The Huge "Leap of Faith" Required of the Church When it Comes to Land and Buildings

It occurred to me for the first time early in the life of the church I served when we were in the beginning stages of raising funds for land and a new building. To buy land and build a building, the church has to run a capital campaign to raise funds. To run a capital campaign, church leadership must “vision cast,” which means having a clear idea of what will be built. Right?

But how do the leaders know what's possible without knowing how much money can be raised? It gets worse!

Developing land requires going through a lengthy and complex land development process with the local municipality. The land development process can take anywhere from a year to several years, depending on the specific area. To put together an excellent capital campaign (including brochures, videos, displays, etc.) that inspires the congregation to get behind the project, church leaders must take a huge leap of faith.

It's necessary to “estimate” the amount of money the congregation can raise (using national averages and giving data from the church) and begin the building and site design with that figure in mind. In other words, the church must have faith that God will meet the need and provide the funds in approximately the estimated amount. Not a problem, right? Many churches run capital campaigns, so there is a lot of data available on which to base an estimate.

My advice? Hire a good capital campaign consultant and be conservative with estimates.

On the land development side, though, the stakes are slightly higher. To submit something to the municipality, a lot of money must be spent on engineering and design. The municipality requires that the church know “exactly” what it will build in detail. Once the review and approval process starts, the church will be pretty much locked in. Unless the church is willing to undergo several months of redesign and resubmittal, it must build what has been approved. This is the craziest part. The capital campaign is complete, and plans have been submitted to the municipality; however, the church doesn't have a firm estimate of the cost. Why? Much of the detail on what is planned must be on paper before a contractor takes the project through the bidding process. If, during the bidding process, the church finds that it has significantly underestimated the cost of something, it is already so far down the road that much time and effort are needed to modify the design and resubmit.

After reading this, you may be so discouraged that you no longer want to try to build something. Well, don’t forget the “faith” part. God is in the process every step of the way, from guiding your vision to gaining municipality approval to providing the resources. You can count on the fact that what ends up being built will be precisely what was supposed to be built at that time.

A building project is a matter of faith and timing.

Here are some helpful things to remember:

Pray

Church leadership has to pray a bunch! Keeping God in the process is critical. Leaders should be in constant prayer and constantly open to promptings from God. The congregation should also be encouraged to pray for the project.

Plan Ahead

Start way ahead of time! Begin the process as soon as a vision and a reasonable idea of what will be needed are established. Starting serious work as much as five years ahead of time is not “too far” ahead!

Create a “Building Fund”

Start saving for a building fund as soon as possible. A few hundred a week might not seem like much, but it adds up. Having some money to work with early in the process (way ahead of beginning a capital campaign) will allow the church to finish some preliminary design and discovery. This helps to firm things up before getting serious about raising funds.

If you have questions, feel free to post a comment or contact me.