Have you ever hear of a church pastor or church member that mentioned of problems or even disasters that happened during a church building program. Things they would have done differently or things that they should have done before they started. The following are a listing of 10 common mistakes that church building committees make. We offer this list so that you may avoid the same pitfalls that many churches find themselves.

 

Yes, you realize you need more space but what kind of space do you need? 
  • Can existing space be utilized, or will you have to add to your building? 
  • Do you have the land to expand? 

These questions and many others should be answered during a needs analysis or master plan study. This study or "master planning" should be done by your architect before the church proceeds with any plan development or fund raising involving the membership at large. Having an unbiased, outside source to do a study allows a better view of the church's needs. Once the church gets beyond the emotions and feelings, they can see the facts. A master plan study is simply understanding where the church is now and what it wants to be 10 to 20 years from now. This ensures that what the church does today does not prohibit the growth it needs to do in the future. This includes not only in the location of an addition, but also the internal relationship of spaces within the church. 

Proper planning should allow the church to build a building that can be added on to without having to tear-up an asphalt parking lot that was paved just last year.

The master planning process will help the church determine how much building is needed to meet your ministry's needs. Do not fall into the limited thinking of not building enough. Build for the future's needs (5 years from now) so that you are not overcrowded the day you move in. Remember, that the total time for the planning, designing of the building and the construction of the facility may take a much as 2 years, so plan adequately for the future. Build your church to accommodate growth.

Selecting an architect who does not understand how you worship, and generally does not understand what goes on in a church, can be the foundation for the failure of your building program. Your architect should be a Christian that is involved in his own church (such as a deacon or a teacher) so that he truly understands the detailed functions that should be incorporated within a church facility. The architect being considered should also have had much experience in designing church facilities. Why let an architect practice and make mistakes on your church with your money? Check out at least 10 recent church references that an architect has listed. See the resource link concerning the proper procedure for selecting an architect. 


Selecting a contractor is equally as important. Check their references closely asking if the contractor was late paying their subcontractors, how they worked with the church during the construction process, and what was the quality of workmanship. If there are any indications of instability, you do not want anything to do with this company. Selecting a Christian builder is not enough to ensure that he will be upright in his dealings with you. Remember, the best plans can be ruined by an inexperienced and under-financed contractor with good intentions.

Not budgeting for all of the expenses involved with the construction or not budgeting adequately will probably leave the church financially strapped resulting in hurting other ministries or it will shut-down the building program all together. There are many cost that are incurred by the church over and beyond the cost for constructing the building. Many of these are itemized on the link entitled "BUDGET CONCERNS". We have listed them for your consideration to include into a complete budget that should contain all costs. Also, do not lose the trust that the congregation has in the building committee by making the mistake of presenting the "total expenses required for construction" until the final bids are in from the contractor and your are sure that all other non-construction costs have been included in your budget.

 

Some times, the size of your building that is designed is determined by how many parking spaces can be developed on the property. Unfortunately, many visitors will not stop (or stay) at your church if they can not find a parking spot. There is no logic in designing a new sanctuary for 1000 people if you can only support enough cars for 500 people. The parking lot should have room for growth. A proper ratio for planning purposes should be 2 people per car. Do not make the mistake of applying the local code requirement of 3 to 4 people per car that are unrealistically low.

 

There are many more concerns to selecting property for a new church than the location and price. Property that is selected for the intended use in mind will enhance the success of the building program. There are many issues such as easy access, visibility from the main road, land usability, zoning, and many other restrictions that have major impact on the property. The discussion of these issues are on the link entitled "PROPERTY SELECTION". The days are gone when you could go out, buy a plot of land and build a church on it without thinking about other impacts of the property. Now there are numerous environmental, regulatory, and numerous restriction issues to investigate.

 

You can have great planning, great drawings, a beautiful and environmentally friendly site, and room for all of the cars, yet without proper financing, all of your plans will lie in a drawer gathering dust. Start early talking about your financing capabilities being realistic about how much you can afford. However, do not make the mistake of limiting God as to how much he has planned to bless you and to limit the plans for growth He has for your church. It is difficult to know the true potential for raising funds within your church without much continued prayer. The planning of the building and the fund raising efforts must go hand-in-hand. 

As a rule-of-thumb, your church should be able to raise 1 to 1-1/2 times your member's annual giving. Also, a general guide for borrowing money is that a lending institution will lend a church approximately 3 times its annual budget. Many churches do not want to borrow money for construction, but remember that the contractor must be paid while the building is going up, not at the end of a three year member commitment campaign.

One final word , tell your congregation that you have good news. The good news is that you have all the money that your church needs for the building program .... the bad news is that the money is still in your wallets!

 

In order to obtain a building permit, the city, county and/or state fire marshal's office must review and approve your drawings which are prepared by your architect. These agencies will have the authority to require additional work that was not originally anticipated. It is our experience that the review agencies are requiring more special construction issues for church facilities than ever before. This equates to higher construction costs. If your architect works with these agencies early during the design process, the permitting is typically easier and may have less of these requirements placed on your building. If you do not try to work with them, they my take an defensive position or one of not trying the help the church. This situation can cause a lengthy review process, which will delay construction start and to increase the construction cost.

 

A building program is a huge responsibility concerning the growth of the church's ministries and spending wisely the monies of the congregation. This responsibility should not be solely taken by the pastor or the chairman of the building committee. The importance of a committee is to spread out the responsibility from what might be on just one individual. Your pastor should not be the head of a committee. Let him continue to do his job as pastor of the church, and let the building committee take on the work of the building program. Use your committee wisely by delegating within the committee and to other subcommittees.

 

How easy it is for us to miss opportunities to see God work right in front of us each day. Prayer should be a part of each committee meeting to direct the church in it decisions. But do not forget the important work that your architect is doing everyday at his office...pray for him and his staff. Also, during the construction, pray for the safety of the contractor's workers everyday. Make it a challenge to each member of the church.

 

Do not wait to the end of the construction to celebrate. There are many steps along the way to celebrate. For instance, you might want to celebrate when you complete the master plan designs and when you complete the fund-raiser. I challenge you to come up with some other goals that might be a major goal that was achieved. This will keep up the interest within the church and will encourage the members to continue to support the process with their prayers and finances.

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             6105 Preservation Drive - Chattanooga, TN 37416  Phone:  423-894-3242  mail@churchdesigners.com