Vision for Relocation to a High Growth Area

With the strong development occurring, many churches are also experiencing significant growth. Further, churches who are choosing to locate in the new neighborhoods where there are no churches are generally experiencing exceptional growth. Having started with a stronger financial foundation, those churches who relocated into the new neighborhoods are in a much stronger position to establish themselves compared to the situation for a new, startup church.

After completing numerous relocations into growing new neighborhoods, we have observed that a common problem has surfaced with these relocated churches: many of these relocated churches have sadly discovered that they did not buy enough land. When projections were made as to how much land to buy, the church chose to buy only enough land to serve a comparatively small congregation and failed to recognize the strong potential for growth in these areas. When the relocated church built and grew, they quickly realized that they did not have enough land to support the growth they were experiencing. The problem arose out of the church’s limited vision and lack of anticipation of the demand from the community.

In high growth areas, do no limit your vision to that of a small neighborhood church where you ministries are very limited and the congregation comes primarily from only the immediate surrounding area. Expand your vision to incrementally increase your ministries both in size and scope and plan your facility needs accordingly.

Churches prepared to meet the challenges presented by a high growth area can accommodate the needs of an expanding congregation and grow into regional churches. In making plans to implement your church’s vision, chart a path for the next 30 years, and purchase sufficient land and/or facilities to accommodate those plans, because insufficient facilities limit a ministry dramatically.

If your church is considering relocating, give us a call; we will be happy to assist you even in the very early stages of the process and direct you to churches and pastors who have gone through the process and avoided the pitfalls. A relocation plan comparing options and costs early in the evaluation process is mandatory.