Church Design & Construction

Increasing Church Volunteers & Giving

2009-12-15T11:45:00.002-05:00

Two things most churches don't seem to have enough of are workers and money. What you may not realize is that these two issues are spiritually related and you can implement a simple strategy to bolster both of these important resources.

General stewardship principals teach us to give of our time, treasures, and talents. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:21 that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Treasure certainly implies money or wealth, but actually was probably intended to denote a broader spectrum of those things we feel are important to us. Not only do your members' money follow what they feel in their heart is important, but so do their time and talents. Giving of time, treasure, and talents is a heart, or spiritual issue. What is interesting about Jesus' quote is that he clearly states that in whatever place you store or invest your treasures, that is where your spiritual center (heart) is.

This passage raises a question much like the chicken and egg question; which comes first, your heart or your investment. In reality, we see examples of money following heart (that is why missionaries visit churches), and heart following money (your devotion to a particular stock symbol once you have invested in a company). What is important is to remember that they are linked, so the best strategy to increase both workers (investment of time an talents) and financial support is to implement a strategy that works both ends towards the middle.

If you can convince people of the need and importance of serving, and engage them in doing so, you should also expect an increase in giving from those people. A recent study, the national study on volunteering just released by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund ("Gift Fund") and VolunteerMatch, showed Americans who volunteer their time and skills to nonprofit organizations donate an average of 10 times more money to charity than people who don’t volunteer. If you engage their heart in serving, their giving goes up. Conversely if you clearly teach your people about biblical giving, thereby increasing their financial support, they will be more likely to serve, since they now have a greater heart interest in the ministry. Pastor testimonials show that a clear, compelling, and unapologetic teaching of biblical giving principals on an annual basis increase giving 10-30% or more each year.

Addressing both the financial need and the need for workers is done in similar fashion. As churches learn from annual stewardship programs or capital stewardship campaigns, to get people committed to giving you need to do four things. First, you need to provide the biblical basis for what you are asking; you need to lay the spiritual groundwork. Secondly, you need to clearly communicate the need that exists. The third step is to clearly and unapologetically make the call to action - tell them what you need them to do and challenge them to a specific action (exhortation). Finally, the last step and the one where many churches miss the boat, you need to hold them accountable to respond. While you may not feel as comfortable with this step as the others, you have to take seriously what James said, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

All too often pastors across America will just toss the concept of giving out there and hope the congregation responds. People need to be exhorted in the truest sense of the word. Strong's Concordance has, as the definition for exhort (parakalountev), "to call to one's side, summon, admonish, beg, encourage, and instruct." The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines exhort as "to incite by argument or advice : urge strongly." From the pulpit we need to lead, instruct, and exhort in every sense of the word. In general, most people only rise to the lowest level of expectation. In large part if you toss important ideas out there hoping they will act, the people will probably think about it, but not act. Often times they only think about it until the end of service.

If there is one thing we learn from church fundraising, you have to have personal dialog with people to get them to invest, whether it is their time or their money. You have not because you ask not. But only asking from the pulpit makes it a general issue and everyone assumes someone else will step up to the challenge, and when no one does, people generally don't feel bad because the are just doing (or not doing) what everyone else is. Exhorting means you not only need to make it clear over several weeks from the pulpit, but you also need to get face to face with people and make the personal appeal by exhorting them in the truest sense of the word. At the end of the day, it will be a blessing to the church and to the person giving of their time, talent, and treasure. So get out there and preach it, teach it, beg if you need to, and incite your people to a Godly response.

Amen to the Manhattan Declaration

2009-11-20T21:22:00.002-05:00

I know this is off topic, but how can I not give voice to support this declaration. If you don't know about the Manhattan Declaration, I urge you to read the press kit and visit their web site. On their site you too can be a signatory to this incredible statement of Christian faith and principle.

I love the closing paragraph, found just above the signatures of the original signers, that provides such a clear an succinct summary and clear statement. You too can sign, as I did.

Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's.

All I can say is AMEN!

How To: Estimate a Church Building Program Budget

2009-05-09T14:48:00.010-04:00

"What man would build a tower without first counting the cost?? - Jesus

Millions of dollars every year are wasted on church building plans that churches cannot afford to build. Many churches let the church building project define the budget, instead of letting the budget drive the design of the church. This simple transposition of steps in the process takes a toll on churches in terms of cost, time, effort, enthusiasm, and support for the project.

Design is part of the building process. Counting the cost does not mean sending your plans to the builder for an estimate. Counting the cost means understanding what you can afford before you begin. There are a great number of church building plans available, and any number of church architects that will create more, but knowing what you can afford is a necessary step before you concern yourself with design.

In my book, Preparing to Build, I discuss this in great length, but below is a basic formula that any church can use to get an first approximation of their budget for a building program.

There are 4 basic variables in determining your budget. Those 4 variables are added together to determine the preliminary budget. Often, early in the process, the church will have to use estimates for these values and refine them later in the process.

The four variables:

Cash on hand: This is the amount of money available which can be applied to the building program. This would include whatever amount of money in checking, savings, money market or CD's you want to use.
Money you can borrow: The maximum that any church can borrow in a loan or bond program is 3-4 times its current income; and is often less. Borrowing ability is based primarily on cash flow, not the value of assets.
Money you can raise from the sale of assets: This may be your current location (if you are moving), a parsonage, or real estate. If you owe any money on the asset you are selling, it will be the net cash to the church after paying off the debt.
Money you can raise before construction: This is typically money raised in a church capital campaign. In a 3 year capital campaign, churches typically raise between one and three times the current amount of their annual tithes and offerings, with around two times income being the average.

Our formula then becomes:

Cash on hand ___________

Money that can be borrowed _____________

Money from sale of assets _____________

Cash that can be raised before construction _______________

Your budget _____________________

If your church needs assistance in answering the budget questions and/or defining what it truly needs to build, I would suggest downloading this pdf file about a Needs and Feasibiltiy Study.

If your church needs a capital campaign, we can help. Our church capital campaign consultants can provide everything from a full-blown capital campaign to a do-it-yourself capital stewardship campaign that you run in-house.

The Most Asked Question in Church Construction

2009-08-04T19:58:00.011-04:00

"How much will it cost to build the church?" is by far the most asked question we receive.

This is a very important question, and one worthy of an accurate response.  Everyone wants to know how much it costs per square foot to build a church.  The REAL answer is this: All I or anyone else, including your local builder, can do is guess (we professionals call this "estimating") - until there is a real set of church plans. Anything else is just a guess, and not one you can hold someone to, at that.

Can an experienced church builder look at a concept drawing of a church plan and get pretty close on cost?


Yes they can.  I have been blessed to be be uncannily close on several projects - simple because, like a builder, this is something at which I have experience.  However, when you talk to someone who does not specialize in church construction, or worse, someone who gives you a lowball estimate just to try to get a business relationship going, the church can end up in trouble.  There is no way most churches know if their builder is really honest and capable until it is too late. To make it worse, most architects don't really know what a church will really cost to build - ask just about any builder and they will probably tell you the same thing.

Most churches push their budget to the max in order to build all they can afford.  A church can easily into the design process and spend several ten's of thousands of dollars on plans based on a bad guess or deceptive estimate. When the church gets the real construction bids and find out they can't afford the building, they then have to pay even more to have the plans redrawn.  This is not only a waste of money, but of time and momentum.

There are two ways to solve this problem:

The first is to NOT do the tradional Design-Bid-Build approach where you don't find out how much the building will cost until after it is designed.  A better approach is to put together a team consisting of the architect, engineer, and builder to work the process together, getting pricing estimates all during the design process so that by the time the building is designed, it is also priced.  This is commonly referred to as the team build approach. Team build differs from design/build by virtue of the fact that both the architect and the builder work for the church, an important distinction.

The second way is through the use of a new church plan offering that allows churches to buy detailed plan sets from previous building programs for only $895.  Starting with any one of the 200 or so church plans on ChurchPlanSource.com, the church can find a plan that is very close to what they want to build in size and general seating capacity.  The church can then buy detailed blueprints in PDF format and submit them to a builder for pricing.

Once the church determines it can afford the building, the changes to the plan are made to make it the church's own.  The key to making this work is to find a building that is as close as possible to what the church needs.  Non-structural changes to room layouts and reconfiguring space will not greatly affect the price of the building, so the church can have construction drawings completed with the confidence they know the final price.  Even if the building needs to be resized soemwhat, the cost per square foot for the church will be approximately the same.  If it cost $100/sqft to build a 10,000sqft building, it will probably be the same price per square foot to build a 9,000 or 12,000sf building based on the same plan. Personally, I find these sample plan sets to be very helpful.  All too often churches don't believe me when I tell them how much a building project will take.  They are always sure they can get it done much cheaper.  For churches with unrealistic expectations, this is a great way to confirm if they can actually build it for what they believe.  If they can, Praise God, if not, they have lost very little.  (I may not have been able to keep them from shooting themselves in the foot, but I did at least switch them to a lower caliber that made a smaller hole. LOL)

If your church is in a hurry for whatever reason, it can have church building plans in hand in days instead of weeks or months. The full sample plan set in PDF format can be used to:

Get an accurate cost, or better yet, a firm bid, from a builder.

Be submitted as part of your inital loan application package.

Used for a preliminary plan review meeting with your local building department.

Uses as a planning document to communicate desired changes, and much more...

Go to ChurchPlanSource.com for more information and pricing.

Timing a Church Capital Campaign

2009-09-27T21:36:00.007-04:00

Many churches in the past year have postponed building programs due to economic uncertainty. Even though building may be 1, 2 or even 3 years away, the wise church will be preparing now for a future building program. One of the keys to becoming financially prepared to build is to execute a capital campaign well in advance of building, or even before talking to lenders about borrowing (for more on this subject see my post, The Year of the Church Capital Campaign).

As we enter into the fall, now is the time we are helping equip churches to execute a capital campaign in the 1st quarter of 2010. Now is the time to begin to implement a campaign timeline and strategy, recruit capital campaign committee members, and integrate your campaign into the church's calendar. There are a number of things the church can do to prepare the way; to prepare the fields and sow some seed that will increase the spiritual and financial effectiveness of your capital campaign next spring.

By the time of this post, most of those churches planning a Christmas play or pageant have already begun to organize and mobilize for this event. If you give 3 months to preparing for the Christmas play (a one-day event), how much more time should you give to preparing for a capital campaign which is much more complex and lasts for 6-7 weeks?

All too often churches underestimate the time and effort that goes into preparing for an effective capital campaign. There are several topics for messages, if not entire sermon series, that should proceed the "actual campaign". There are scheduling issues that need addressed, recruiting, organization, and equipping that needs to be done before you even begin!

Churches that wait until after the first of the year to begin to move on a spring capital campaign will find themselves pressed for time and having deal with more stress and complications than necessary. The church that does not plan ahead will make this wonderful event a burden, not a joy to the staff and committee members. It will, in all likelihood, end up negatively impacting the spiritual effectiveness and financial benefit of the campaign. The earlier your church begins to prepare for its capital campaign, the more effective the campaign will be, and the least stressful for those involved.

Church Financing - Still a Tough Market

2009-06-02T15:28:00.006-04:00

Churches continue to have difficulty getting the financing they need for buildling or relocation. We have seen any number of churches that should be able to get financed turned down by lender after lender. Many churches that are getting turned down for financing today could have been financed a year ago with exactly the same financial statements. The biggest impediment to financing is inadequate cash flow - not enough money left after expenses to service a mortgage. Unlike previous years, lenders are not willing to wager that the church will reduce discretionary expenses to service a mortgage or increase income because of growth. Today, lenders want to see 6-12 monts of financial history showing a cash surplus sufficient to cover a mortgage.

Many churches are qualifying for loans, they're just qualifying for significantly less than last year, and less than they need for the church plans they have. For churches that cannot qualify for as as large of a loan as they need in order to build, they need to raise the difference in cash.

There are three things that a church can do to improve cash flow. The church needs to apply a sharp knife and cut expenses, it needs to faithfully preach and teach about giving and stewardship, and it needs to run a capital campaign (which will also help with coming up with the cash difference between what they need and what they can borrow).

Cutting expenses is difficult, but a necessity for many who want to build. Trimming expenses and increasing income and cash on hand through a capital campaign is the financial answer to many of today's church financing problems.

Pastors Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

2009-08-13T16:49:00.010-04:00

Last year, you may recall that the bottom fell out of the economy.

According to a survey conducted by Brian Kluth of over 1,000 churches, 29% of the responding churches reported giving was down in 2008, and 53% of churches reported giving was behind budget for the first quarter of 2009. The amazing finding was in the face of these statistics, only 14% of churches made cuts to their 2009 budget. At face value, this would seem to indicate that at at least 15% of churches are going to be faced with severe budget shortfalls this year.

However, if the 53% of churches who were behind budget early in the year don't architect a financial turn around, many of them could be seriously behind budget for the year. This could put a number of churches in the position of needing to take some drastic and painful steps later this year or early 2009. One thing is certain, no pastor or board wants to fire staff or reduce important programs and ministries. One might consider this situation to be "the rock."

Churches that are having a hard time meeting budget, are struggling to pay mortgages, or can't afford to hire needed staff have only three options: reduce expenses, increase giving, or a combination of both. Two of the three solutions depend, in whole or in part, upon increasing giving to the church general fund. This brings us to the "hard place"; the Lilly Endowment Studies report that 85% of pastors feel uncomfortable and/or unequipped to preach on giving.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?" The same question might be asked about giving; how can anyone expect to increase giving in the church if 7 out of 8 pastor's are unwilling or unequipped to preach on biblical stewardship?

The Kings James Bible has 64 verses that mention hell, and 334 that mention love, however there are reportedly over 2,000 verses (depending on the source quoted) that deal with money and possession. Pastor Randy Alcorn's book, The Treasure Principle, puts the number of these verses at 2,350. Now there are those who will dispute that number, and it is certainly open to debate, but even if the number of verses was overstated by 100%, there would still be 3x more verses about money and possessions than love and hell combined.

Being unwilling to preach and teach on money is not a new problem. Malachi begins in chapter 1 by rebuking the priests for failing to properly oversee worship (particularly the offerings), and failing to properly instruct the nation in God's Law. He goes on to call the people to repentance, not the least of which was the famous "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings."

So what are pastors to do when they feel caught between a rock and a hard place?

The answer is to clearly and unashamedly preach and teach on biblical stewardship and not be afraid to challenge the people to respond. In 1 Chronicles 29:5, King David, after proclaiming his financial support for the building of the temple then clearly challenges the people to give by boldly asking, "Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the LORD?" David clearly threw the gauntlet down and the people responded.

Pastors and church leaders who wish to become equipped to lead their church in biblical stewardship, should consider the Dynamic Giving Toolkit. Pastor testimonials report increases in giving of 10-30% the first year and double digit increases yearly thereafter. The web site asks a very good question, "What would your church do with 10-30% more money?"

The core of the program is the book, Pastor Driven Stewardship by Dr. Rod Rogers. Used by over 1,000 churches in 13 countries, these materials have transformed the members and the giving of churches around the world. If your church needs to retire debt, hire staff, expand ministry, or you just want to avoid painful budget cuts, we think these stewardship materials will teach, equip and challenge you to lead your church in biblical stewardship.

Post a comment and let us know what your church could do with a 30% increase in giving...

Needs & Feasibility Presentation - Recorded Webinar Now Online

2009-11-17T22:33:00.000-05:00

As a volunteer church building consultant for the Congregational Services Group of the NC Baptist Convention, I recently delivered a live webinar on the topic of conduction a church needs and feasibility studies as one of the first steps in a church building program. You may listen to, and view, this presentation online as it describes what a needs and feasibility study is, the process, the goals, and the benefit to the church. Follow this link to view the Church Needs and Feasibility Study Presentation.

How Much Unity Is Enough?

2009-11-17T22:22:00.000-05:00

As you move forward with a church building program (or for that matter, any large endeavor by your church), one of the challenges you will face is the decision about how much unity is enough; whether to try to get every last person in the church to be in agreement about what to do and when.

Allow me to set your expectations; it will probably never happen. In my years of consulting, I have never witnessed 100% unity on the decision to build, or as a result of deciding to build, unity in the decision to raise money for building. Chances are, it probably will not happen in your church either.

If everyone in your church is a sold-out, evangelical, deeply committed, mature Christian ready to do what it takes regardless of the personal sacrifice, you have a chance at 100% unity. It is important to realize the chances of getting 100% buy-in is inversely proportionate to the number of people in the decision process, so if you have more than 3 people in your church, the odds start going down quickly.

Almost every church has at least a few professional naysayers, people who don't want change for the sake of not having to endure change, people that don't understand the Kingdom need, or even agents of the enemy who try to derail good works. So therefore:

100% unity is a goal to hope for, but not one to necessarily hold out for.

How much unity then, is enough? At what point are you delaying a project that is the express wish of the vast majority, in order to attempt to bring the last few sheep into the fold? Honestly, only you can answer this question and should be approached with much prayer. I don't think a church should even remotely consider moving forward with less than 85% concurrence, and I recommend support of 90% or more. That said, however, there is a point of diminishing return where trying to convince that small handful of people will cost you far more than you will gain.

If you think me harsh, please don’t. No one will ever have a greater love for man than Jesus, yet on occasion He was clear in drawing the line and telling people they needed to be on one side or the other. (Lk 18:22, Lk 9:60, Jn 6:60-67). In no way do I mean this to be mean spirited, but there may well come a time when you need to say, "This is as close as we are likely to get, lets move on and let the chips fall where they may." It is important to realize some people will sit on the fence until presented with two clear choices and the exhortation to pick one.

As opposed to those who are merely uncertain or concerned, I have little tolerance for divisive people. I wrote in my book, Preparing to Build, "Some people advance the cause of peace by their absence." It’s often the case of goats and sheep. The difference between a goat and a sheep is the sheep will do what the shepherd tells them to do, and a goat goes "but, but, but..."

Sadly a few unhappy goats often make a whole lot more noise than a church full of contented sheep. I have long suspected, and many pastors have backed me up on this, that for the most part, the malcontents, trouble makers, high maintenance members, sticks in the mud, or whatever you call them, usually give very little of their time or money to ministry work.

I believe the most difficult person to know how to handle is that person, whether they be staff, a deacon, or just a long-term member, who has the best of intentions, but ends up being a sympathetic sounding board for unhappy people and unwittingly undermining both the authority of the leadership of the church and the will of the majority of the church members.

Often times this person considers themselves a genuine peacemaker, but by being overly sympathetic, often gives an appearance of legitimacy and support to contrary opinions. This person, once hearing out the objections, should encourage the dissenting party to place others and their opinions before their own and submit to the will of the leadership and church body.

Those in your church who are part of a very small minority that may not support certain decisions must be willing to say that if they, once their concerns have been heard, need to submit to the will of the church leadership and body. If they cannot get to this place, then it may be best to consider finding another church.

Losing people for any reason is a hard thing for almost any pastor, and hopefully it will not happen because of the building program. However, any time the church does something big, it provides the opportunity for people to come down on opposite sides of the solution. A mature Christian, once having been heard out, will hopefully submit themselves (if not joyfully, then at least quietly) to the overwhelming opinion and desires of the church body. Losing people can be hard, but sometimes the only thing harder is to try to hold onto people who are not in step with the church vision and mission.

Unity in the body is important to God, but He does not expect the church to indefinitely postpone doing His will in order to try to bring along a few people just aren't with the program.

The Year of the Church Capital Campaign

2009-02-12T16:01:00.007-05:00

The banks have money to lend, they just don't seem to want to do it. This week a number of the largest banks were called before Congress who basically told them to make more of the bailout money available for loans. Some lenders have just stopped lending to churches while others are setting the bar so high, that if you can qualify for the loan, you probably didn't need it.

The money is out there, its just not as easy to get. Banks are requiring many times the level of documentation and are lending less. A year ago, a church could reasonably expect to borrow 80% of the appraised value of a completed project (80% Loan to Value or LTV), today if you are fortunate, the lenders may lend you 80% of the project cost (as opposed to project value) and some lenders are talking 60% and 65% loans.

As one lender recently stated to me, "cash flow is King, and cash on hand is Queen." What many lenders will require to see today is
at least 20% of your project cost in cash and a monthly net positive cash flow that is 125% of the loan payment. These criteria make it very difficult for the church to borrow today without significant and time consuming preparation. To qualify for a loan, the church needs money in the bank and a history of positive cash flow. Most churches are not in this situation, even though they have an immediate need to build.

There are three things a church can do to prepare that will help it become qualified to borrow for construction:

1. Reduce Expenses. As the past treasurer of my church I can assure you that almost every budget can be cut, often dramatically. It's never easy, but it can be done. The good news is that trimming the expense side of the ministry requires only commitment and a sharp knife.
2. Increase Income. You need to have the largest possible gap (positive, that is) between income and expense. Increasing income through tithes and offerings is 50% of that battle.
3. Increase cash on hand. Put a line item in the budget for debt retirement even before you get a loan and put the money into savings. Add to this amount whatever you can by increasing giving and decreasing expenses.

Increasing income and cash on hand can both be accomplished through a church capital campaign. (Follow this link to learn more about a church capital campaign. Historically, the vast majority of churches have waited until they were about to build or were in the process before beginning a capital campaign. I believe that many churches that need to build now will not be able to get financing and begin construction until late this year or even this time next year because they cannot meet the new lending requirements of cash on hand and cash flow. Although the church may have equity, even cash equity, if they cannot show a history of positive cash flow, they probably will not be able to get adequate financing.

I believe that many churches are going to come to the hard realization that they cannot get the financing they need and that to qualify will take them many months of demonstrated financial change. I believe we will see a large number of churches want to enter into capital campaigns very soon so they may build next year. Remember, the banks will want to see 6-12 months of reduced expenses and increased giving (due in large part to a church capital campaign) before approving the church loan. The wise church will plan ahead and get their campaign underway as soon as possible. To this anticipated need, we are bringing on additional staff and looking at creative and cost effective ways to help churches execute their capital campaigns.

A Wise Quote, Still True Over 100 Years Later

2009-08-11T14:07:00.003-04:00

I love this quote. It is appropriate in so many circumstances, not the least of which is in church design and construction.

“There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.” - John Ruskin

For more sage words, see these John Ruskin Quotes.

Should Your Church Build In These Times Of Economic Uncertainty?

2008-10-02T16:25:00.006-04:00

I am hearing this question a lot these days, "Should our church build given the economic situation?" While a specific church situation may otherwise dictate, I believe that the general answer is that it should, if certain conditions are true.

Here's my premise. God is bigger than any economic crisis. He's bigger than Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and Wall Street. Sadly our lives don't reflect what our money reminds us. Our forefathers were wise enough to know not to trust the money, that is why they wrote a reminder to us, "In God We Trust", on every bill.

In 2 Corinthians 9:8 Paul says, " And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;"

And Jesus said, "Therefore do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?' or "What shall we drink?' or "What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Matthew 6:31:33.

We have an abundance for every good work, - not sometimes, but always! No one is going to lose their house or go hungry because they gave to the work of the Lord with a joyful heart as they respond to the leading of the Lord. Better to trust the promises of God than our feelings about our present circumstances.

What a great witness, when the entire country is pulling back, for a church to be seen growing forward! I believe a church can, and should, step out in faith and build, regardless of the world's circumstances, if the following conditions are true.

There is a real kingdom need to build. Not "want to", "would like to", or "wouldn't it be cool if", but "you need" to build. This means you are out of room and cannot accommodate the souls that the Lord is sending your way (i.e. you either build or put out a "no vacancy" sign) or it is the long-term and deeply held conviction that you are called to a ministry that you cannot provide for in your current facilities. Your church leadership and church body as a whole need to pray long and hard about the need to build and be in overwhelming concurrence (80% of more) that you truly believe you need to build.
Your church continues to see growth (the exception would be there is just no more room to grow and visitors don't come back).
You know what you need to build and what you can afford to build, given the current finances of the church. This is best accomplished through a needs and feasibility study which will not only answer these questions, but will also be able to gauge the church's readiness to build.
Your church as started or will be soon starting a capital campaign. A capital campaign is a key element in a church building program, and should be begun in advance of the construction. The benefits of a church capital campaign are too many to list here, but one of the advantages is that it will objectively determine whether the congregation will financially support a building program.

The bottom line is this truth; Lord, Your will shall not take me where Your grace will not sustain me. God’s grace is sufficient to meet our needs and accomplish His purposes.

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Timing a Church Capital Campaign

2007-10-21T17:51:00.005-04:00

Timing is critical for churches that want to execute a capital campaign, and preparation for a spring capital campaign needs to start the previous fall (and vice-versa).

A church's capital campaign has 5 phases and it is the third, or public phase, that most church people think of when they talk about a capital campaign. As you will see below, there are two other phases of the campaign that must happen first - and that means the church needs to be getting started in the fall.

A capital campaign takes time to prepare, committees must be formed, people trained, and all of the behind the scenes work to make the campaign happen have to happen before the campaign goes public. As a pastor who recently finished a spring campaign said, "If there was one piece of advice I would give about a capital campaign, it would be to give yourself plenty of time". While their church had a very successful campaign, their short timeline put a great deal of stress and burden on the staff.

The following is a sample time line for a 5 church capital campaign:

Planning & Recruiting: 3 weeks - 3 months
Equipping & Preparation: 5 - 10 weeks
Public Phase: 5 - 8 weeks (Elapsed Time 13 to 20+ weeks)
Receiving Commitments: 1 to 3 weeks
Collection & Follow-up: Typically 3 years

Phase 1 - Planning & Recruiting
This phase can take from 3 weeks to 3 months, depending on size of congregation, method of church governance, availability of staff to the project, and other events on the church calendar. In this phase a general timeline is established, the director and executive committee members are considered and recruited based on job descriptions and gifting. Workers for the various teams or committees may also be solicited during this phase.

Phase 2 - Equipping & Preparation
This phase can last from 5 to 10 weeks, or often even longer. The shorter the time frame for completion, the more intense the effort. It is during this phase that recruitment of workers for the capital campaign teams is completed, training for the stewardship committee is accomplished, and much of the “behind the scenes” background work is completed. The more time the church allows for this phase, the easier it will be for everyone involved.

Phase 3 - Public Phase
It is this phase that most people think of when they conceptualize a capital campaign. This phase can last from 5 to 8 weeks, depending on the size of the congregation and other factors. The goals of this phase are to clearly communicate the need; clearly teach and model stewardship; and for everyone prayerfully consider how the Lord would them contribute to the campaign.

Phase 4 - Capital Campaign Wrap-up Phase
This phase will last from 1 to 3 weeks depending on size of congregation and method of collecting pledges. The major goals are: to have a celebration Sunday to give thanks and Glory to God; collect any remaining pledges; provide a final total to the church; send thank you letters; acknowledge and thank workers; and implement a plan and process to provide regular statements on giving.

Phase 5 - Pledge Collection & Follow-up
This phase consists of the tasks of collecting the monies pledged, providing regular statements to members for pledges received, making regular reports to the congregation on capital campaign pledge receipts, and integrating new members into the program.

Churches will typically raise about twice as much money by utilizing an outside capital campaign consultant than they will on their own. While some churches may be put off by the cost or idea of a consultant, it is easy to see that this is an investment that will pay for itself many times over. A church consultant will lead the church's capital campaign committee and help them apply the best practices that have been developed by the thousands of churches in their own capital campaigns over the decades. By getting started with their campaign at the appropriate time, the church will make it easier and more effective, not only for the capital campaign consultant, but for the church as well.

Captial Campaigns have gotten even more important due to the economic crisis; see this post about financing and church capital campaigns. If your church is interested in a cost-effective capital campaign that offers the flexibility to be anything from a DIY in-house campaign, to a full capital campaign consulting engagement, visit www.OurCapitalCampaign.com

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Time is Running Out for a Fall Church Capital Campaign

2009-06-12T13:31:00.003-04:00

A church capital campaign is not unlike the Christmas play - you begin to prepare months in advance to have the best and least stressful outcome.

The right time to be in front of your congregation for a fall capital campaign is after school is back in session and before the holidays. This provides a smaller window of opportunity for that 6-7 week time of preaching, teaching, and support building than a spring campaign.

If you plan to be raise money this fall, you should begin to organize and prepare your capital campaign team starting before the end of June. This will enable your church to achieve the best results with the lowest stress. Every week that your church delays from this point forward increases the effort and stress of a capital campaign.

For more information on capital campaign timelines, download the PowerPoint presentation on www.OurCapitalCampaign.com.

Raising Money From Outside the Church

2009-05-09T14:23:00.002-04:00

A reader asked about how a church capital campaign can reach outside the church to get money from the community. This is a good question, and I will try to give a clear answer.

The quick answer is that a church capital campaign is not the best tool for obtaining financial support from the community. The reason being that the campaign is strongly based on a Kingdom need and God's provision to meet that need through His people; an approach that will find little traction with most folks outside your church and faith.

Getting support from the community takes a somewhat different approach, and is much more like a grant writing effort than a capital campaign. The similarity to a campaign is you will be creating a case for support. This case for support, however, will focus on the ministry of the church and its measurable impact in the community. It will also be much more extensive, objectively detailing what you do and giving a qualitative analysis of how you have impacted the lives of those you have ministered to, and the impact the community

Essentially, you need to tell the story of what you do and how those programs and ministries are improving or serving the community as a whole. You need to make the case and explain what effect the donation you are seeking will make in the community.

It will also be helpful to research your community, find which businesses give to local charity and religious organizations. Also, you can research if there are any local donors or foundations that support programs in the community. These two sources would be the best place to begin looking for financial support for your church, outside it's four walls.

Announcing The Complete Church Capital Campaign in a Box

2009-04-27T20:21:00.006-04:00

AMI today announces the Abundant Giving Capital Campaign, a complete Church Capital Campaign in Box.

Abundant Giving distinguishes itself from other church capital campaigns by its flexible and cost effective delivery method. Whether you are a small church looking for a DIY capital campaign you can run in-house, a full blown capital campaign consulting engagement, or something in-between; the Abundant Giving program has a offering that is right for your church.

This comprehensive church capital campaign provides detailed documentation including:

A week-by-week schedule
Detailed task lisk
Stewardship sermons & studies
Evaluation copies of Sunday school/small group lessons
Examples of materials from other campaigns
Two complete seminars on giving & stewardship with workbooks
Forms and letters
Electronic copies of the books Pastor Driven Stewardardship and Preparing to Build.
...and much more

Also included in this offering:

Professional layout of your communication materials, using your choice of any of the 250 capital campaign themes.
Digital, print-ready artwork - ready for your printer, or ours.
Your choice of three levels of support and training to insure your church has a spiritually and financially successful capital campain.

Comprehensive enough for large campaigns, cost-effective enough for even the smallest churches, all of this, and more, is offered at a refreshingly low price that makes it affordable for churches of any size. More information is available at www.OurCapitalCampaign.com.

Capital Campaign Feedback

2009-03-02T12:37:00.004-05:00

I had a status call today with a church capital campaign client this morning, and the chairperson had a most insightful and encouraging comment. The church is two weeks away from their Committment Sunday when everyone will bring their initial offerings and ongoing peldge commitments for the 3-year giving period.

His comment to me was the leadership team felt that they already had a successful campaign and that if they were to call it quits today and not take up the collection and pledges, that their campaign was worth it in terms of spiritual growth, team building, unity, and involvment of such a large part of the body. Praise the Lord, that's the way it should be; like I say, it is not about the money.

SonRise

2009-02-12T15:39:00.007-05:00

Depending on your point of view, this either has nothing to do with church construction, or it is the whole point. I was blessed with a copy of this sunrise photo taken by Bob Freeman who is a member of the capital campaign team at Metrocrest Church in Coppell, Texas. I think Bob's camera caught a glimpse of God "doodling" for His pleasure and Glory.

This image of the cross in the clouds appeared and disappeared in a matter of seconds, but serves to remind us of a couple of things.

That is by the grace of God that the sun rises anew each day, and with the new day, His grace and mercy are renewed as well.
And that soon, Jesus will return again, the "SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. "

Take a moment and enjoy the SonRise.

Used With Permission - Freeman Photography of Coppell

Don't Complain About Your Church Building

2009-01-19T15:24:00.005-05:00

The next time you are feeling like complaining that your church building is too small, too crowded, too cold, too dark, or that the building is preventing you from growing, think about this picture.

This is a picture of an unregistered Baptist congregation that met in the forest for 10 years because they were not allowed to have a building during the Soviet era. This picture was taken just outside what is now Kiev, Ukraine. No matter what you don't like about your building, I would wager they would have been very thankful for what you have.

Notice the Lord's Supper table in front of the congregation. How many of our churches would have 30 or more people for a service where they had to walk to church and then stand in the snow to hear a sermon, and do so in defiance of a government that was not too keen on human rights??

Photo & story courtesy of FrontLine Missions, www.frontlinemissions.info. I urge you to support FrontLine Missions or any organization that is taking the Word into areas of persecution and oppression.

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Economic Crisis Affecting Capital Campaigns

2008-11-30T13:33:00.007-05:00

Depending on what part of the country the church is in, the current economic downturn most likely affected the results of capital campaigns that were kicking off this fall. Based on the results of our church capital campaigns that were already in the planning stage for kickoff this fall, pledge commitments received are substantially less than the estimates made before the downturn. In areas especially hard hit, such as areas supported by the big three auto makers, commitments were as little as 50% of the expected range of results. In areas less impacted, results were off as little as 15% of the expected results.

It seems people are hunkering down, holding onto their money, and avoiding long range financial commitments.

In large part, it seems that commitments are reduced more because of uncertainty as to how much worse it may get before it gets better, than to real current economic hardship.

Historically, national economic stress generally has very little impact on giving. According to research from the Giving USA Foundation, which analyzes charitable fundraising, giving increased an average of 8.4 per cent in years without a recession and by 6.2 percent in years with a recession (in current dollars, before adjusting for inflation). The average rate of change in giving during a recession is a drop of only 1 percent, the foundation reports. In the worst recession year for giving, 1974, contributions dropped a total of 5.4 per cent.

The current downturn in long term giving commitments then is most likely due to the FUD factor - fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

What this means for spring 2009 capital campaigns is anyone's guess and depends a great deal on what happens over the next few months with respect to the credit crunch, major industry, and employment. More bad news will certainly not improve the FUD factor, but we need to keep the faith. If you have a need to build and you believe that God is calling you to build, then rest in the promise that He will meet your needs. Your task then is to count the cost, separate needs from wants and go forward in faith.

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt; these things are not of God. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

I'd love to hear how your fall capital campaign fared. Please post a reply with details of goal and commitment amounts. Your input will help other churches plan their capital campaigns.

You may also be interested in reading my October blog post, "Should churches build in these times of economic uncertainty?"

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Save on Church Design Using Pre-developed Plans

2007-07-29T17:07:00.002-04:00

Churches can save 50% or more on the cost of church design services by utilizing church building plans from previous building projects. Churches today have the option of buying existing plans from church architects at huge savings over custom designed plans. While options like this have been around for several years, this is a concept that is just coming into its own.

For a brief explanation of why church design costs are often unnecessarily high, see this explanation on this church architect's web site. The long and short of it is that architects often price church design projects as if they were doing all the work from scratch, when in many cases, they are taking plans from previous projects and, due to the wonders of Computer Aided Design (CAD) they are able to make changes and save the revisions without having to do everything from scratch.

Several firms now offer stock church plans for as low as $5,000, but don't think this is going to be the total cost of your church design. While these are wonderful prices and will save tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in design, any set of stock plans will need to be modified to meet local, state and federal building codes. Changes to the floor plan to alter the layout to the churches desires will also add to the cost, however, with all these changes, the church can expect to save 50-80% over the cost of custom plans.

Stock church plans will certainly not include site plans or civil engineering; and what is offered for the price varies from firm to firm. For instance, as of this writing, both DigitalChurchPlans.com and ChurchPlansforLess.com offer as-is, uncertified plans with prices starting at little as $2,995 while ChurchDevelopment.com offers plans that are customized to the churches specifications and approved through the permitting process for a cost that is significantly less of customized building plans. With the uncertified plans, the church purchases the building plans and has the them modified to their needs, either by a local architect or the firm providing the plans.

In addition to saving huge amounts of money in the design process, the church will save weeks or months in the design process. The as-is, uncertified plans offer an additional benefit in that the church can submit plans to contractors for bids much earlier in the process and for a much lower investment in time and money. This is especially important as most churches underestimate the cost of construction, so getting a price based on actual plans that are very similar to what will actually be built will give the church a reality check before they spend (typically) tens of thousands of dollars on plans that they cannot afford to build.

For information on a service that will take the church's building needs and search all available sources of existing plans, I offer a church building plan search.

Intro to Church Design & Construction

2007-07-29T15:48:00.001-04:00

I've been threatening to do this for a long time, so I am starting this Church Design & Construction blog to provide a forum to share some of the experiences and things I learn as a church building consultant. I have been involved in ministering to churches that planning to build for nearly 8 years. It all began in a small town far far away as the building committee chair-person for a church plant. One of the first things that I did once I was "volunteered" for the role was to start researching on the Internet for information on church building. 10 years ago, their was precious little information to be found, but I eventually found a ministry orientated group of men that provided some guidance in the process. From the time they first appeared in our church to help train and lead the building committee in the process, I began to be drawn to providing this service for other churches.

Today, just over a decade later, by the grace of God, I am a published author and a successful church construction and capital stewardship campaign consultant. The purpose of this blog will be to share tips, real-world examples, information, and guidance on church design, church construction and church financing; to help the church in its mission to win souls for the Kingdom of Christ.

God is a God of Order

2007-08-01T23:14:00.001-04:00

The scriptures say that God is not the author of confusion. I had the pleasure of presenting the results of my needs and feasibility study today to a congregation that has needed to build for several years. In analyzing church and Sunday school attendance, it was apparent that this church had "hit the ceiling" several times on capacity over the past 10 years and then dropped back in attendance, always oscillating up and down past their maximum sustainable limit.

Conventional building and church growth wisdom tell us that a church is effectively full when it is at 80% of capacity, and this church certainly bore that out, with Sunday school at 80% of capacity, sanctuary seating at 85% and parking at 80%, the church just could not grow. The church knew they needed to do something, but was split almost 50-50 on how to address the question.

Enter the church building consultant. Within 90 days, the pertinent data on attendance, finances, land and ministry needs was collected and analyzed along with information that came out of personal interviews, congregational and community surveys and demographic studies. In the final analysis, neither of the two proposed solutions would have provided any long term growth to the church. This was not the fault of the church, for they had no real experience or training that would have equipped them for this work. They did not have was the experience to understand the proper questions to ask and to then evaluation the answers in a manner that would indicate the proper building strategy.

Knowing what process to follow, what questions to ask and what the answers mean brought the church from disorder to order, with a firm and sensible plan for the future, in just 3 months and will equip this ministry to make a greater impact on their area and win more souls for the kingdom. If you don't have this type of expertise in your church (and few do), there is no shame in getting some outside counsel; after all both Moses and Solomon got outside, expert help for their building program.

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Cheap Fix for Church's Acoustical Problems

2007-08-12T16:20:00.001-04:00

A local church recently moved into their new facilities. sanctuary is multi-purpose, with the permanent, and larger, sanctuary yet to be built. This multi-purpose space has a nice hardwood basketball court type flooring, a high ceiling and hard, flat, tall and parallel walls typical of multi-use space.

Like most similar spaces, the acoustics leave much room for improvement due in large part to sound bounce (reverberation). Sound from the speakers goes out nicely over the congregation, kits all of these nice hard surfaces and bounces (echos) all over the room. This echo greatly impacts the listening experience, making music less clear and vocals much harder to understand.

There are a number of solutions that will help remedy this, many of them quite expensive. I was quite intrigued by a number of posts on the internet talking about using Sonotubes(R) to diffuse sound to keep it from bouncing around. Sonotubes are not some magical acoustic treatment, they are the tubes contractors use as forms for pouring concrete pillars. Like a paper roll tube on steroids, these industrial grade cardboard tubes, when cut in half and mounted on the wall, diffuse the sound, scattering it instead of echoing it, greatly improving sound quality. Carefully cut in have and mounted to the wall, they look like architectural treatments. To see the concept, see www.jdbsound.com/work/art558.html.

While you can have an audio consultant come in and solve the problem, many churches have little money after a building program to spare, so here is the "poor man's" solution.

Get a number of Sonotubes (new not used) and carefully cut them down the middle. Typically you will use either the 18" or 24" tubes. Dress the cut edges so they are straight and smooth. Working from the pictures from the web site above, place the Sonotubes against the walls directly across the room from the stage area and on the sides as needed. What you are trying to do is to break up the large flat wall areas with the diffusers. One church I read about placed the tubes on boards and leaned the boards against the walls, moving them around and experimenting to get the best sound. Once you know the location and spacing, then the church can permanently mount them to the wall, usually flush to the wall. Paint the tubes the same color as the wall and voilla, instant sound improvement and architectural treatment! It was even suggested by a friend that you could put lights in them like a large wall sconce to provide indirect lighting.

That said, the best way to solve these types of acoustical problems is to avoid them in the first place by getting an Audio/Visual engineer involved during the design process. However, if you have already built and need an inexpensive solution, this may work the trick.

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Turning Around a Church Building Program Gone Bad

2007-10-12T21:30:00.001-04:00

As the poet Robert Burns so accurately stated, "The best laid plans of mice and go oft awry.". Even more so, plans go even more awry when they are not so well laid, especially in church building programs. If your church building program gets into hot water, or never seems to get off the ground, it may be time to regroup, and that my mean getting some outside help.

Building programs that never really get off the ground are certainly not uncommon. I know of churches that have had regular meetings for years (the record is 11 years) without managing to build anything. I heard of another church that went on long enough to have 2 building committee chairs die in office. If your building program is much talk and little action , it will inevitably be found to suffer from one or more of these four conditions:

Lack of real need,
Lack of good process,
Lack of effective leadership, or
Lack of faith.

The first and last are between you and God. A good consultant can help with the other two.

A building program that is in hot water nearly always will get there through a lack of proper planning. The three biggest mistakes that churches make in this regard are unrealistic expectations, failure to count the cost, and failing to objectively understand their needs.

I have been a part of rescuing building programs that were stalled or in hot water. Depending on the situation, the church may need to back up and do a full needs and feasibility study or at least an assessment to see where the building program got off in the weeds and to make the necessary adjustments to get it back on track. Having an outside authority come in and lead the church though an analysis not only helps get the church building program back on track, but will also help restore the confidence of the church membership. This analysis may require changing the scope of the building program to one the church can afford, or it may just help highlight and confirm what the church felt it needed, but did not have the objective evidence on which to make an informed decision.

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