Church Executive “Church Facility Stewardship” Presented by: Dude S | Page 12

CHURCH
FACILITY
STEWARDSHIP
Recently, I was talking with a facilities director who was looking for
a way to show his employees how valuable they are to the church.
This surprised me, as I felt like most folks in this department already
understand why what they do is important (even though others
might not see all the moving parts).
As we continued to talk, I realized that the challenge started with his
leadership group and their inability to understand the value of his
team’s work. This perception ultimately rolled down to his team and
began to influence their outlook on their own jobs.
When you defer maintenance, you are borrowing from your future
funds at a high interest rate.
There are ways to save, but you must track what you're doing and
know where resources are spent so you are able to determine where you
can cut back based on where resources have been allocated in the past.
And it doesn’t stop at preventive maintenance. How much time does
your team spend setting up for the events taking place throughout the
week? How much does that equal in labor costs? If you charge for those
events, is the fee covering those costs? If you are not charging, do you
need to consider adding a small fee to cover costs?
I frequently meet folks who tell me their facilities team only does
event setup, and everything else is contracted out. If this is the case,
are your facilities really getting the attention needed to maximize their
useful life?
Speaking of contractors, how do you know when it makes sense
to bring that work internally? When you boil it down, do you know
where you’re spending your limited resources? And, do you have the
information to back up how they’re allocated — or, are you going off a
gut feeling? Would you manage your personal budget off a gut feeling?
#2: First impressions
Have you ever been to someone’s home and noticed a messy area or
something in need of repair and thought it was strange they wouldn’t
clean it before having guests? This likely accumulated so gradually over
a period of time that they never consciously noticed it. When you look
at something with a fresh set of eyes, you will almost certainly notice
things that the person frequently seeing it doesn’t notice or has become
accustomed to.
It’s critical to develop detailed checklists outlining what to look for
during walkthroughs of your facility to avoid complacency. Your first-
time guests will almost certainly notice the worn carpet, cracked tiles,
potholes in the parking lot, etc.
It’s critical to be intentional about the story your facilities tell your
community and visitors.
#3: Launching pad
I talk to a lot of people whose leadership teams don’t fully understand
the importance of facilities and how they relate to the church’s mission.
This prompted me to pinpoint three of the areas facilities have a direct
impact on the church’s mission:
#1: Financially
Every church has a budget for “missions.” The other part of the budget
that most don’t attribute to missions is the facilities budget. It has a huge
impact on your ability to disciple in your community today — and how
you steward your facilities today will have an impact on how much you
can contribute to missions down the road.
Since facilities is one of the largest pieces of a budget, it is often
perceived as an area that money can be pulled from if giving is down or
the budget is tight. However, there is a price to pay if you simply cut back
on preventive maintenance.
Deferred maintenance will not take care of itself. In fact, facilities
without preventive maintenance will deteriorate about 2% to 4% per
year, as opposed to the 1% to 2% with preventive maintenance. You can
either pay now, or pay later.
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CHURCH EXECUTIVE • C H U R C H F A C I L I T Y S T E W A R D S H I P
At the end of every service at my church, our pastor dismisses us with
the phrase, “You are sent.” This is the purpose for every member of our
church (and probably yours, as well).
While most of us would agree that the physical building is not “the
church,” it is the launching pad for everything we do. If we don’t have
a building, we don’t have a place to meet and worship. We are “sent” to
make disciples, whether in the form of mission work overseas, or right
here in the communities where we live.
If your church is like most, the facilities are used almost every day
of the week for church-related functions, and maybe even open for
community use. Whatever the event, every function is allowed to be
held there for one specific reason: to point people to salvation.
Next time you’re working through a tight budget and something has to
be cut, think about the criticality of healthy facilities and what the long-
term effects will be on the three areas listed above. Is cutting the budget
or reallocating resources really the answer?
Without tracking to get the right information, it’s virtually impossible
to make responsible decisions.
Donovan Loomis has more than four years of experience in church facility
management and serves as Dude Solutions’ [ https://www.dudesolutions.com ]
Industry Specialist, focusing solely on places of worship. He graduated with a BS
degree in 2012 from East Carolina University.
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