Environment Matters...

Yesterday, I went to a lunch for youth pastors, which was put on by Winning at Home. The lunch was at the new corporate offices of Haworth. The food was fantastic, but I was more impressed by the new corporate offices of Haworth. Supposedly, we were the first outside group to use their new building.

After a great lunch we toured their new facility, and all I can say is WOW! They thought through everything when building their new office space. Everyone in the office can see outside, because they found out that people are more productive when they can see daylight. They have "heads down" rooms for people who need to get away and get some work done. They have a great cafe/coffee shop in the building. XM radio is pumped through the entire building.

I could go on and on, but the the thing I took away from the tour is that environment matters. When I walked through the building, I couldn't help but have more energy. In fact, they designed the entire building so that people would have more energy and feel good about going to work.

Looking at this building got me thinking about the church. What is the environment like in our church building? Does it promote conversation? Is it inviting? Is it life giving? Is it exciting? When I look at our current space, my answer would be no. We have white walls, no pictures on the wall, no spaces that invite people to have conversations -- it's pretty boring.

What would happen if we spruced things up? Would people have more energy on a Sunday morning? Would people stay around longer and have conversations with more people? I think they would if we spruced things up a little. The one thing I learned from my lunch yesterday is that environment matters. It can affect your attitude and change how you feel. Sure, Haworth spent millions of dollars on their new building, and the church doesn't have that type of money, but I think we could spend a little bit of money to improve the environment in our space.

To take a tour of the Haworth Corporate offices, you can go here.

By the way, the picture above is of Red Bull's offices in London. I think they get the environment thing too. (Yes that is a slide!)