3 First Impressions
Have you heard of this saying?
Never judge a book by its cover….
or this one?
You never forget a first impression…
At different points in all of our lives we have heard these sayings or versions of them. The first is usually used when you are younger or you're teaching your kids about the importance of not judging someone and getting to know an individual before they chose whether or not to be friends. The second is used around the teenage years as they are looking to enter the world and get a job or interview for scholarships or something of the like. As adults, those who are advising the teens, realize that the real world is not too kind when it comes to not judging the book by its cover. Often times, the cover is all that gets evaluated. And while we hope and wish that people will take the time to evaluate the book not just the cover, first impressions last forever.
What do cliche saying have to do with church mediums?
Well, just like a teen entering the real world, we need to be reminded that first impressions matter. In this post I want to list and rank the three most important first impressions that will occur. The three first impressions are as follows: website (social media), the building itself, and your members.
The most important first impression that will occur is your members. I know that the other two impressions are things that we can help with, but in all actuality, if you have a beautiful website and building, but your people are rude, mean, or unfriendly, all that work and money is pointless. Beyond that, if your people are welcoming and encouraging, visitors will overlook a lot of the bad going on. They will remember the friendly faces and the love they felt as they walked through the door, not the hole in the ceiling or the ugly carpet. People matter, if you’re looking into working with us to update your website or building, but you have some ugly hearted people, it will not produce the results you’re looking for.
Your website is the second most important first impressions. It’s hard to argue against this point due to the prevalence of technology these days. If you do not have a modern website that is easy to navigate on a computer and on a cell phone, then you might as well not have one at all. The first place anyone goes for information on your church is google or directly to your website. It has been referred to as your church’s new front door or sign on the lawn. This is where people come looking for your address, previous sermons, denominational affiliation, SERVICE TIMES AND EXPECTATIONS (you’d be surprised how many sites leave this off the website or make it harder to find than Waldo) and basically any other information a new guest or family is looking for. If you want to know if your website is making a good first impression, check out this test by pro church tools here, or use our free worksheet found here.
The least important out of these three first impressions is your building. We’re not going to sit here and tell you that your building is unimportant. But, compared to the other two, it finds itself at the bottom of the list. Your building is important, especially when it comes to younger families looking to put their children in your care. Would you leave your child in a dirty/dim/moldy/scary room when visiting anyone? No, most parents wouldn’t either. The thing to emphasize is this, that the first two first impressions can help you with this one. But, not the other way around. If your church is friendly and upfront about the condition of your building, then your website lets people know that you are in the progress of updating things, at this point it’s no longer a bad first impression taking someone by surprise but something that is known to go in.
I will add a disclaimer to this, if you do not realize your facilities are bad or declining and you are not actively seeking to improve these, and you say you are through the pulpit or website, you will lose trust quickly once families sense that nothing is changing. If not upfront about facilities, they have been known to deter or even turn a family around and send them back to the parking lot. If your church is at this point with its facilities, this becomes a lot larger of a factor.
Thom Rainer on his podcasts, ‘Rainer on Leadership’ and ‘Revitalize and Replant’, comments multiple times on a way to evaluate all these things, but specifically your people and your facilities. He calls it a church secret shopper. The main idea being, you invite someone who doesn’t attend your church and ask them to take notes and give ratings for everything you want to evaluate. This way you have purely objective eyes, and eyes looking at things the way a first-time guest would. Thom has graciously posted a pre-made survey on his website, check it out here!
Overall, we know that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But, when push comes to shove, your first impressions matter. Make the most of them that you can, remember that a negative first impression often lasts longer than a good one.