In our last post, we presented the question of whether church leaders should consider remodeling an existing church building or start anew. The honest answer is “it depends.” Every congregation’s situation is different, and the right path usually comes down to land, budget, timeline, and vision. But before we get into the more complicated scenarios, here’s a case study of a church design that’s more of a straightforward one: a church that has simply run out of room, both inside its walls and on the property surrounding it.
When the Building and the Lot Both Run Out of Room
This case involved a growing church in a small town sitting on a very small piece of property. The congregation was healthy and expanding, but there was nowhere left to build. For this church, remodeling in place was not a realistic option. If they wanted to keep growing, they needed a new location and a new church building.
A Generous Gift Changes the Conversation
What made this particular project move quickly was a donor within the church who was willing to fund a new piece of property outright. That gift removed one of the biggest hurdles that a church typically faces early in a church building project: acquiring land, and perhaps taking on debt, before a single wall goes up. The same donor also committed enough funding to construct the first phase of a new facility. With land and phase-one funding both secured, the church had what we called a “no brainer” decision. Nearly every box that normally slows a project down was already checked.
Planning for Today, and for What’s Next
The church hired The McKnight Group to develop a full master plan for the new property, not just for the immediate need, but for future phases of growth as well. This is a step that we encourage almost every church to take, even when only one phase is funded. Planning the entire church design up front means that later additions fit naturally onto the property instead of feeling like an afterthought, and it protects the church from decisions today that make expansion harder tomorrow.
From that master plan, our team developed a detailed phase-one floor plan, built around two priorities: a larger, more welcoming worship space and significantly more room for kids’ ministry, the two areas where this church felt the age of its old building the most.
Alongside the floor plan, we produced a 3D elevation rendering so leadership and membership could see what the new church design would look like while standing on the property and not just read about it on paper.
From Rendering to Reality
Those elements in the church design gave leadership everything that they needed to say yes with confidence. And they did. Construction moved forward, and today that church has a new facility on a new piece of property, with far more room for the growth they were already experiencing, as well as the growth still ahead of them.
Not Every Story Is This Simple
Of course, not every project can come together this easily and cleanly. Realistically, most decisions about whether to remodel a current church building or relocate and build new involve a lot more nuance: existing debt, congregational readiness, zoning, timing, and long-term vision for ministry. In our next post, we’ll dig into those more complicated scenarios and walk through what church leaders should weigh before deciding to relocate and build.
Meanwhile, The McKnight Group hosts free i3 webinars covering topics like this one, as well as other elements of the church building and design process. Visit our website to see upcoming topics and sign up.