Church Building on the Rise Despite Weak Market

By RaeAnn Slaybaugh

It seems nearly everyone can name one or two brand-new churches in their area— which, according to groups like the New York-based Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill Construction, comes as no surprise. Dodge’s research shows even though public buildings and amusement projects fell by 8 percent and 4 percent respectively last year, church construction shot up by an impressive 14 percent. Translated, this means more than $21 billion of the $152 billion spent on nonresidential construction was spent on church development.

Who’s building where

Of course, forecasting which regions of the United States will see increased church construction this year is an inexact science. Still, a few educated guesses are simple with the help of a decade’s worth of construction data from the best “crystal ball” of all, the U.S. Census Bureau.

Demographically, California is the clear leader in population growth. The Bureau predicts the state will grow nearly 30%—to more than 40 million people —by 2015. Florida, the second runner- up, is expected to grow by 27% over the same period, followed by Texas (21%), Georgia (17%) and North Carolina (14%).

Meanwhile, the North American Mission Board (NAMB), a Southern Baptist agency, says the most impressive amounts of church construction are happening in four major U.S. cities not on the Census Bureau’s fastest-growing list: Phoenix, Chicago, Las Vegas and Boston.

According to NAMB President Robert E. Reccord, a total of 169 new churches were started and 23,000 professions of faith were made in these four cities alone last year. All were Strategic Focus Cities, where NAMB officials sought to energize existing congregations with new members and to spread a new passion for evangelism and ministry.

In Chicago, prayer events, conferences, block parties, circuses and a citywide event on the shore of Lake Michigan prompted the establishment of 108 new churches and nearly 7,000 professions of faith.

Las Vegas was bolstered by a five-day inner-city evangelism training conference in October, which prompted 1,100 professions of faith—more than 125 each for the seven participating congregations. Across the city, church events were carried out under the banner of “Loving Las Vegas,” and a total of 15 churches were planted.

In Boston, the “Hearts for Boston” effort—encompassing an array of community- based ministries and student evangelism efforts— launched 12 new churches and generated more than 3,000 professions of faith last summer alone.

Denominationally speaking...

It stands to reason that denominations with the fastest-growing memberships would do the most expanding of current facilities and church planting to meet the demand. As such, the most recent figures published by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) are telling.

According to the group’s Religious C o n g r e g a t i o n s Membership Study, conducted every 10 years, the Roman Catholic Church leads 18 other denominations in terms of active members, numbering well past 60 million. The Southern Baptist Convention is the second-largest denomination with nearly 20 million members, followed by the 10.5-millionmember United Methodist Church (United States only). In fourth place is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with more than 5 million members, followed by the Presbyterian Church (USA) with more than 3 million members in the United States alone.

Meanwhile, the group also charted America’s religious landscape by measuring the US religions that have grown the most since 1990. According to their findings, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints leads the pack with nearly 20% growth over the past decade. This group is followed closely by Christian Churches, Churches of Christ and Assemblies of God, each with 18% growth, and then independent, charismatic churches, which grew by 16% in the past decade.

Dollars and sense

Population growth aside, the Census Bureau also offers concrete figures on dollars spent building and expanding churches across the United States. After more than a decade of data collection, the results are the same year after year: Churches in the South consistently lead the pack, spending an average of $3 billion per year building and expanding. The Midwest follows, with nearly $1.5 billion, the West comes in third at slightly more than $1 billion, and the Northeast trails at $600 million.

In a similar study, the most recent figures from the Presbyterian Church (USA) Research Services Department’s Congregational and Annual Report show the larger the church, the more likely it carries a hefty mortgage. Departmental research shows 40% of the 600- plus-member churches carry a mortgage loan of $800,000 to $900,000. Comparatively, 32% of churches with 250 to 600 members carry a mortgage (average: $300,000), as do only 18% of churches with less than 250 members. This last group finances an average of $150,000.

More than 60% of all these congregations, regardless of size, obtain their loan from a bank, followed by companies selling church loans, then other institutions.

The best times to build

According to Census Bureau data, the fall is the busiest time of the year for church building. Since 2001, the most popular month, October, has seen an average of $743 million in religious facility expansion and construction. September is the second most popular month to build with an average of $731 million spent over the same period, followed by November with average monthly receipts of just over $729 million.

Meanwhile, winter and early spring— February, January and March respectively— were the least popular times of the year to expand or build a church facility. Since 2001, February has seen an average of $636 million in construction receipts, followed by $641 million in January and $649 in March.

The shape of things to come

Churches might still call them “sanctuaries,” but new facilities are nothing like the pristine cathedrals of the past and little white churches that dot the American landscape. Over the last several decades, increased technology—media messages from television, radio, the Internet, billboards and more—have forced churches to start thinking high-tech.

“Like others vying for our time and attention, churches are beginning to address matters of delivery, performance and especially physical layout of their assembly spaces,” says Stan Brish, coowner of Brivar Construction Company in Brighton, Mich. Brish says churches now are incorporating accessible chancels from which pastors can easily interact with worshipers, high-fidelity audio setups complete with advanced digital effects, wireless microphones, video screens, and audio systems that rival fine music venues.

Still, as Brish points out, it is imperative that churches understand what makes a facility fully functional. The key is flexibility. “These days, churches are diversified in their activities,” he says. “The same assembly space must accommodate both contemporary and traditional worship, Sunday and weekday education programs, small-group ministries and innovative youth fellowship.” Mark DeMoss, church construction advisor and keynote speaker at various seminars across the country, agrees.

“The church I attend was built in the 1960’s and was created to be, literally, a ‘preaching place,’” he explains. “Since then, we’ve renovated to create a very flexible space that’s suited to contain changes in worship technology and culture that are inevitable over the next few decades.”

Greg Barron, president of the National Association of Church Design Builders and founder of G.L. Barron Company in Fort Worth, Texas, has a similar forecast for the future of church design. He says churches simply are replacing malls as the gathering place for neighborhoods and communities.

“Increasingly, we’re being asked to design and build churches that include coffee bars, game rooms, fast-food restaurants, music and gift stores, and other community areas,” he says. Some of the strongest trends in this vein include increasingly larger foyers where people can gather and wait for services to begin; caged one-on-one sport courts, karaoke areas, Internet bistros and other youth-targeted spaces; professional kitchens; more administrative space to accommodate growing staffs; and enhanced handicap access for senior citizens.

“Increasingly, churches are understanding that worship includes more than just coming to a sanctuary and spectating,” he adds. “Any good architect will study the ministry the church provides and then build a church around it.”

Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?

Over the past decade, the number of theater seats purchased by churches has grown significantly. At the same time, many congregations with roots as deep as church tradition still favor pews. In response to this dilemma, Series USA recently launched a creative new pew concept that embodies all the important features of both seating types in one product: PewMax.

“One of the strongest appeals of theater seats for churches is the extra egress they offer—the passage room in exiting the row of seats,” explains Ron Ogden, vice president of marketing for Series USA. Pews spaced a normal 36 inches back-to-back leave only 12 inches of egress (the minimum required), and theater seats increase this passage to about 16 inches. “But the PewMax allows a full 23-inch passageway between rows,” Ogden points out. “That’s almost double conventional pews and 50- percent more than most theater seats.”

The ability to seat more people in the sanctuary was another key design goal, Odgen adds. Whereas fire codes restrict the length of a conventional pew to 21 feet, or 14 seats per row, these same codes allow three additional seats per row for every extra inch of space that is added to the egress.

“PewMax is designed to extend to 50 seats long without violating code—more than three times the allowable length of a conventional pew,” Ogden explains. “Longer rows translate to fewer aisles, freeing up more room for seating.”

PewMax is missing a few things, but less is more in this case. For quiet operation, it features gravity lift, a counter-balance seat technology free of the springs and mechanisms used in many theater seats. And since arm dividers “steal” two to three inches of width per seating unit, prohibit continuous seating, and are a problem for larger people, Ogden decided to remove them.

“We don’t want to imply that worship seating has a significant influence on worship itself,” he says. “Yet, the combined physical elements of sensitive building and seat design stand to maximize stewardship goals and ministry objectives.”