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Relocate to a More Promising Location

What is the essence of this choice?

Choose to relocate the meeting place of a congregation for more effective growth and ministry:

• To a location that is closer to where a majority of your membership lives.
  
  
• Where congregational vitality is not negatively impacted by the context.
  
  
• Where a greater chance exists to reach new people into the congregation.

A location that becomes a liability is one that is too small to accommodate the size and diversity of programs, ministries, or activities of the congregation.

Without room to expand in the available space, and after various schedule alternatives have been tried or considered, relocation may be the best choice.

Why not transition to being a congregation who worships at multiple sites?

• This is certainly a viable choice in many situations, and ought to be considered before relocation is attempted.
  
  
• However, the size of the primary congregation’s location may be too small or undesirable, and so relocation is a good choice.
   

Who ought to consider this choice?

Congregations who are at least a generation old whose location has become a liability rather than an asset generally embrace the choice.

It can also apply to younger congregations who did not adequately project their natural growth potential, or were not able to afford a right-sized location during their birth and infancy as a congregation.

Congregations whose full kingdom potential is greater than their current location can accommodate ought to consider this choice.

So should congregations who get in a position where the long-term cost of renovating aging facilities or retrofitting them for a new generation of ministry is greater than the cost of relocating.

At times parking becomes an issue in relocation.

• Four to five decades ago the typical household might only have on car to a family of four or five people.
  
  
• Now it is not unusual to find that a household of three people has three cars at church.
  
  
• Past history indicates that a parking space would be needed for every 2.5 people attending a congregational worship service.
  
  
• Now that figure is almost always less than two people per car, and in some cases is as low as 1.5.
  
  
• Therefore, 40 percent more parking spaces might be needed to accommodate the same number of people as were coming to the church several decades ago.

Effective relocations emerge from the strength of the spiritual, strategic journey of the congregation and represent a natural next step in the journey.
 

What are strategic change and transition issues to address?

Some congregations relocate out of strength.

• Their facilities can no longer contain the size and quality of their ministry.
  
  
• The fulfillment of their kingdom potential requires a relocation of their physical facility.
  
  
• Their current facilities would limit their ability to reach their full kingdom potential.
  
  
• The relocation takes them geographically closer to target groups of people with whom they have already established a positive track record of reaching for worship, programs, ministries, and activities.

Some congregations relocate out of weakness.

• They have lost their ability to reach new people into the active membership of their congregation from their current context so they relocate to a place where they may be able to reach new people into the active membership of their congregation.
  
  
• Their current location is a place that has become so different than who make up the congregation, that they are actually unable to or afraid to reach for church membership people who live in their immediate context.
  
  
• Their cultural positioning makes it difficult for them to love unconditionally the people in the context of their congregation, and if they are to survive, they must relocate.
  
  
• At times this cultural positioning is a permanent cultural position of the congregation, and they have lost the right to minister in their context.
  
  
• At times the congregation has realized that it must as Christian transcend its own cultural positioning and reach out to its context, but it realizes this too late and the context has rejected it.
  
  
• Relocation is a bad choice for congregations to take out of weakness.
  
  
• It is seldom effective in these cases without reinventing the congregation.

A ministry plan or future story is as important as is a facilities plan.

• Often a relocating congregation develops an excellent facilities plan, which is a programs and management focus.
  
  
• They also must develop a ministry plan or future story that will characterize them in their new location, and this helps them focus on vision and relationships of the nature of a spiritual, strategic journey.

Diversity is empowered through relocation as the congregation creates in its new facilities a minimum of three different types of places where worship can occur that reach a different age group, racial or ethnic group, socioeconomic group, persons seeking a Christ-centric faith experience, or persons seeking a spiritual experience that they do not know how to define.

• In a new location a congregation might start out with a multi-cultural vision in mind, and seek to develop a program, ministry, and activities strategy that affirms multiple cultures.
  
  
• It will also be important to develop a multi-cultural staff.

The construction of new facilities, or the renovation of existing facilities in the new location, should focus around a large gathering space or commons, which becomes the crossroads of the congregation where the diversity of people who make up the congregation can meet, greet, connect, and build community.

• Future congregational unity is not in everyone being in a single worship service, but in people having a common place where they can intersect and build deep and meaningful relationships.
   

What are essential resources to have available to embrace this choice?

Readiness, including a sense of urgency.

Case studies to observe and from which to learn. It is essential to discover and dialogue with congregations who have made this choice at least five years ago.

Knowledge of the strategic actions called for by this choice.

A vision incorporated into a future story of the congregation’s potential. A ministry plan that covers the first ten years of the life of the congregation must be developed, perhaps in the form of a future story, before facilities for the new location are designed.

A minimum critical mass of leadership.

• Faithful, effective, and innovative actions.
  
  
• A bunch of money, the ability to raise a bunch of money, and/or an extremely favorable selling price for the old facilities.

A commitment to and involvement in relevant actions that should result in at least fifty percent of the active members of the congregation within ten years being people who were never part of the congregation in the old location.

Coaching from a coach for congregational leadership.

Does this choice fit your congregation? If you think the answer is "yes," click the Next button underneath It fits. If you're not sure, or you think the answer is probably "no," click the Next button underneath Look further to select another option from the full list of choices.

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