By Steve Bond
Summit Christian Church, Sparks, Nevada, is still a relatively new church, but we have already built two new facilities. We met in a YMCA until 2 1?2 years ago, when we moved into a 17,000-square-foot, first-phase construction on our 36-acre master planned campus. This included a worship center seating 340 people, children”s ministry areas, and office space. We quickly outgrew that space and recently added another 17,000 square feet which includes a new worship center seating 600 people, a new lobby, adult classrooms, and added children”s ministry space. Along the way, we”ve learned a few things that might be helpful to others.
Building Takes Time and Energy
This may not be news, but building a new facility takes time and energy. If everything moves along smoothly (which is rare) it takes at least two years from “the idea” stage to actually occupying any new space. I still don”t understand all the reasons for this, but I”ve come to accept that building always takes more time than you would hope.
This is important to keep in mind if you”re growing a church and expecting to build. The time factor means you need to look several years ahead. If you wait to build until you have to build, you probably have waited too long.
Building also takes energy. Someone from the church must make literally thousands of decisions. Making decisions takes energy.
Communication with the leadership and the congregation must occur regularly. This was particularly true with our recent expansion. Significant effort was needed to tell leaders when the construction project would impact their ministries. We attempted to minimize these interruptions, but they still occurred. Communication takes energy.
In addition, money must be raised and spent. Both of these take energy. Church leaders must proceed with caution not to allow the building project to overshadow the church”s primary mission of changing lives. But slice it any way you like, building still absorbs leadership energy.
Because of this, with both building projects we tried to minimize the amount of energy our staff needed to invest. Strategic choices greatly reduced the amount of staff energy diverted from primary ministry into construction. Some of the things we did “right” included:
“¢ We hired an excellent architect whom we trusted. Once our staff agreed on what each project was to include, we let our architect create the spaces. We didn”t micromanage. We let him do his job.
“¢ We hired trustworthy general contractors. Both projects were completed with excellent results and within budget.
“¢ We had one person at Summit empowered to make all building-related decisions. Paul Schmidt has been our one-man building team for both projects. Paul”s efforts allowed our staff to invest themselves in ministry while he oversaw construction.
“¢ For the most recent project we also hired an interior design team that selected all the colors, room themes, light fixtures, furniture, signage, and wall decor. This saved the church staff much time and potential consternation. The results also gave our interior spaces a modern look and feel.
Occupying a New Facility Takes Planning
We were amazed at the new complexities introduced simply by building a worship center with two more aisles and two more doors. More ushers to serve Communion. Many more Communion trays and offering bags. More welcomers at every service. All because the new worship center has two more aisles and two more doors than our old one!
And these were just the beginning. Several months before moving in, I asked our entire staff team to develop transition plans for their areas of ministry. I told them move-in day was going to be a leadership moment and our church was expecting us to lead competently. Plans were reviewed and critiqued in an open exchange at our monthly staff meeting. The planning paid off and, thankfully, our recent move in was seamless.
A key component of this planning includes filling new volunteer staffing roles. One of the most exciting aspects of a larger building is it invariably leads to needing more volunteers. Don”t let the excitement of the moment pass without a huge recruiting push!
All of Summit”s ministries went all out to recruit volunteers before moving into each new facility. This was done through ministry fairs, personal contacts, teaching from the pulpit, mailings, recruitment tables in the lobby, etc. These efforts paid rich dividends. Our volunteer base grew substantially, positioning us to effectively take care of more people as our congregation grew to the next level.
Moderate Your Expectations
Sometimes people (especially preachers) think “if you build it they will come.” But this doesn”t always happen. At least with Summit”s two building projects, we”ve not grown “overnight.” We have grown, but gradually. Sometimes I hear people talk as if they expect an immediate doubling in attendance upon opening the doors. I suppose this may have happened somewhere, but not at Summit.
Thus, I”ve learned it”s wise to moderate everyone”s expectations (including my own) about what may happen in a new facility. Don”t set yourself (or your church) up for disappointment by making unrealistic projections about the future. Remember: It”s God”s responsibility to grow the church. Not ours. Relax. Enjoy whatever growth may occur because each new person is precious to God . . . and ought to be precious to you. If you don”t love the dozens of new folks who initially walk through the doors of the new facility, don”t expect that God will entrust you with hundreds or thousands more.
Your Wants Always Exceed Your Budget
No one likes to hear this, but even Willow Creek couldn”t put every “bell and whistle” they wanted into their new 7,000-seat worship center. Every well of water has limits, and every church has a finite pool of financial resources. This means making tough decisions. Some things will be left undone. Not every ministry in your church will get everything it wants or even needs. There”s no way around it.
Part of leadership includes the art of allocating limited resources in ways that provide maximum benefit for the organization. Because this is more art than science, each church will have to make its own decisions about how to allocate its building resources.
In Summit”s most recent expansion, we determined our highest priorities were additional parking, excellent technology in the new worship center, and well-appointed children”s ministry environments. We couldn”t do everything we wanted or needed, so these three priorities carried the day.
Keep Praying Throughout the Project
In both our building efforts we prayed about everything: the design, worker safety, timeliness, keeping under budget, color selections, harmony in the church, and everything else we could think of. With all the hustle and bustle related to building, prayer can be overlooked. Don”t ignore the obvious: be diligent to keep praying.
Don”t Overbuild
A good rule is to build approximately double your current seating with each expansion. This allows your church to grow in stages. It gives people the opportunity to adjust to a larger church gradually.
We”ve lost surprisingly few people as Summit has grown. One reason is that our growth has been incremental. Almost without realizing it, one day we looked around and suddenly we”d become a larger church!
Raising Funds to Build
Before Summit was four years old we held two major capital stewardship campaigns with RSI, Inc. Needless to say, this was a brutal pace. Capital campaigns are exciting times in the life of a church, but they are also draining.
Along the way, we learned some key lessons about capital campaigns. The most important is this: generally those who are already giving to the church will give the most in a capital campaign. These are the people who are already financially vested in the church”s ministry. These are also the ones who are most likely to give sacrificially in a capital effort.
Knowing this will change how we approach future campaigns. In the previous efforts we spent a lot of time and money with promotional materials and media trying to engage the entire church. But the fact is those who were already giving didn”t need much hoopla to convince them to give. And those who weren”t giving, for the most part, were turned off by all the hoopla.
A second lesson is that when you need to raise more than $1 million it helps to have some very large gifts. When a church needs large amounts of money for building, it”s incumbent on the leadership to approach those with the financial wherewithal to give large gifts. These large gifts will make or break the campaign.
The Ultimate Goal
Building is an exciting time in the life of a church. But it”s not the ultimate goal. I was reminded of this the last time I returned to Chile, South America, where I served as a missionary in the 1980s. We built seven churches while we were in Chile. At the time they were all gleaming edifices of which I was extremely proud””too proud, I might add.
A few years ago I returned to Chile to visit each of the congregations we helped establish. The buildings we had built were now 20 years old. They were well-used. The paint was worn. The once-polished walls were now scarred and weather-beaten. But the people inside each of the buildings still glowed; they still praised God; they still reached out with the good news of Jesus Christ.
I was reminded that church buildings may come and go, but lives changed by Jesus Christ live forever. Never forget that even though building a new facility is exciting, changed lives are the real bottom line.
Steve Bond is senior pastor with Summit Christian Church, Sparks, Nevada.
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