Well, as I prepare for new things in my career I am slowly phasing out of my work in church restoration (primarily in stained glass, but also other areas). This business has occupied four years of my life, and I have learned a great deal about art, churches, and people through it. I have a few observations and stats that some of you might find interesting. Keep in mind that there are exceptions to each of these, and also that some of the results may be due to the fact that I live in the mid-Atlantic region (i.e. mid-western churches are probably a lot friendlier).
My Best Customers:
ECUSA parishes. They really care about their buildings, and have given me lots of business.
Best Churches to Cold Call:
ECUSA parishes. They are incredibly friendly, I have found, and they love to show off their buildings. Next come orthodox parishes, then ELCA and LCMS parishes.
Rudest Churches to Deal With and Cold Call:
Roman Catholic... by far. Generally speaking, I have never met a more rude and arrogant bunch of people than the priests of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. And the more conservative the parish/diocese, the worse they are to deal with. Their cronies they have working for them at the "power tower" (the nickname for the Archdiocese's high rise office building downtown) are just as bad. After them come the Methodists, then the Presbyterians.
Churches that are the Hardest to Make Contact With:
Black churches that are not part of a mainline denomination. No one is ever at the building during the week. Next come the Roman Catholics... these guys do not even come to the door half of the time.
Churches Where You Are Most Likely to Get Hit On (by a man):
ECUSA parishes, followed by Tridentine-Rite RC parishes
Churches That You Can Count on Getting Very Little, if any, Business From:
Any conservative church that is part of a conservative denomination (e.g. not a FiFNa type of parish). PCA, LCMS, OPC, ARP, Continuing Churches, etc.... they usually do not care about externals and arts, or they are very poor, and prefer to funnel their money to ministry. Independant black churches are also usually too poor to do anything about their building, or do not seem to care that much about it. Orthodox churches are hard to get business from too. They always have "some guy over in Syria/Russia/Greece, etc." who is going to paint their icons, or design their windows, or something.
Churches Where There is Often a Pet Running Around the Building:
ECUSA parishes... I have seen dogs and cats in many a nave.
