Often, the best way to get more square footage in your church building is to use the same square footage more. This repurposes existing church resources and helps your ministry focus less on church finances and more on what matters most.
As we plan for the new year and think of more creative ways to support ministry costs and operations, here are 10 creative ways churches can use their buildings during the week to impact community, generate revenue, and take the focus off of your church mortgage and back onto your ministry.
Church classrooms are great for Sunday school, but often they sit empty for the rest of the week. Offer these clean, safe classroom spaces for community events and initiatives.
Offer classrooms for tutoring, life-skills workshops, ESL classes — any community-focused activity that needs a space. This consistently helps your local area and makes your neighbors more aware of your presence.
Your lobby is a great public space to connect and engage with others. You do it between services on Sunday. Why not open up the experience for others to work, meet, and connect during the week?
Set up recurring co-work events and spaces, again, in a safe, clean, and welcoming environment. If you have a coffee shop in the building, make sure that it’s open and generating revenue during this time, as well.
There are many private events that need larger spaces. Parts of your church building can offer an affordable, accessible option for a number of events, including:
Create guidelines and contracts, set up fee structures, and make it quick and easy for anyone with an approved event to rent your spaces during the week.
From parent-child groups to music classes, look for ways to serve member and community families throughout the week.
If you have the space, consider setting up a full childcare program, too. We’ve found that working with a third-party childcare provider is one of the most underrated ways to generate revenue and impact the community with underused spaces.
Every area has a range of nonprofit organizations that share a mission-driven desire to impact the community. Consider letting a counseling practice use your office spaces Monday through Friday. Let local city partners use your building for an important event (as long as it doesn’t look like you’re taking an unwanted political stance).
There are many variations here. The important part is looking for quality partnership opportunities where your church building can provide a much-needed resource.
Open your main auditorium and similar large-event spaces for things like:
National Community Church’s state-of-the-art event center is a great example of how to use worship spaces to cultivate community engagement and artistic expression.
Many churches have gyms. We’ve worked with churches like Northpoint to create pickleball courts, too.
If you have athletically inclined spaces, consider how they can double as wellness event opportunities during the week. This invites health-conscious people to your building and doubles as a chance to generate revenue, especially if you have a great space.
If you don’t have a specific need you can focus on, like childcare or pickleball, adopt a broader focus. Open a community center.
Chase Oaks did this with its Local Good Center, a space designed to meet the community needs of East Plano. The team at 2/42 Church literally transforms their entire building into a community center focused on impact during the week.
We already touched on co-work spaces. You can also invest in spaces, cafes, and coffee shops that double as a source for a wake-me-up on Sunday and a trendy spot during the week.
Liquid Church’s Clean Water Cafe is a good example of this one. The cafe is open on Sunday for services and Monday through Thursday for weekday visitors. It’s a beautiful spot to have a conversation or work on an assignment with a cup-a-joe and a snack.
Finally, think internally, too. Not just for your internal staff, but also for any teams, volunteers, and other support personnel in the local area.
Look for ways to turn quiet weekday areas into private spaces for support groups, training classes, and team-building spaces that serve your community’s emotional and spiritual needs.
You don’t exist to pay your church mortgage. You have a mortgage to facilitate your ministry. This list highlights some of the many ways you can use your spaces during the week to help your church building pay for itself and free up resources to go into mission-driven initiatives.
Of course, these are just some of the more common ideas we’ve seen. Your own church probably has a dozen of its own, community-specific building activation opportunities.
If you know space is sitting unused during the week, but you aren’t sure what your next step is, consider letting our team give your ministry a no-cost analysis. We’ll review key areas, like your financials, giving trends, and attendance data, and then help you create a clear picture of how you can use your church facilities to impact your community and relieve financial pressure at the same time.