Snap judgments... we all do it. You see the guy on the street corner and you think... "man that guy is dirty... I bet he smells terrible... please don't ask me for anything..." Or you are in a bad part of town and see a group of teenagers and pray that they don't try and mug you. Some of these snap judgments can keep you alive though. If you see a creepy guy following you it probably isn't going to be to ask for directions.
I also make those snap judgments about the churches I visit. I start off my first visit to a church with a visit to the children's ministry. This always tells me a lot about the church. If it looks like Disney exploded in part of the building and makes me feel like I wish I was a kid again. (OK my wife will tell you that I never grew up). Then I know I am at a church that has their priorities right. If it has white sterile walls and looks like I am in an adult Sunday school classroom then I know I have my work cut out for me. Right or wrong I have to tell you that more often than not that first impression based on the Children's ministry is almost always a great indicator of what kind of church I am dealing with.
I have good company supporting me though. A few weeks ago Ed Young senior spoke at Fellowship Church on this topic. He had a terrific visual display to show how poorly the church was at converting what I figured would be the easiest group. The captive audience that is drug to church every week by their parents. He had 8 cardboard cutouts that looked like teens. He broke the church world up into two groups, Evangelical and Liturgical. He asked the question "out of the 8 teens on the stage how many are practicing Christians after they leave the home?" The answer didn't really shock me but I was hoping Fellowship Church was a statistical anomaly. 3 out of 8 for Evangelical churches . 1 out of 8 for Liturgical.
Where does your church fall on that spectrum?