The “Unchurched” Like Traditional Church Buildings

People who haven’t darkened the door of a church, mosque or synagogue in the last six months prefer churches that look like a medieval cathedral over more contemporary buildings, an online survey by LifeWay Research finds. The survey, conducted for a group of facilities development firms, was based on respondents looking at four photos of […]

People who haven’t darkened the door of a church, mosque or synagogue in the last six months prefer churches that look like a medieval cathedral over more contemporary buildings, an online survey by LifeWay Research finds.

The survey, conducted for a group of facilities development firms, was based on respondents looking at four photos of church exteriors and saying which they preferred.

“While multi-use space is the most efficient, we need to ask,`Are there ways to dress up that big rectangular box in ways that would be more appealing to the unchurched?”’ said Jim Couchenour, director of marketing for Cogun Inc., a founding member of the Cornerstone Knowledge Network.


Ed Stetzer, LifeWay Research’s director, said he was surprised by the survey results. “We expected they’d choose the more contemporary options, but they were clearly more drawn to the aesthetics of the Gothic building than the run-of-the-mill, modern church building.”

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