A record number of new churches are launching across North America. Most will initially choose to meet in a rented facility — often a school, movie theater or community center.
By Scott Cougill
While church is never only about the building, renting a space that works with your vision for the new church or campus is very important.
Having helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in rented spaces over the past 20 years, our company has determined five “must-haves” when it comes to selecting your portable site.
#1: A welcoming atmosphere
The connections new visitors make with existing members is ultimately what will help them grow into fruitful members of your church community. Surveys show that most visitors make up their mind to return within their first seven minutes on your campus. As such, the tone of your environment and volunteers is critical.
Many venues (a school with cinderblock walls, for example) might not provide a welcoming atmosphere on their own. Fortunately, it’s easy to turn this type of venue into the welcoming environment you want using extra treatments and equipment.
Even so, money can’t buy hospitality — that requires warm, welcoming people out front where visitors arrive.
Additionally, setting up a café in the venue’s lobby or courtyard offers them something special.
And, while it’s critical to use signage to ensure all areas are easy to find, it’s equally important to strategically position people to answers visitors’ questions.
#2: A great A/V experience
Thinking about all the technology needed to run a church service on Sunday morning can be daunting — especially in a rented venue. You will need a custom combination of:
- Speakers with the right coverage patterns and dispersion
- Projectors sized right, based on screen size and lighting control
- Correct-size screens viewable from anywhere in the room
- Wireless microphones that won’t encounter drop-outs due to competing frequencies in your region
- Wires to connect everything.
You must also be able to easily transport and set up all this technology each week.
: A community center gym converted to a video venue multisite church
#3: A safe, fun children’s area
Church leaders know better than anyone the importance of a safe, secure (and fun!) children’s area. Parents want to know their little ones are in good hands. In a portable church environment, achieving this type of space requires a little extra effort.
If your church meets in a movie theater, the kids’ space could be in the lobby, the hallway or even a party room. If your church meets in a school, the gymnasium can be divided up for different age groups. (Just make sure it’s air-conditioned!)
Dingy walls or inappropriate posters can be covered up using “scuba walls” or something similar. Simple tools can completely transform a space into a clean, bright, fun environment.
#4: Parking and easy access
On average, you’ll want to allow for 1.7 adults per car. What is your visitor estimate? Will you have enough onsite parking?
If not, consider renting parking spaces. Ask a nearby building or business if your church can use its parking accommodations on Sunday mornings. If your church is meeting in the city, consider renting out space in a parking garage, or at least negotiating for a discounted rate for your visitors.
#5: Clear signage
Direct, informative signs should not only get people where they need to be, but also create a great first impression. In rented facilities, this can be a challenge; often, you’re competing with permanent signage. So, your church signs need to stand out.
To this end, a basic rule of thumb is to always have a sign in view. When a visitor is standing at one of your signs, there should be at least one other sign in view. It will be a more enjoyable experience if the visitor is quickly and easily able to find exactly where he or she needs to go.
Finding a site where you can launch your portable church is challenging — and involved. Keeping these five tenets in mind will aid your selection process and go a long way toward launching strong.
Scott Cougill is CEO of Portable Church Industries in Troy, MI, a company that has partnered with more than 2,000 churches. Find Cougill on Twitter @ScottCougill.
