What issue limits your church’s ability to grow, reach new people, and make disciples? For some churches, it appears to be the lack of people willing to step up and lead. Other churches struggle with direction or purpose. For many churches however, their most limiting factor may be space.

If you

chose space, there is good news. From my experience, the space issues that many churches experience is more a matter of perspective and choice, rather than a facility issue (or lack thereof). Of all the limiting factors a church can face, space is one that can be overcome with some planning… and some dreaming!

As the minister of education at a growing church, I ran head-on into the space issue a few years ago. We had on-campus space for about 350 people in Sunday School, yet our Sunday School attendance reached 1,600 average attenders. How did we do it? We maximized the space we had, and utilized space we did not own! Here are some suggestions:

1. Clean the Easter and VBS props out of old classrooms. In church, any space that is unused by the Sunday School will be claimed by another organization. Don’t use rooms for storage that your church built for Bible study!
2. Alternative on-campus space. You may have space available that you are unaware of because these spaces are used for other stuff. Consider putting classes in the church kitchen, the weight room, the church library, and the pastor’s office.
3. Multi-use your space. After you have exhausted 1 & 2 above, a next step could be going to dual or even triple Sunday School hours. Remember that when you move from one Sunday School to two Sunday School hours, you do not technically double your space. Preschool and some children space will be used by the same people for both hours. Typically you can increase your space by about 60% by going to a dual Sunday School schedule.
4. Move into space that you do not have to build. Many churches have space available to them that they are unaware of, such as restaurants, businesses, and homes. These spaces are often available for free, or for a very small amount of money… especially when you compare the cost of building new space!
5. Ask some of your Sunday School classes to begin meeting in homes during the week, or even on Sunday morning. Often, the children of middle-aged adults are either grown or can drive themselves, and they have less need to be in the church building. Being on campus for Sunday School is not as vital to this age group as when they had small children that they brought to the facilities for Sunday School.

You may be thinking, all of this sounds good, but how do I convince the class that has met in a certain room for years to relocate to the church kitchen?

I’ll touch on that issue in tomorrow’s post…

What does the appearance of your church campus and educational space communicate? When a person drives past your church there is a sightline that comes into view for a matter of seconds. What does the sightline reveal? Do the buildings and surrounding grounds look well maintained and inviting? Is there signage that directs guests to a welcome area? Is there plenty of parking?

A guest will make a decision as to whether they will return in the very first minutes of a visit to the church. Is there guest parking? I like what “guest parking” communicates much better than “visitors parking.” Will someone meet the guest as soon as they depart from their car and meet their needs immediately? An impression of what the entire church is like is often made by the first person they meet.

Is there a Welcome Center and trained greeters? Does your children’s space look inviting? Is it a place where you would want to leave your own children? Are adult classrooms neat, clean and chairs arranged for maximum learning?

Another issue is whether there is adequate space. When 80% or more of the space is filled, this factor can become a major barrier to attendance growth. It is good to evaluate where Sunday School classes are arranged in your educational space. Many state conventions have a resource person who can help you in evaluation of space and future arrangement.

Often a church must make a decision to add space or stop growing. We must never let space stop us from reaching people for Christ. In this case it is important to consider options for the future. I have served in churches where there were multiple Sunday School hours, use of adjoining houses that belonged to the church, modular buildings approved for use by the county and even a air controlled tent for senior high until further space could be added. Whatever you do to add space make sure that enough time is given for future planning. A resource person from your state convention can also be extremely helpful.

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Rick Ellison serves in the office of Leadership & Church Health for the Alabama Baptist Convention State Board

of Missions

The debate addressing the impact of church facilities on church growth has gone on for years. Some believe that new buildings will always lead to church growth. They have a “build it and they will come mentality”. Others have a more conservative viewpoint, which is expressed in a desire to address new facilities when the present facilities are full. So, the question is, “Who is right?” Much research has been done and most experts agree that between 70 – 80 percent of all churches are either plateaued or declining. The most common cause for this situation, related to facilities, is the lack of space. The lack of growth in many churches has been caused by poor planning or no planning at all related to facilities. There is a great need for church leaders to better understand how to plan for church growth as it relates to the area of facilities.

When a church facility is approximately 80 percent full, the likelihood for growth or the potential for growth is minimal. The “80 percent” rule is not only applicable to the entire church facility but also to the basic elements within the facility. An example of this would be a church that has ample space for adults but in the preschool area all rooms are at 80 percent of capacity. The result will be that the growth of the entire church will be hindered. Another example would be a church with plenty of

space in worship but the parking lot is full. The result will be – no growth.

The opening paragraph asked, “Who is right?” The answer is “neither.” The truth is that there is a very delicate balance that must be kept. Too early and the space will be difficult to pay for but too late and there will be no reason for additional space. This is why church leaders should be ever diligent in evaluating their church facilities. The aspects of church facilities that should be evaluated are land, parking, worship and education space.

As a general rule, each acre of useable land that the church owns should allow for 100- 125 people in attendance. In evaluating the worship space, twenty-one inches per person per pew will accommodate all ages. To determine worship space capacity, measure

the length of the pews and divide the total inches of pews by twenty-one. Parking is also very important and without it churches cannot grow. To determine a church’s possible attendance based on parking space, count the number of identifiable parking spaces and multiply the total by two.

Evaluating education space is more complex than any other area. The education space is usually divided into four age groups: preschool, children, youth and adults. To evaluate the space it is necessary to know the square footage of each room. Once the square footage is determined, divide it by the square feet recommended per person. Each age group is different: preschool – 35, children – 25, and youth and adults – 18. It is also important to know that if a church has no rooms available to start a new class then the church is limited in its growth potential. Starting new classes is critical to church growth and without space for a new class; growth will be minimal even if the existing classrooms have space for new members.

In all areas of church facilities it is very important to study the quantity that they will provide but it is equally important to study the quality of the space. If a facility is unkempt, cluttered and dirty it portrays the wrong image to the community. If a facility is run down and out dated guests will not have a favorable first impression of the church.

These are just a few issues related to church growth and church facilities. If your church needs assistance in better understanding your facilities, please visit the Sunday School/Open Group Ministries of the Georgia Baptist Convention website at ssog.gabaptist.org.

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