Preparing your church for growth: 3 key strategies

By Kerry Jones 

You spend hours working on sermons. You spend money, time and effort building outreach programs. You evaluate those programs and community involvement constantly in an effort to grow attendance at your church.

But is your church facility prepared to handle that growth?

If you’re not sure, here are 3 important keys that contribute to growth-friendly church buildings.

#1: Having a large commons area

Large commons areas have replaced fellowship halls. These are typically the church’s “front door” and double as an entry and connection spaces with coffee shops and soft seating.

A well-designed commons area will allow a guest to walk into the facility and intuitively know where to go next — whether it’s the worship room, children’s area, or other amenities.

A large commons area is also welcoming to the community. When you have an event at your church, this area is an important first impression for first-time visitors to get a feel for your building.

#2: Building smaller worship rooms

Because of the multi-site movement, planting churches is often more economically attractive than building a larger worship room or sanctuary. With multiple services and locations, churches can now reach thousands of people in smaller venues. Now, 1,300- to 1,700-seat rooms seem to be the average for maximum size.

Before investing in a bigger sanctuary or an expanded building, consider if a multi-site approach makes more sense. It allows your church reach to expand to different parts of the community without location being as much of a barrier.

#3: Focusing on children’s ministry

When we were children, our parents often took us to church without asking our opinion. In today’s world, children play a much more important part in the decision of where the family attends church. Parents are more likely to attend a church where their children are excited to go, than to one where the kids have to be coerced.

Making your children’s ministry area secure, easy to find, and inviting to children gives a sense of security to parents who might be leaving their children there for the first time. Making certain the area is secure and sufficiently staffed is imperative to attract and retain young families with children.

If your church wants to sustain growth, having a well-functioning, safe, inviting kid’s ministry area is a must.

By paying attention to these key areas in your church building, you’re setting up your church to be able to encourage and sustain growth.

Kerry Jones is Director, Client Relations at Goff Companies. 

Working exclusively with churches, Goff Companies has been involved in church expansion projects since 1996 and have helped churches build relationships, build ministry, and build for growth while emphasizing congregational and financial health through the process.

Jones can be reached by email, or by calling 214.716.5154.