With every coming New Year, resolutions become the expected thing to do, much like fruitcake at Christmas time. Like most people, you have probably looked at what you want to accomplish this year by setting goals and resolutions. I’m guessing one of the top New Year’s resolutions is to kick-off the year on a healthier note, and look for ways to get in shape and shed those unwanted holiday pounds. As I thought about my own resolutions for the coming year, I also thought about churches. What if people carried over that same healthy resolution to their own church? What if church leaders rolled-up their sleeves and shed those extra overhead costs to create a healthier church focused on reaching people with their message. One way to accomplish this is a portable church.

Optimizing Your Stewardship Cost-Effectively

So… why a portable church? A weakened U.S. economy parlayed with slimmer expenses is just one of many attractive reasons why churches have started moving to a portable church model. As you can imagine, the difference in renting and owning a space can mean a significant decrease in overhead costs. Schools, movie theaters and hotels are just a few of the non-traditional worship spaces where portable churches can now be found. Though the idea of constructing a new church building is an exciting one, more often than not, church planters solely focus on the design and initial cost (how much capital they’ll need to raise) and forget the remainder of the costs, such as the operating expenses. While focusing your energies on the design and fundraising, you often look past the operating expenses which are time intensive and prove difficult to budget. In actuality, it’s the operating and maintenance costs that consume the largest percentage of your budget. (For more applications of calculating the real costs of owning your own church, visit this blog post.) The financial benefit of portable churches is cutting those overhead costs completely. Most rented locations will not charge for operations, and if they do, it’s a much smaller number already included in the rental fee. For example, churches that meet in schools will often not pay for heating and janitorial fees, which might otherwise be a substantial cost of owning their church building. (For more ideas of which portable church location might work best for your church, check out this infographic).

Going to the Community

A portable church location can also be less threatening to the “unchurched” than a traditional church building. Today, many church planters and pastors are making the traditions of Christianity much more enthusiastic and approachable than ever before, and trying to attract those that aren’t connected to a church. Church communications and marketing to newcomers, distanced Christians, and the unchurched alike are very difficult tasks when trying to grow your community. Even if you reach them with words, the goal is to get them to a worship service, right? Well, let me ask you this. If you were an unchurched person, do you think you would be more or less likely to visit a worship service at a traditional church building, or let’s say at a movie theater? Chances are you’d feel more comfortable visiting a movie theater, or another non-traditional portable church than not. Why? Most often the environment of a portable church is a location in the community which is already familiar to the unchurched. For instance, more than 2.5 million Americans visit a Fathom Theater Church each year (for more information about theater church, visit our website). So, what venue would work best for your church? Just look at the type of congregation you are trying to attract. Wanting to reach families? Try schools or movie theaters. Looking to reach young adults and young professionals? Try movie theaters or hotels. Portable church is a more visible solution that helps attract members of the community that might not otherwise try your church. It becomes a neutral setting that is both comfortable, inviting, and the best part is they most often already know where it is located.

Inspiring People to Be the Church

Though a portable church offers a more cost-effective solution to shed growing overhead costs, it is more labor-intensive. Fortunately, volunteerism is often more exhibited in portable churches than in traditional church buildings. When people become involved in their church, they become much more likely to stay longer and feel that they are a valuable part of the success of their church. When you don’t have the financial costs of maintain a building, it’s truly amazing the investment you can make in the community. When you have the expense of paying for a church campus, the natural pull is to minister to those who can do something for you because you need their resources to help pay for the building and expenses. When you meet in portable churches, those expenses are much lower, allowing you to spend your time, money, and effort strengthening your outreach programs in your community. You will need those volunteers when it comes to set up, tear down, building a core group, establishing your small groups, and retaining congregants. To find out how an increase in volunteerism can affect your church, read this article about opting to lease worship space instead of buying or building. Higher volunteerism can lead to strong leaders, and will most likely develop a more involved church in the community, bringing us full circle to a healthy church.

So when thinking of ways your church plant, multi-site, or growing church can improve its health, resolve yourself to consider becoming a portable church and how it can strengthen your congregation and impact on the community.

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