Archive for the ‘Sound’ Category
Inner City Churches Must be Good Neighbors
Inner city churches often face a unique set of challenges. Finding a space for the church is often the first. Once a space is found, however, it must be not only made ready for the worshippers who will attend it, but must work hard to be a good neighbor to those businesses or residents who are often butting up against it, often even in the same building or a connected structure.
Most neighboring residents and businesses understand that on at least one day a week there will be heavy traffic to the church. This means not only people coming and going, but may mean parking issues as well. If the church is in a community where street parking is allowed, then residents will need to get used to a large influx of automobiles on Sunday mornings. Church leaders should make every effort to mitigate this issue by actively encouraging the use of public transportation. If elderly parishioners are afraid to take the bus or subway, then other younger church members might volunteer to escort them, for example.
Most church services include a musical component. Whether it is a full band, a formal choir, or just the church-goers themselves lifting their voices in worship along with a piano or organ, musical celebration is a key part of most modern churches. Unfortunately, in the close quarters of an inner city church, this can lead to noise problems for the neighbors. Sound travels particularly well through solid surfaces like walls and ceilings. If your church shares a building with others, or the building is connected to other adjacent buildings, you should take steps to help prevent noise from escaping and bothering your neighbors.
Fortunately, there is good science behind noise mitigation in such situations and there are a number of things that can be done to control church acoustics. The use of acoustic insulation can greatly reduce the transfer of noise from the church space to other surrounding spaces. However, because a church is a public space, care must be taken to make sure that any acoustic treatments added to the room comply with fire codes and are completely safe. Quality materials from well established companies that stand behind the materials should be used. Owens Corning 703 and Owens Corning 705 rigid fiberglass panels are a good choice for most public halls.
Another issue that may not be obvious to church members, but may become an issue to neighbors is recruiting efforts. Your neighbors, especially businesses will most certainly not want their customers to be continuously solicited by church members. Instead, reach out to them as neighbors. Use church volunteers for neighborhood clean-up projects, and other efforts that will be appreciated by local residents and businesses alike. In short, act like a good neighbor instead of a pushy and overbearing salesman. By repeatedly setting a positive example, the church will attract much more interest from its neighbors than it would through heavy solicitation efforts.
In fact, most of the differences between inner city churches and those with more space can be summed up as the fact that because they are closer to their neighbors, inner city churches need to take extra steps to make sure they are good neighbors themselves.