Fellowship church to seek permanent accomodations

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
The worship group I am currently affiliated with is now interested in building their own sanctuary. Right now we are conducting services in a banquet facility in a nearby community which was graciously donated for our use for 2 hours a week with the stipulation that we leave the room in its original condition. This necessitates much furniture moving and parking has always been an issue there.

We are having a meeting to discuss plans on Feb. 11th. I've been making a list of questions:

How much money will it take?

Buy vacant land (what size lot) and build a custom facility, or buy a lot with an established building on it?

Which community would it be located?

What size building? consider main sanctuary plus general use rooms like for Sunday school, Bible study, choir practice, storage and a kitchen.

What size parking lot?

Handicap access?

Signage?

What music source - just piano, or organ and/or piano?

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What would be some other good questions to bring up?
 

Well the law will cover handicap parking and access. Generally it will be cheaper to buy an existing building. I hope you have a benefactor or have been building a fund for a while.

Are you a recognized church as far as tax provisions?
 
My first question would be what will we find in a new church that we can't find in an old banquet hall.

Matthew 18:20 - For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

If you decide that you must have a dedicated building I definitely agree with Robusta, most small towns have a vacant building or two that could be converted to a house of worship for much less money than it would cost to build a new building.
 
If your area is anything like mine, there is an overabundance of empty buildings. I would look there rather than build new. The ADA will give you the parameters you need for access, parking and how you would need to have inside looking to suit. You may need to do some remodeling inside to suit your needs, but that may be more cost effective than starting from scratch.
For music do you have a worship group? Often they would have their own instruments. I would go with an organ, does not need to be one of those huge pipe organs.

Also consider how many people you want/need to accommodate. Most towns have fire codes that only allow for X number of people in certain size spaces.


 
Be very careful that the zoning for the property works for a church. Many zoning codes have little "surprises" that disallow churches (for reasons like noise, traffic flow, etc.).

I'd think it would be better to find an existing building, also. Again, have somebody who knows what they are doing check zoning laws carefully.
 
Be sure to find out the costs of taxes and insurance in whatever town you decide to buy a place. I once belonged to a small religious congregation that bought a old building in a new suburb. Within 10 years or less, that suburb grew tremendously and the taxes for schools, roads, fire and police protection rose more than 50%. The insurance costs became too high also and the church went bankrupt. It was a shock to the congregation.
 
Could you not church share with an existing place of worship, I happens a lot and you would have more time to look around and to raise some more money. Many churches will share as it cuts their costs too.
 
My mother's church decided a few years ago to build their own facility (they had been meeting in halls, other churches, etc.) and after an exhaustive study, they realized they were a lot better off continuing as they were. Every few years, they have to move but feel like that's not that big of a problem.
 
Aunt Bea said:
My first question would be what will we find in a new church that we can't find in an old banquet hall.
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1) Something to call our own.

2) I do not know if or what passed between him and the property owners, but the pastor is feeling that we are rapidly wearing out our welcome at the banquet hall. He mentioned that the hall cannot be rented out while we are using it and the owners may be losing money.

3) The congregation is outgrowing the space allotted to us.
 
One of my concerns is if something happened to the current pastor who seems to have his mind made up on building our own sanctuary. We are an independent, non-denominational Christian group, so if the pastor became incapacitated (or worse) - what would become all these glorious plans? Being independent, there is no church council to appoint another minister. We'd have a nice building and no pastor. I don't know if any plan is in place to appoint an interim one out of the congregation (and they would not be ordained clergy). I hesitate to bring this up at the next meeting. I'm sure I'd sound like a Debbie Downer.
 
Deb, I think it's a legitimate concern, and should be addressed. If the pastor died, what would happen to the ongoing building plans, and the debt? I think your concern is a very valid one and you and the other participants have a right to know. After all, none of us knows for sure we'll wake up tomorrow morning.

ALSO, what if the pastor doesn't want to be your pastor anymore and decides to go off to the south seas or something? It happens. You'd be in the same boat.

I'd also want to know whose name is on the title to the land and building, and whose on a mortgage, if any. Is your church group incorporated, so the church itself could hold title?
 
debodun said:
I'm starting to dislike these planning meetings. Everyone has their own agenda, everyone is talking at once, and nobody is listening to anything else.
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In my experience, that's what usually happens at planning meetings -- nothing ever gets done. I used to be on my church council, but I resigned because I got tired of attending meetings where it usually degenerated into an argument about who left the lights on in the basement. I think the most important thing we ever decided was that it wasn't good to leave the lights on.
 
After that debacle of the last meeting, the pastor announced in his email newsletter that from now on, only one topic will be discussed at each meeting.
 

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