It is no secret that American real estate today is expensive! I am not just talking about the cost to acquire real estate but also to maintain and remodel properties. This is especially true for churches. Just 20 years ago, grand church buildings could be constructed for $100-$150 per square foot. Today it is not unusual to see construction costs in the $350 - $950 per square foot range. Does this mean the buildings are too expensive and not worth constructing or remodeling?

For many leaders, the answer is easy: “yes”. However, this is usually based on one of three misconceptions. According to church consultant Brian Dodd, three myths surround church buildings. People are tempted to think (1) they are too expensive, (2) they do not matter for ministry effectiveness, and (3) they can hinder growth.

On some level, I can sympathize with the sentiment behind these myths. Church buildings are difficult to get right. Because a church must balance fixed expenses with missions and ministry, building maintenance costs can easily become a burden on a church’s budget. You could also say the same thing about your company’s office building, your local city hall, and even your home. But the fact remains, we are human beings, not ducks. We prefer to live, gather, conduct business, pass laws, and worship God inside buildings, especially ones that have plenty of well-designed spaces, clean bathrooms with running water, air conditioning, etc.

There are plenty of churches that struggle to find this balance. Thankfully, there is a simple tool that is both effective and inexpensive to acquire: a facility strategy. A facility strategy is a plan for how your church is going to use its financial, physical, and human resources to create the spaces needed to accomplish its ministry objectives.

To illustrate this idea, consider a church that is moving into a three-room retail space in an outdoor mall. They know that in order to reach their community, parents will need to feel comfortable leaving their kids in the nursery and at children’s church. This means that the church will need to create a space for infants and toddlers and another for children who are pre-K and older. With this goal in mind, the church’s leadership must assess their current facilities and determine what spaces need to be in place on opening Sunday, how the church will create those facilities in a cost-efficient manner, and what modifications the spaces will need if they start to reach capacity.

A facility strategy for this case may include a finding that says parents prefer children’s spaces to be near the entrance to the church, that temporary walls can be erected for opening Sunday, and that the nursery has a capacity of 15 children and may need to be expanded and divided by infant and toddler ages if demand exceeds that number consistently.

When you apply this concept to every space in the church, I hope you can see both the usefulness and practicality of a facilities strategy. It can orient leadership to the church’s strategic needs, encourage creative use of resources, save church funds, and - best of all - create spaces that are effective for ministry.

If your church needs help creating a facility strategy, encourage your senior pastor to reach out to our staff at The Baptist Foundation of California. We would be glad to help!