adaptive reuse

The Church Solutions 2008 Factbook arrived digitally in my Inbox this morning - brimming over with good content. I will hereby commence regurgitating some of said content back to you.

One article, called "Adaptive Reuse" caught my particular attention because it seems like we hear more and more about local ministries opting to renovate an existing, non-church building rather than build from the ground up. Mars Hill in Seattle caused no small stir when they opened their newest campus in an old dance club. Several churches are now taking over bars on Sunday mornings. ... Or maybe I'm partial because my own church is in a former Big Lots department store space.

The Church Solutions article - teasingly labeled "Part I" - discusses some of the benefits to these "found spaces."

1. Lower first cost.
   
2. Faster occupancy.
3. Increased proportion of volunteer-ready work. (New constructions required trained, experienced professionals to lay concrete and erect steel. In a renovation, more of the work can be done by skilled or unskilled volunteers, and construction managers are usually more apt to let skilled volunteers participate since the risks are reduced.)
   
4. Location. (Renovating allows a ministry to set up in densely populated areas.)
5. Environmental sustainability. (Fewer raw materials and less garbage, and you can still get LEED certification.)
   
6. Cultural familiarity and mission. (It's all about knowing your church's DNA.)
7. Experimental freedom. (Go ahead and paint the walls ... again and again.)

Check out Church in the Word in our Project Gallery for one example of adaptive reuse.

motivation

The Pew Forum released the results of their U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Some interesting findings:

• 28% of American adults have left the faith they were raised in for another religion, or no religion at all.
• The number of people who say they are currently unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were unaffiliated with a particular faith as children.
• Of those who report no religious affiliation, the majority (12.1% of the adult population overall) describe their religion as "nothing in particular," as opposed to atheist or agnostic.
  
• One-quarter of young adults (18-29) are currently unaffiliated with a particular faith.

Some of the Forum's observations:
"The United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country."

"Men are significantly more likely than women to claim no religious affiliation. Nearly one-in-five men say they have no formal religious affiliation, compared with roughly 13% of women."

"People not affiliated with any particular religion stand out for their relative youth compared with other religious traditions. Among the unaffiliated, 31% are under age 30 and 71% are under age 50. Comparable numbers for the overall adult population are 20% and 59%, respectively."

"In sharp contrast to Islam and Hinduism, Buddhism in the U.S. is primarily made up of native-born adherents, whites and converts. Only one-in-three American Buddhists describe their race as Asian, while nearly three-in-four Buddhists say they are converts to Buddhism."

10 Most Innovative (1 of 3)

I finished going through the first 10 of Outreach Magazine's 25 Most Innovative Churches last week. Yes, it's been out for close to a month, but I use a very fine-toothed comb. So let's review as a people more interested in buildings than microsites and webcasts.

Nine of the 10 most innovative churches are multi-site.
The exception is Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana. Granger is, however, still reproducing itself through WiredChurches.

What is this telling us?

• Even though multi-site has been around for 20 years, it's still a relatively radical, innovative step for a church to take.
• Innovative churches seem to know they have something to offer the world. Remember, most churches go multi-site to inspire growth, not as a solution to a lack-of-space problem. These ministry leaders don't need to add campuses, but they do in order to better distribute their message.

Does this mean multi-site is the new mega? It may be too early to tell. These churches, remember, are innovative, which does not necessarily mean they're the most popular. In fact, only one of the 10 most innovative also made Outreach Magazine's 10 fastest-growing U.S. churches, and of the 10 fastest-growing churches, only six are multi-site.

(Which is not to say those on the Innovative list are not growing. LifeChurch.tv is #1 for Innovative, and #31 for Fastest-growing. Mars Hill is #2 for Innovative, and #23 for Fastest-growing. Seacoast is #5 for Innovative, and #66 for Fastest-growing. Etc.)

Multi-Site Exposed

Why become a multi-site church?

The purpose of becoming a multi-site church is to make more and better disciples by bringing the church closer to where people are. The motivation is to do a better job of loving people, including different types of people, with an outcome of making significant advances in obeying Jesus’ Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40) and Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). Churches report that conversion growth is greater on their extension campuses than at the original campus.

It seems like multi-site churches may be the mega-churches for an emerging generation. The Multi-Site Exposed Conference is coming to Chicago in September, but early-bird registration is only available through February.

Speakers in Chicago this year are going to be Dave Ferguson from Community Christian Church, Mark Jobe from New Life Community Church, and Jim Downing of First UMC in Sedalia, Missouri.

If your church is looking for a fresh way to reach deeper into your community, you might be ready to go multi-site. Contrary to first impressions, most churches do not go to a multi-site model because they are growing, but because they want to grow. Kind of a "if you build it, they will come" strategy ... and it's working.

the state of church planting

The Leadership Network has released a new study on church planting. Managing Director Dave Travis commented, "In commissioning this study, our goal was to review the current state of U.S. church planting efforts - and begin to assess what today's reality means for the next generation of planters."

Church planters, listen up:

Interest is growing. From Google search results to the number of book printed on the topic, the interest in church planting is on the rise. "Equally important," according to a Monday Morning Insight article, "[is that] church planting has now become a preferred ministry option, not a consolation prize."

Local churches and church planting networks are leading the way. Church planting used to be the business of denominations, but today local congregations are so excited about the idea that they're doing it themselves.

Affinity strategies dominate. New church plants used to go up according to geographic area - churches trying to set down root in an "unchurched" area. Now, church plants are filling a niche. Travis explains, "For example, they may exclusively plant house churches or ethnic churches - or perhaps build purpose-driven, seeker, or missional churches."

It's working. Observers have estimated that in the past, 80 to 90% for church plants fail within a year. Researchers discovered, however, that today, 68% of the 4000 churches planted each year are still around four years later.

What does this mean for you? Giving part of your congregation and resources to a church plant is very possible, there are a lot of resources to help get you started, you can do it even if you're not part of a denomination, and your best bet is to find a specific culture within your community to serve and build for them.