Some Shopping Tips at Church In the Mall

A church member and I joined a couple of people from another church to check out a new United Methodist church start in Heath, Ohio.  This new church isn't located in a rented out school space or in someone's home.  This church is located in a shopping mall.

After just eight months, they are averaging over a hundred people on Sunday mornings.  The two staff members met with us over coffee in their coffee house feel church space located across from a Deb's clothing store.  Coffee is a theme throughout the worship space.  One of the children's Sunday School class is called, "Little Lattes."  Isn't that cute?  "Little Beans" is the name of another children's Sunday School class.

To encourage mall shoppers to check out the new church, the room is designed to provide a welcoming entry space for people to drop by, get a cup of coffee, and stay as long as they'd like.  One of the striking features of the worship space is the altar. (See above.)  This altar is a beautifully decorated small dining room table with table settings and chairs and a cross behind it, to convey the intimacy of God's desire to dine with us.  What a great way to convey the warmth of the Sacrament of Holy Communion!

Here are some helpful "shopping tips" that "Church In the Mall" uses that are helpful in any setting, including traditional church settings.

#1 - Place people with the gift of hospitality in key places to help people feel welcomed but not overwhelmed.  Their goal is to make sure that each person receives a warm welcome.

#2 - Don't assume that people who visit the church understand church/religious language.  Communicate in a way that people will understand.

#3 - Leaders of the church need to consistently communicate the vision.  This means telling brief faith stories of how the church is making a difference in people's lives.

#4 - Utilize your space as much as possible.  There's a back entrance into the church space that was very unattractive.  As more people were using this back entrance, the leaders realized that they needed to clean that area and decorate it.

#5 - There biggest challenge is in getting small groups started to help people grow in their faith outside of Sunday worship.  Training and equipping mature church volunteers to lead small groups takes a lot of time, effort, and prayer. 

#6 - Be good neighbors to the other mall stores.  Whenever another store person or security guard stopped by, the staff members were great at inviting them in for coffee and engaging in conversation.

#7 - Respect people's desire to be anonymous.  They do not want anyone to feel uncomfortable in their church setting which is why they have several coffee tables in the back of the worship space for people to kind of fly under the radar.  However, each table has a registration card so that they can follow-up with them.

#8 - The church utilizes facebook, twitter, and their website for most of their communication which is typical of what their demographic uses.
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