Preparing to build ?
3 strategies that will take you from start to success
By Jeremy Moore
Your church has not only survived a pandemic , but it ’ s actually growing — how amazing ! As a church family , you ’ ve emerged from an incredibly disruptive and uncertain season and now find yourselves needing to build or expand .
If this scenario resonates , you ’ re not alone : a growing number of ministries are grappling with the ( good ) problem of needing more space than is currently available .
You ’ ve already done the work of building some savings . You ’ ve put away money each month in anticipation of future borrowing costs … so now what ?
How do we move forward with construction in the face of continually rising material and labor costs , uncertainty in the economy , and interest rates reaching levels not seen in the past decade ? These are the questions you ’ re asking yourselves — or should be . So , let ’ s answer them .
Control what you can While you can ’ t go back to 2017 and lock in lower interest rates and material costs , you can ensure you ’ re doing everything possible to keep borrowing and construction costs as reasonable as possible . But before you call the bank about financing the $ 50-million project that the architect has drawn up , let ’ s walk through some steps you should take first .
# 1 : Engage the professionals in the seats . Every church has a handful of competent and available construction and financial professionals . By engaging your congregation members in the process , you ’ ll get buy-in and perspective that will help .
# 2 : Interview potential construction and financing partners . Just because you can convince a large general contractor or local bank to work on the project , doesn ’ t mean you should . Usually , a specialist can save your church time and money in the long run , even if it doesn ’ t appear to be the “ cheapest ” option at first glance .
" As a wise masterbuilder , I have laid the foundation , and another buildeth thereon . But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon ."
By choosing to work with a church building specialist , you ’ ll have access to industry experts who exclusively serve houses of worship with these types of projects . Start there . Engaging with experienced industry experts will shorten the distance from start to finish and help you avoid costly mistakes . Likewise , if you can connect with a lender that has decades of experience with funding church projects , then you should . Such an organization can provide a debt-capacity analysis to inform total project funds available before your church is too far down the path of designing a building that might be well outside the scope of what ’ s feasible .
# 3 : Explore professional fundraising options to help bridge any gaps — and maybe even increase your project ’ s total financial capacity . As with every other area of a building project , you get what you pay for . If you want the best results from a fundraising outfit , expect to engage a professional who is highly skilled and not working for free .
While this might sound like a linear , three-step approach , it ’ s really more like an orchestra : multiple players , each performing their own part to make the overall “ music ” more beautiful than any one , alone , could create . Leaving out any player ( or changing one out during the process ) will have an effect on the completed work . Ultimately , you must engage professionals early and often — both inside and out of your congregation — for your project to be the best it can be . With the right combination of people , planning and prayer , the best is yet to come !
14 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | NOV / DEC 2022