3 Signs It May Be Time to Wait On Expansion
It’s important to know when and how to expand your church. Researching options on how to expand your church — whether it’s a new building, an addition to your current building, or a big-box conversion — will help you decide what is best for your church’s unique situation. It will also help you better understand what goals to work towards and what elements need to be improved beforehand.
As important as your how is your when. Although it is extremely exciting to think about and plan for your church’s expansion, the right timing could make or break long-term success for your church’s expansion. One of the most important questions you need to honestly ask is, are we fully ready to expand, or do we need to wait?
Waiting is not a negative thing. In fact, waiting can provide your church valuable time to define your church’s vision, refine its financial health, and nurture its future growth.
Knowing whether it’s time to expand or wait is an important decision to make. There are signs to look for if it’s time to expand. But just as importantly, there are signs that it may be best to wait to expand. Knowing how your church functions — inside and out — is crucial in determining your church’s next steps.
How is the health of the children’s ministry areas? Is the parking lot congested, or is there ample space? Is your Sunday service overflowing, or are there plenty of empty seats ready to welcome new guests?
Genuinely understanding the functioning of each of these elements is essential in gauging where your church is and where it wants to go.
Here are three signs that it may be time to wait on your church’s expansion.
No Clear, Unified Vision
As you know, your church isn’t a building, it’s a community. That’s why it’s essential to ensure everyone understands where your church is now, and where it wants to be in the future. Even if some disagree, is everyone clear with the church’s vision and goals? Are there areas of hesitancy, division, or uncertainty that must be addressed?
Use this time to create closer community and cohesion among your volunteers, staff, and leadership. Ask honest questions, and be willing to hear honest feedback. Whether it’s how the children’s department flows and functions, or asking how straightforward your parking lot functions, ask questions. Once you get feedback, pull in volunteers and leaders that are excited and willing to help increase the flow, health, and simplicity of your church’s services and events.
Ensuring that the majority understands and supports your church’s goals and vision will help your future expansion go smoother. Ensuring they feel ownership and excitement of the vision will build a deeper sense of togetherness and create a solid platform to propel from once it’s time to expand your church.
Not Financially Healthy
Understanding where your church is financially — good or bad — is vital. If your church isn’t financially stable or healthy, this is a great time to figure out why and how to create a plan for the future.
This realization can be a challenging but necessary reality check. You don’t need to feel overwhelmed or alone regarding your church’s finances. Consider honest conversations with key leaders and staff who know the church’s finances, and see what insight they can offer. This is to gain further awareness of any financial areas that should be reassessed, refocused, or removed altogether.
In addition, hiring a financial consultant will provide unbiased feedback on your finances and help you establish a game plan to work towards your church’s financial needs and goals. Being honest and proactive with your church’s financial climate now will only help your church’s future expansion plans to succeed later.
Not Seeing Consistent growth
If your church isn’t experiencing consistent growth or isn’t at 80% capacity or more in service attendance, then waiting to expand might be the best option. Again, this is a great time to figure out why you aren’t experiencing consistent growth in attendance. But before you start considering more things your church can do externally to foster growth, consider evaluating your church body’s internal health.
Do staff members feel heard and supported in their work? Are they given consistent time to rest to avoid burnout? Are volunteers valued and well-equipped for the work that they are asked to do? There are a lot of honest questions that can be asked during this season of productive waiting.
Whether it’s being more consistent and intentional on community outreach, expanding the variety in your classes, or advertising more online and in-person — discover new and current ways to share your church and its offerings if you are not already doing so. There are resources and support available to help you identify your church growth “pain points” and start working towards an increase in growth and an improvement in consistent attendance.
Conclusion
God loves when His people talk to Him. He loves when they gather together and worship Him and offer their future plans to Him. Therefore, understanding the elements required to expand your church, and being willing to wait until you are fully ready, is important.
There are plenty of steps you can take now for your future church build. Waiting can be a beneficial and powerful time you can take advantage of to increase the success of your future church expansion. If your church isn’t quite ready to expand, that’s more than okay!
Consider this time as a gift — a gift to identify, improve and grow — not only as a church but as individuals as well! Be intentional and specific in using your church’s time and energy to create a strong sense of unity, a healthy financial situation, and consistent attendance growth in weekly services.
Call on your people to join in prayer and share the same heart of outreach, effectiveness, and love to both the community and within your own church body.
Psalm 37:23 The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him