Dear Friends,
Welcome to the homepage for “Creating Warm & Welcoming Church Spaces for Families and Children,” where I've included many ideas for transforming your children & families spaces, whether that is classrooms, parish hall, teen hangout, or nursery. I'm passionate about how color, lighting, and furniture choices can make us feel calm, restful and happy (OR agitated and irritable!) and wanted to share that with you to emphasize the non-verbal ways we, as churches, can demonstrate our welcome.
I have a five year graphic design BFA degree from the University of Washington, in which we studied how different colors affect people’s emotions, the use of space and its myriad of implications and applications, and how important correct lighting is. After graduating, I took a job with Seattle Pacific University. My first job there was to create a “warm and welcoming” space out of an expansive exhibition hall to be used for a reception area for two thousand people. With only a week to create this emotionally “warm” space, I was more than thankful for the tools I had acquired at school. Since then, I have enjoyed creating ambiance in various settings. Most recently, I redesigned the nursery at Grace Episcopal Church on Bainbridge Island, Washington, utilizing huge wall stencils as the main focus.
I’ve put together some thoughts on such subjects as wall color, furniture, lighting, wall usage, and how to utilize the space you are given -- be it a fantastically large space, an unrealistically small space, a somewhere in-between space, or even a temporary "pop-up" space!
There were three goals in mind while developing this online resource center:
1.) To heighten awareness of what emotional impact our church spaces have on ourselves AND newcomers.
Just as happens in our own homes, it is oh-so-easy to “not see” our surroundings in our churches —we get so used to things being the way they are (after all, they’ve been that way forever, right?). These resources can help you take an honest assessment of “the way things are” and see if there is room for some improvement. The goal is to become aware that our church interior design spaces, colors, and lighting choices have a real emotional impact on people, and that it’s important to pay attention to what that emotional impact is.
2.) To discern what works, and what doesn’t work.
When, for instance, a visitor vaguely remarks that “that place felt good,” what was it, exactly, that made them feel that way? (Usually, when asked, the visitor is not going to know why “that place felt good.”) Our goal is to tease out why spaces “feel good,” and reproduce those specifics in our churches.
3.) To help you come up with a workable plan.
It’d be a lot easier if all our church spaces were the same — we could do the rubber stamp thing — but they’re not. We as a diocese have a broad gamut of old historic spaces, brand new construction, large airy spaces, small somewhat cramped spaces, and in some instances, not much space at all! Our goal is to offer you the facts of how lighting, wall color, and furniture choices affect people, and then with those facts in hand (and a little discernment) you will be able to come up with a plan to make your church more warm and welcoming!
Here’s the thing: you can delve into this as much or as little as you like. Some subjects have quick 1-2-3 tips as well as longer in-depth articles for those who want the details. Have fun splashing around in this wonderful “lake” of "creating warm and welcoming spaces for our churches!”
Best,
Pegge Ashcroft
Faith Formation Associate, Episcopal Diocese of Olympia