how many churches will you build?

Outreach Magazine released 2007's Top 25 Multiplying Churches. The article highlights some of these churches and their strategies and philosophies for planting daughter churches. It's pretty inspiring. Dave Ferguson, lead pastor of Community Christian Church (#7 on the list) is quoted as, "For us to accomplish Christ's directive, we have come to value the edge over the center, the new over the established, and the lost more than the found."

It's been said that new church plants have a way of attracting the unchurched in a community like your established ministry cannot. They're less intimidating because visitors don't feel like the only new people that everyone's looking at.

If you're starting/working on a building project of your own right now, planting a church may be the last thing you want to think about. But if you're starting/working on a building project right now you know that God is moving your ministry into bigger and better things. Are there volunteers in your church who, with a little training, could plant a church across town (or in the next town) and reach a whole segment of the unchurched that are not attracted to your ministry?

If so, does that mean you should scale down your facility because you'll be sending people off? Not at all. Most of the churches on Outreach's list are still growing themselves. It does mean you should probably become comfortable with the building process, and use it to build the Church (see post below). It may also mean a "renewing of the mind" so that a building project is not something you think about once a decade, but a constant part of the process of expanding God's kingdom on earth.

building the Church while you build a church

The building process is usually a long one, and for a myriad of good reasons, our eyes are usually focused on the end of the process.

But I've been reading a lot about leadership lately. One book I recently enjoyed was Steven B. Sample's The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership. The underlying theme throughout the book is that leadership is a process, and it's less about the leader than most of us assume.

So I was thinking, if building a church facility is a process and leadership is a process, why not marry the two? Focus on the process of creating a building and the process of leading a strong organization at the same time - you'll probably end up with a better building, more respect as a leader, and a stronger church body.

For example, chapter five in Sample's Guide is called "Decisions, Decisions." One topic covered is that of delegation. "Never make a decision that you can reasonably delegate." Two reasons for this are developing strong "lieutenants," and developing a strong organization - those that don't hang on your every word, but could carry on if something should happen to you.

The building process is a good time to exercise what you've been taught about good leadership. Most of what I've been taught lately is that good leaders build good organizations and develop capable employees. Use this time to listen to people you have perhaps written off in the past, or delegate authority and responsiblity in order to grow the people on your team. You can come out of this with not only a new building, but a refreshed and energized church body.

the building project that never ends

I was reading Church Marketing Sucks this morning (ya, it's one of the first things I do every morning). They posted an interview with "chief blogger" Kevin D. Hendricks. This struck me:

Do you think church marketing is any different from business marketing?
Yes, because businesses can be happy with the status quo. They need to grow enough to cover turn over and increased costs ... but if they're paying their bills and keeping customers happy, great.

The church on the other hand, should never be sitting back and thinking, 'Gee, we've saved enough people. Our pews are full. We can sit back and relax.' A business can have enough; a church can't.

Plan for expansion, plan for growth, start thinking about the day when you have to move out of or expand what is now your brand new church building because there are enough people to fill it. Don't build a worship space that seats 500 and call it a day when you've filled it. Your building is a means to an end, it is a tool. When a carpenter's hammer breaks he doesn't quit, look back on everything he's built, and retire; he gets a new one.

If you're church is full, if your facilities are maxed out, don't be satisfied with the status quo. A building project is a big project, but the God who separated light from darkness with a word is on your side. He wants you to grow.

like my building?

Zogby International and the Center for Missional Research recently asked 1200 Americans,

If you were considering visiting or joining a church, would knowing that the church does not meet in a traditional church building impact your decision?

73% said it would not make any difference
19% said it would negatively impact their decision
6% said it would positively impact their decision
2% were unsure

Among the unchurched, the "makes no difference" group was an even larger slice of the pie chart.

The study was done primarily in the interests of church planters - do they need a new building right away or can they meet at the local high school? But what does this mean for you and your new/renovated church building?

It means that if you're building to encourage and allow for more growth, for the next big thing God is about to move you into, for the people in your community who are currently not attending church - your facility doesn't necessarily need a white steeple with a bell.

Now if you really want a while steeple with a bell, by all means - go right ahead. If you set up shop in New England, especially, it might be a good idea. The point is to make your building congruent with your community, comfortable, functional ... and if it doesn't end up looking like the church you grew up in, that's okay. Most people don't care.

priorities

Jim Wideman (former children's pastor at Church on the Move in Tulsa who has now struck out on his own to advise and grow children's ministries all over the nation) posted a blog entry yesterday about priorities.

Everybody I know says they have them (priorities), but most can't name them off the top of their head(s). If you don't know them, you can't keep them.

Jim's blog focuses on leadership, but to the end that every successful building project needs good leadership, much - especially this - is applicable.

Unless you're building with an unlimited budget, there should be priorities for your new or newly renovated building. What do you need the most? Which ministry is most quickly outgrowing its current space and resources? What new space or style will best support your ministry? Don't just answer the question in your head, talk to your building committee! Come up with a top three or five, write them down, and keep them in front of you throughout the process.

build outside the box

Your building is a tool to aid in your ministry. When your church gets to the point of renovating or building a facility, it is because God is moving you to bigger and better things. That's exciting!

In Matthew, Jesus teaches that people don't put new wine into old wineskins, because the wineskin would burst and both would be ruined. "But," He explains, "they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

As you consider how to build a facility that will support the strengths of your ministry, make sure your team is looking forward as well as back. Plan to continue the good work your church is doing, but remember to talk to God about where He's taking you with this new facility. Get creative teams together and brainstorm. Consider your community and ask yourselves what you may be able to do that you haven't already. Trust God to show you what He wants to do through you and build for the possibilities.

Don't take the new thing God is doing in your church and build an old wineskin for it.

Here's an example: Outreach Cinema. "We help you reach your church and local community by providing a turnkey feature film experience that is easy, 100%, safe, and potentially life transforming." You're probably planning to put seats in your building, and many churches are using overhead screens to aid in worship. If you aren't planning for overhead screens, but you think this is something that could really help you reach your neighbors, maybe you should think about those screens.

first impressions

Todd Rhoades posted an interesting article on Insight last week about first impressions.

The main thrust of the article was on making sure your church website is catchy, but - and he mentions this - the same principal applies to your building. We like to quote the statistic that it takes about three seconds for someone to decide if he'll return to your church, but it may not even take that long.

A study of internet users, reported at nature.com, shows, "the brain can make flash judgements almost as fast as the eye can take in the information." While this study, again, focused on how users judge websites, the "halo effect" has long been recognized by psychologists as, "a potential inaccuracy in observation, due to overgeneralization from a limited amount of evidence or the influence of preconceived beliefs."

Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Community Church, put it more simply when he said, "Your sermon starts in the parking lot."

What do visitors to your church see in the first 50 milliseconds that your building comes into view? What do they see within 50 milliseconds of walking in the front door? And more importantly, what do you want them to see?

don't get too relevant

The Church Marketing Sucks blog takes a weekly poll. Last week's question was, "What is the number one thing that would make you leave your church?" The slight majority of roughly 300 voters said, "The church foresakes traditions of Scripture for relevance."

There's no way to know the demographic of the voters here, but judging from the forum and the profile pics on most of those who participate in their Church Marketing Lab on Flickr, it's probably safe to say they're mostly tech-savvy, artistic, twenty-somethings. Not the crowd we may normally think of as the, "We don't need a Starbucks; this is a church!" voices.

Of course that's not what these voters are saying, but it is interesting to note that while design may be the most powerful force a local church has to either attract or deter young adults (the population segment that generally feels the most rejected by the Church), even they would have you be a church before they'd have you be a community center.

Yes, you need a relevant facility for your ministry, but this may be further evidence that you first need to discover the vision/purpose for your minsitry. Yes, third place is important and will help you reach the unchurched in your community, but take care not to get so caught up in espresso that the sermon suffers.

College-Level Faith Part 2

On Monday we reported the increase in Christian activity on college campuses all over the country. Today, we bring you a LifeWay Research report that shows young adults (18 - 34) are falling away from the church. Consider:

In 1980, more than 100,000 young adults were baptized on Southern Baptist churches. In 2005, that number dropped to just over 60,000. That's huge when you consider the population growth in America at the same time.

Do the studies contradict one another? Not at all.

First of all, the Christian Post article from our Monday meeting only looked at college students. LifeWay is reporting on people as old as 34. If the numbers are up for 18 to 22 year-olds, and down for 18 to 34 year-olds it's not hard to determine where the drop-off is. What is happening to Christian college students in the later years, or immediately after college?

Second, and possibly in answer to our own question, the Rainer Research quoted Monday showed that Third Place space is most important to people between the ages of 18 and 24. LifeWay concurs,

Seventy-three percent of church members and 47 percent of non-affiliated young adults inidcated that community with other young adults is extremely important in their lives.

The lack of opportunity for connection within the church proves to be a frustration point for young adults. One study participant said, "After graduation they give you a pat on the back and say, 'When you start a family, we'll be here for you.'"

Connection - or the lack thereof - is the number one reason young adults don't find church relevant to their lives.

So if social/Third Place space is the number one thing young adults are looking for in Christian communities - and if attendance is on the rise at college, and falling in local churches - that tells us they are connecting with their peers at college, but not at home.

The question remains: Is your ministry ready for the college students coming home in the next few days and weeks? Where will they meet friends? Will they be comfortable in your church building, or will it feel like their parents' institution?

get passionate, get vision, then build

"Relevance should be the supernatural consequence of Kingdom-living."

There's a great article posted on Relevant Magazine's website titled, Pursuing Relevance. Jason Johnson writes,

The truth, however, is that when we engage ourselves in pursing the Kingdom of God and setting our hearts on becoming a people through which His Kingdom is most effectively able to be ushered into this world, then our lives will supernaturally develop within them a brokenness for the broken, a longing for the lost, a hope for the hopeless, and a love for those who do not know love.

The idea reminds me very much of what Thom Rainer refers to as the "VIP (Vision Intersection Profile) Factor" in his book Breakout Churches. The VIP Factor is where the passions of church leadership, the passions of the congregation, and the needs of the community all intersect. It is where a local church's vision is not developed, but discovered.

So what on earth does this have to do with church architecture? Everything.

In Before You Build, Bill Couchenour emphasizes over and over again that a church building is just a tool to aid in ministry. He encourages church leaders to celebrate the completion of a building or renovation project as a beginning, not an end, because that is what it should be: the beginning of the next thing God has called your church into.

What vision do you have for your ministry? Where and to whom is God calling your congregation? Where do your passions, the passions of your people, and the needs of your community meet? Is your vision a statement on paper, or something the members of your church are living out?

If you're starting or considering any kind of building project, make sure everyone is after the same vision. If your community needs a Christian pre-school program and there are volunteers in your church who love toddlers, maybe you need to add or expand their classrooms/playground. If there's a community college in your neighborhood, maybe you need more Third Place space.

Ed Bahler recently commented on the Cornerstone Conference Blog that,

Buying property or designing buildings without clarity of both 'Code' and 'Calling' is analogous to beginning a vacation without a clear destination ... resulting in the risk of backtracking, wrong destinations, frustration, and hesitation.

National Community Church is an example of a church doing this right. Their vision is to reach the unchurched in the Washington, D.C. area, so they have foresaken the idea of constructing their own church home in order to meet in movie theaters at Metro stations around the city.

College-Level Faith

Faith is in on college campuses across America, according to a recent Christian Post article. Some of the largest campus ministry groups have expanded dramatically in the past two years, and even seminaries are seeing record enrollment numbers.

Harvard University’s preacher told the New York Times, “There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years.”

Terry Erickson, the director of evangelism for InterVarsity commented that, “In the last two school years we have seen exciting growth in the number of students who have come to faith in Jesus Christ.” The group reported that over 1000 college students came to faith in Jesus Christ through their ministry events during the 06-07 school year.

A 2004 UCLA study found that nearly half of university freshman say they are seeking opportunities to grow spiritually.

But summer is nearly upon us, and many of these baby Christians will be returning home for three to four months to meet old friends, work part-time jobs, and either encourage or forget their new faith.

How many will return to your town? Does your church have a ministry that speaks to the culture of college students? Is there space in your facility where they will feel comfortable and at home?

With half of those returning home from their first year of college, “seeking opportunities to grow spiritually,” your ministry may not need to emphasize outreach – they’ll come to you. But will they return? Will your ministry be able to encourage and strengthen their faith before they return to the mission field that is the American college campus?

A Rainer Research Group report conducted for the Cornerstone Knowledge Network earlier this year found that comfortable worship space and inviting social (third place) spaces are the two most important areas of a church facility to the formerly unchurched. That third place space is most important to those between the ages of 18 and 24. How well will your facility be serving your community this summer?