How Important Is a Building? (part 2)

by Thom S. Rainer and Sam S. Rainer III

Ken is the new pastor of an established church in the bedroom community of a large Midwestern city. Like many pastors still in their first 100 days on the job, he is beginning to recognize that he inherited many things with his new role—good and bad, healthy and unhealthy. But he’s quickly learned that one aspect of his new church is the talking point for many first-time guests: the building and facilities. “Wow, your church is beautiful. I love the prayer garden and the coffee shop. And the foyer is huge!” “I’m impressed with your church building. All the signs made it really easy to find my way around.”

Ken has heard several compliments like these from guests since arriving at the church. Even though he’s been a pastor for a few years, he’d never before considered the importance of a church building. Of course, the true focus of a church should be to make disciples of all people, but Ken now views his church facilities as an important “first impression” that can hinder or help in reaching people for Christ.

Through a major research project with a group of church builders, including Cogun, Aspen Group and The Cornerstone Knowledge Network, we discovered several surprising insights about church facilities. In the last issue of Outreach, we discussed four of these findings. In this issue, we’ll conclude with four more discoveries of how a church building can aid a body of believers in attracting the unchurched.

5. A “third place” area draws people to a church building. A “third place” area is a social gathering point, such as a coffee shop, outside the usual community environments of work and home. As the importance of these gathering areas grows in our society, churches that provide places for the community to socialize throughout the week are much better positioned to reach the unchurched people in their neighborhoods.

6. Church gyms are not appealing to the unchurched. Many pastors hear their members saying that building a gym will help attract the unchurched in their community. Our research, however, found the exact opposite to be true—one of the church areas considered least important to the unchurched was a gym. In general, gyms or fitness centers serve their current membership and have little effect on attracting the unchurched.

7. The church building is rarely a cause of conflict. Our research dispelled the axiom that church facilities or building programs are major instigators of church conflict. We found little to no conflict directly attributed to the church building. Additionally, the formerly unchurched people we interviewed perceived little conflict surrounding the church facilities.

8. The church building aids evangelistic efforts. A building is certainly not a necessity piece in obeying the evangelism imperative, but appealing church facilities can increase a newly churched person’s comfort level in inviting others to church. This invitation plays a huge role in the process of seeing people come to Christ. Our research demonstrates that the most evangelistically successful churches have facilities that people perceive as attractive.

Church buildings come in a variety of sizes and ages. And today’s churchgoers happily worship in a collage of venues, styles and locations. But our research shows that while secondary to reaching people’s hearts, a church building can have an important impact on the unchurched. Recognizing the influence of your church’s facilities can help your congregation successfully reach the unchurched in your community.

Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources (lifeway.com). Sam S. Rainer III is the president and CEO of Rainer Research (rainerresearch.com) and author of the Outreach blog, “Church Forward” (churchforward.outreachmagazine.com). To dialogue with them about this column, contact them at Trainer@Outreachmagazine.com.

Read How Important Is a Building (part 1)

-Excerpted from Outreach magazine, "Surprising Insights," November/December 2007

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