How Run-down Facilities Can Exacerbate the Decline in a Church

Episode #055
August 23, 2018
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Facility issues can stall or hinder church growth. Today, we discuss five reasons church facilities can cause decline in your church.

Today’s Listener Question:

FROM MATT

I’m a bivocational pastor at a normative size church. The church has grown a little and we’re to the point where we have to decide if we bring on more bivocational staff (music and kids ministries are volunteer led) or use funds to start upgrading facilities. My gut reaction is that we upgrade the facilities, keep growing, and then hire the staff, but some of my deacons say the opposite. Staff first, then facilities. Help!

Episode Highlights:

  • A run-down church facility tells the community that “we don’t care.”
  • Families will be turned off by run-down or dirty church facilities because they will be worried about the safety of their kids.
  • Churches should be a place of hope in their communities.
  • Do what it takes to get rid of the distractions in your church facility so that people can focus on worship and discipleship.

The five reasons we discuss are:

  1. It communicates to the community “we don’t care”
  2. Parents are fearful of bringing their children
  3. It creates ill will in the neighborhood
  4. It demoralizes the congregation
  5. It is a distraction to the congregation

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and revitalization in your own church, visit ChurchReplanters.com.

Submit Your Question:

Do you have a question about church revitalization or replanting for us to use on the podcast? Visit the podcast page to submit your question. If we use it on the show, you’ll get a copy of Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Reclaiming Glory.

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