Three things growing churches understand about building space.

 Every church seems to have a coffee option.  Some large churches have full blown coffee shops.  Even the smallest of churches will have a place where there is a cup of coffee and space to talk. 

One Wednesday night I was driving back from a meeting when I saw a contrast that struck me like a brick to the forehead. I drove by a huge church building that sat almost completely empty.  I’ve been in this building and it is very well designed, decorated and furnished.  But on this Wednesday night the passengers of 6 or 8 cars occupied its 20,000 square feet.  The other building was a coffee shop. I’ve been in this building as well.  It consists of the coffee shop area, one large, and a few small meeting rooms.  In the parking lot were about 25 cars.  The area around the coffee bar was standing room only with high school/college age students.   Beyond Wednesday nights this coffee shop, which is located near a middle school, runs a full schedule from early morning till evening.  This coffee shop represents a wise application of principles that growing churches understand about space. 

When a church thinks about using, redecorating, or adding building space there are three principles that need to be remembered.

1.    Build Multi-purpose.  In the very design of the building, plan multi-use.  A way to plan multi-use is to have a weeklong calendar with each day divided into morning, afternoon, and evening.  Find ways to use space in as many of those 21 slots as possible.  A good tool to begin the multi-purpose discussion is the “7 and 5 Practice”.  The “7 and 5 Practice” simply means that this space will be used seven times each week by at least five different groups of people.  It is unwise to build any space that can only be used one way or for only one purpose.  Even office space can be used in different ways with a little creativity.  For example, one church had lockable bookcases, cabinets and desks placed in each classroom.  During the week the classrooms doubled as office space for staff members.  When the space was used for kids the staff members could lock up their personal space.  In contrast, I once served a church with a most beautiful sanctuary space-a space that was very expensive to build with soaring ceilings, an imposing stage, long pews, and sloped floors. It was only useful for worship services and typically sat empty 165 hours a week.  In the thirty years that it took the church to pay off the building it was used less than 5,000 hours. 

2.    Build with the community in mind.  Many churches take time to ask their members about how they want to utilize their building.  But churches rarely ask the community those same questions.  Don’t ask church members what they think the community wants, ask the Community directly. Here are some suggestions of people to ask:  Everyone within a mile of your church building, as well as city commissioners, police officers, school teachers and administrators, parks and rec leaders, shop keepers and even other preachers what they feel the community needs.  You will not be able to provide everyone everything, but this can help build community excitement for your church and may help build good will with neighbors.

3.    Build quality but not opulence.  There are two errors to avoid.  Many churches, wanting to get as many square feet as they can afford will build some truly hideous buildings.  Trying to get as many square feet as possible they go low budget.  One expression of this is, “We will get it dried in and finish it later.”  The problem is fatigue sets in and at some point folks settle for ‘good enough’.   I once talked with a church that was in what seemed to be a never-ending building project.  I walked into the building and to my left was unfinished space that was being used.  In the middle of the floor was a toilet; with a few other building supplies that had been there so long nobody noticed it any more.  If not the regular attenders, I can guarantee you that every visitor noticed it!  If you can’t afford to build with quality you can’t afford the project.  The less frequent, but equally misguided extreme is opulence.  It is not limited to televangelists with 24-karat gold bathroom fixtures.  It is not just pastors that get crazy.  On one occasion a simple redecoration of a kitchen turned into a $60,000 make over.  A good rule of thumb is this; build to the standards of the nicer homes in your community.  If your space is very unlike the homes in your community your uture guests these folks may feel uncomfortable.

Church buildings are tools that can help us accomplish the ministry of the Gospel.  Knowing what we are wanting to accomplish and how we want to accomplish it is vital for us to select the right tools for the job.  Buying the wrong tool is expensive and frustrating and can sometimes cause us to try to do something we don’t need to be doing.  These three principles can help us look at our existing buildings, plans for renovations and new building projects and plan to build growth into our buildings.