What makes a good church guide?

Gabriel ByngChurchGuides.co.uk

• Brief, leisure visits• Often unplanned• Secondary to visiting other sites• Similar visitor profile to NT/EH sites• Usually for historic, rather than spiritual or

architectural purposes• Family history or historic ‘celebrity’

Typical visits

• Short guide– Free, very easy to read, well illustrated, a few

‘essentials’

• Long guide– For a fee, could be online only,

• Children’s guide

• Or – a group guide to several nearby churches

Guides

Some tips

• Show visitors what to look for • Explain what they can SEE• Site it in history - of Christianity, of Britain and of the

parish, from the start to the present day• Tell a HUMAN history - builders, worshippers, priests• No unfamiliar terminology (clear language, short

sentences and paragraphs, subheadings, don’t be abstract - give examples)

• Use plans and photographs• Tell visitors where they can find out more