Church planting is incredibly challenging but rewarding work. In the post-COVID-19 world, church doors are open again, and congregations of all sizes are welcoming people back to in-person services. If you’re planting a new church now, it’s more important than ever to tell a connected story across all the spaces where you show up.
So, what’s a connected story? Our team at PlainJoe Studios of artists, architects and anthropologists define connected story as the combination of your strategic, interactive and spatial storytelling. All together, these make up the fabric of who you are as a church, and what your God-given mission is.
When you tell a connected story in three dimensions, you create an experience that extends beyond the walls of your building.
Ultimately, your connected story helps you to answer the question immortalized by The Who: Who are you? It’s not just about knowing your own identity as a church; it’s also about sharing that with your community.
Start With Your Story.
For a new church plant, strategic and interactive storytelling will be the simplest aspects to incorporate first.
Your strategic story essentially crystalizes your brand narrative and identity, making it easier to develop your messaging. It’s more than just logos, fonts and colors. It’s the emotional feeling people get when they think of your church. It informs all the ways members and visitors experience your church.
In this dimension of storytelling, you will select colors and design elements that fit your church’s identity—because everything speaks about who you are—but it’s all in service of telling your story and evoking a positive emotional response. The strategic story then informs the interactive (digital) story, which encompasses your online touchpoints like your website and mobile apps.
As a church planter, you can scale these aspects of storytelling according to your budget. Your church’s first website, for instance, can be simple and straightforward, with only the most pertinent information to invite people in. When that website is created to align with your strategic story, that consistency will help familiarize visitors with who you are before they arrive.
When Your Space Is Rented
Once you’ve developed your strategic and interactive stories, you can apply what you now know to your worship space.
The first location for your church plant may not provide a place for you to permanently showcase your unique identity. Many church plants begin in rented or multiuse community buildings. Facilities like these offer essential function over form, providing spaces where like-minded believers gather to worship, teach and serve their communities.
Much like The Masked Singer, your rented space can hide your church’s true identity, but when your personality shines through and is supported by your connected story, people will be able to truly connect with who you are as a church no matter where you open your doors.
When time and budgets are tight, spatial storytelling naturally isn’t a top concern. But with some advance planning and a small investment, it’s possible to make that space your own.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
1. Get creative with signage.
If possible, consider covering existing venue signage with a fabric banner. With a larger budget, you can have removable signs made. This will be easier if you have on-site storage where you can put them during the week.
If you meet in a school building, you can attach perforated signs to fences. For buildings with metal doors, use large car magnets as signs. Outside, branded tents can double as both signage and a welcome area, and you can also use them at community events.
Consider your visitor’s journey from the parking lot to their seat in the auditorium. Give them clear directions when they’re wondering where to turn next. You can do this by creating directional or wayfinding signs that direct people where to go.
2. Consider the atmosphere you want.
We can’t always control the furniture or decor in a rented space, but with a little extra time allotted for setup and teardown, you can freshen up your welcome table in the foyer or a communion table at the front of the worship space.
If you have the budget for it, you can add your logo and church name to a stretch fabric tablecloth, as well as pipe and drape that can be easily removed when services are over to cover cluttered or dated parts of the space. If not, you could have a volunteer with a good sense of visual style refresh the tables’ looks quarterly.
3. Stage design still matters.
Think creatively when it comes to your stage, since the auditorium is where attendees will spend the most time. It doesn’t have to be elaborate—small touches of your church’s unique identity will work.
For instance, explore simple stage lighting effects that could be accomplished with gobo lights. If you’re using a school auditorium, a banner could make all the difference. As long as these elements are in line with your strategic story, they’ll add a more cohesive look and feel to your space.
4. Work with what you have.
In the early days of a new church, it’s important to work with what you have. This is true whether your space is rented or owned. Over time, you can move spaces, or you can create something new from the original space. Recently, Coastline Church (profiled in the November/December 2022 issue) in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, revamped and repurposed older parts of their campus to fit what the church has become today.
Theming, graphics and fresh paint can transform an older space into something entirely new. When the Christian Care Center (profiled in the November/December 2023 issue) in Leesburg, Florida, purchased buildings dating to the 1950s for part of its campus expansion, that’s exactly what they did.
Don’t Wait to Tell Your Story.
Finally, don’t hold off until you purchase a building before sharing your church’s connected story. Creating the modern Jacob’s Well can happen in buildings big and small, in remote or densely populated locations. You don’t need a big budget, a state-of-the-art facility, or years of growth in order to start.
Showcase your church’s identity through a connected story as you plant and water the early seeds of ministry. Helping the local community truly know you just might attract the people who need you most.