www.churchtourismstudy.com
Practice and Research
Revd Nigel Lacey
Rector Benefice
of West Wycombe
Currently visited
460 churches
Sent out 700 + questionairres
Recently looking at
Forward in Faith Churches
Small Pilgrim Places Network
Evangelical Churches
Methods
Anglican Parishes churches in England
Visits – Cotswolds, Norfolk, Essex, Suffolk, Somerset,
London,Cumbria, Devon, Derbyshire, Dorset & few others.
Standard criteria – record cards, open?, signage,
leaflets etc available, provision for children, visitors
book, prayers, candles, look up website, decide a rating,
churchmanship
Aim for consistency and objectivity + ‘calling card’
Looking for Good practice
Quality of welcome
‘Tourists to pilgrims’
Ratings
Very poor – locked, no indication of when or if open
Poor – open at least sometimes but no, or little effort made
to welcome visitors
Okay – open but nothing to say it is. Guide book but
little else. What does church feel like and look like to a
visitor?
Good – some thought and effort to welcome visitors.
Information about Christian faith. Prayer board and or
votive stand. Some interpretation of building.
Very Good- decent guide books. Something aimed at
children. Signs that say open & welcome visitors.
Material about Christian faith. Pictures of people – living
church. Prayer provision – taken seriously.
Excellent – a lot of effort given to visitors. All of above but
done very well. Perhaps friendly stewards? Mainly bigger
churches but not always.
Very poor/locked churches - examples
Why does churchmanship affect visitor rating?
Evangelical churches – sit light to building
- music and AV equipment
- ministering to congregation / retreated into
- often have no idea what I am talking about
- less to see/ do – eg. Candles
- 'purity'
Forward in Faith parishes – beleaqered – major survey
Serving Christ means serving others
- Church as 'club' – who's church is it?
- telling stories
- being open to others
- exercising hospitality
-enabling spiritual encounters – risky as we not in control!
Who are our visitors?
1. Church Enthusiasts – small but very active group. Visit lots churches. Needs –
good guides, knowledgeable stewards.
2. Geneologists – visit a few places but look in great detail. Needs – burial
records, churchyard plans (always well thumbed). Some areas get lots of
these eg Cotswolds, Cornwall ?
3. Curious/ Casual visitors – big group. See church open & go in. Probably not
sure what they are looking at + for. Impressions & atmosphere count for much
for this group. Needs – good welcome, interpretation, history, stories,
mementoes. Can be very important if near a tourist attraction. Lots of
potential.
4. Locals – by far biggest group. Won’t write in visitors book – why should they?
‘It’s our church’.
Needs – welcoming place. Somewhere to leave prayers & light candles of
similar. Space to be quiet & reflect & pray – materials to help with this.
Excellent Churches
St. Michael with St. Mary, Melbourne, Derbys
Excellent churches
St. Catherine’s, Ludham, Norfolk
A church that lives to itself will die to
itself'
John Pritchard
'