowd spaces, people can get distracted and the visual stimuli can get noisy. Remember the goal is to eliminate distractions. Second, classic, simple, and basic are better than trendy, complex, and fancy. Most of our churches don’t refresh their decorating scheme every year, or every decade, or ever. Go with ideas that are timeless. Last, keep it clean. Clutter can kill the vibe. How many times have we just stuck something in the corner to deal with later. That’s fine, but when things don’t get dealt with, your church can quickly go from holy to hoarder.
Keep up the battle, and keep your space, clean, clear, and classic. You may not all agree on what an “inspiring worshipful atmosphere” is, but hopefully your conversation will include your guests thoughts.
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