Blog | Finding a Location for Your Church Plant
Finding a Location for Your Church Plant
Starting a church plant is a big task – there’s a great deal of courage, prayer, support, and planning involved by you and others that’s required to make it all happen.
All that said, when it comes to the final step of finding a location for your church plant, things can get a bit stressful. You have enough on your mind as a church planter – you don’t want to make the wrong call and find yourself fighting locational challenges on a weekly basis.
Picking the Right Location for Your Church Plant
If you are looking for the first location to start your church plant in, there are a variety of factors to keep in mind. You’ll want to make sure your location doesn’t pose issues for scheduling church events, is convenient for congregation members, and offers your church an excellent starting point for your ministry to grow in.
Here are a few recommendations on what you can do to pick the right location for your church plant:
Look for Areas with Fewer Churches
Generally speaking, the less churches in an area, the less church attenders. If your goal through starting a church plant is to grow the church and develop more disciples of Jesus Christ, you shouldn’t just be aiming to get current believers to switch churches to yours – you should be aiming to build new people up in their faith and spread the good news in an area that needs to hear it.
Look for areas that have fewer churches than surrounding cities. Do research on the demographics of the city and take time to learn what they may need to hear from you. Be willing to take your ministry to the location most in need.
Consider Building Scheduling Issues
If you’re renting/borrowing a space on Sunday mornings from, say, a school or theater, make sure you are aware of potential scheduling issues in the future.
When planting a new church, chances are you’ll be trying to conduct events outside of regular Sunday mornings. Talk with the building owners or administrative staff about what you can realistically expect for usage hours, times of the week, etc. that you and your congregation can be in that specific room.
Match the Venue to Your Audience
This goes hand-in-hand with the last point. If you’re going to be renting a building (or section of a building) to conduct your ministry out of, be mindful of what the place looks like and the type of atmosphere you’re in. If you’re trying to reach unbelievers/unchurched people, finding a relaxing and inviting space like a bowling alley, pizza parlor, or even a coffee shop.
It probably doesn’t need a ton of space if you plan to start out small and grow your ministry from there, but starting in the right location is key to getting committed and involved congregation members during the beginnings of your church.
Think Through Gear Requirements and Labor
It’s really easy for church plant pastors to overwork themselves simply on setup. Chairs, stage, sound board, speakers, microphones, cables, computers, coffee, projectors/TVs, etc.
Setup and teardown every Sunday.
Of course, much of that could be avoided if you pick the right location. A theater solves all seating, sound, and projector issue. A school may have seating and a projector for you to use. The right location can take a lot of weight off your back when launching your ministry!
About the Author
Chris Fleming is a professional musician from Minneapolis, MN who has played with artists such as Kari Jobe, TAYA, Aodhan King, and Jason Gray. He is actively involved with the CCM scene and has contributed as a drummer, music director, song writer, and producer for various worship artists and churches locally and nationally. Chris is the Motion Designer at Motion Worship, helping to create motion background collections and countdowns for our subscribers.