New Churches Podcast | Season 1 | Episode 698

Finding a Facility for Your Growing Church

Clint Clifton & Colby Garman

Episode 698: Finding a facility for a new church is is one of the most challenging aspects of planting, particularly in an urban environment. Host Clint Clifton talks with Colby Garman and Ray Clark about why creative facility solutions are needed now, more than ever.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

  • Kinds of facilities commonly used by church plants
  • Some advantages and disadvantages of owning a facility 
  • How to assess your readiness for a permanent facility
  • The importance educating yourself about local government rules
  • Where owning a facility should rank in your list of priorities

Helpful Resources:

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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):

Church planters will use just about any space they can gather a crowd in: school cafeterias or auditoriums, movie theaters, small concert venues, hotel ballrooms and conference centers. @ColbyGarman

When you’re in the throes of church planting and things get difficult, you start to believe that if you had a facility, it would solve all the problems. That’s not true. In some ways, it creates problems. @ClintJClifton

Rightly thinking about facilities as a tool for ministry is probably the healthiest place a church planter could could start. The facility just facilitates the gathering of the church. — Ray Clark

Churches can take body blows of difficulty when they have a facility. But a family that’s not well relationally doesn’t get better by owning their own home. @ColbyGarman

Many church planters who think they’re ready for that step aren’t ready for that step. @ClintJClifton

The first place to start is really understanding where you’re at and the only way to understand where you’re at is to is to actually track income and expenses. A good rule of thumb would be about 25% of your budget allocated to your debt payment. — Ray Clark

One of the beautiful things about alternative situations is additional cash flow, but often that comes with additional operation. As a pastor, you’ve got to protect yourself against capacity creep. — Ray Clark

Published on September 06, 2022

Practical Leadership Pre-Launch Growing
About the Podcast

New Churches Podcast

The New Churches podcast offers practical answers to your real ministry questions. We aren’t going to provide lofty pie-in-the-sky theories. Instead, we are going to help you in your real ministry context, with your real thoughts, questions, and issues.

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Meet the Authors

Clint Clifton

Clint Clifton passed away on January 12, 2023, as a result of a small plane crash. Clint and his wife, Jennifer, had been married since 2000 and have five children. He completed a B.A. from The Baptist College of Florida and an M.A. from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Clint founded Pillar Church in Dumfries, Virginia, in 2005. He oversaw the fruitful church planting efforts of Pillar Church and served as Senior Director of Resource and Research Strategy for the North American Mission Board.

More Resources from Clint

Colby Garman

Colby Garman oversees the teaching ministries of Pillar Church of Dumfries and has co-founded several church planting organizations, including the Praetorian Project and the Iceland Project. Before coming to Pillar, Colby served as an associate pastor at Stafford (Va.) Baptist Church (the church that planted Pillar Church). In 2008, the Garmans served for two years in Iceland with the International Mission Board. Colby is a graduate of Liberty University, where he earned a B.A. in Biblical Studies, and Biola University, where he earned an M.A. in Christian Apologetics.

More Resources from Colby
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