Drive past almost any church in America on a Tuesday night, and you’ll likely see a dark, empty parking lot. Historically, the church was the vibrant center of the town square. It was a place that served as a schoolhouse, a community hall, and a central hub of daily life.
Today, we build multi-million dollar church buildings. These facilities are bigger and better than those of the past. And yet, they’re explicitly designed around the ministry strategy of a single user for a single day of the week. These Sunday-focused structures are typically empty Monday through Saturday.
Across the United States, ministries own an estimated one trillion dollars in church real estate. Yet these “dedicated” spaces are utilized only about five percent of the time. For a growing number of forward-thinking ministry leaders, this is an unacceptable stewardship of resources.
A new movement is taking shape: "Activating" church buildings. The goal with building activation is to transform church campuses into seven-day-a-week community hubs, like a modern-day version of the churches of the past.
At Ministry Solutions Group, we’ve seen this done effectively by partnering with third parties, such as child care centers, church co-working spaces, and event venues, each of which is integrated into the church’s footprint. This approach not only generates sustainable revenue. It also creates unprecedented missional opportunities.
Here is a high-level introduction to the philosophy, feasibility, and practical steps of activating your church space.
The decision to activate a church building operates on a pendulum that swings between two vital objectives: monetization and mission. Let’s look at each one.
Churches spend a lot on their places of worship. I’ve seen aggregate numbers of 20%-30% of a church’s budget going toward facilities and operations. In our work at Ministry Solutions Group, we’ve seen that number go up to 50%. Either way, if you don’t have a strategy or purpose for your facilities, a large portion of your ministry’s operating budget can be eaten up by maintaining real estate.
What if that didn’t have to be the case? What if, instead of ministries funding buildings, buildings funded ministries?
Activating a space allows a church to lease its unused square footage to outside organizations. The goal isn’t for the church to start and run a business. In my experience, that often becomes a "non-strategic distraction.” Instead, you want to partner with expert third-party operators who do the work for you. They just use your space.
Pastor Dave Dummitt refers to this brilliantly as "mailbox money.” This is where operators utilize the space, serve the community, and simply send the church a rent check.
This isn't about running a small, barely profitable coffee shop that brings in an extra $20,000 a year. We’re talking about potential six- and seven-figure revenue streams. This unlocked revenue can cover the church's mortgage, free up congregational tithes, and dramatically expand ministry capacity for generosity, church planting, and global missions — which brings us to the second objective.
Monetization and mission do not have to be in conflict. By inviting the community onto the campus throughout the week, the church builds relevance and trust.
If a family drops their child off at a vibrant, safe preschool inside your church every weekday, they become comfortable with your campus. The intimidating barrier of entry that comes with entering an unknown religious building goes away. Even better, when a family crisis hits, or when Easter rolls around and they decide to try a Sunday service, they will naturally turn to the place where they already feel at home in your building.
As Pastor Mark Batterson notes, the early church didn't stay within four walls. Jesus met people at natural gathering places, like wells or in the middle of the marketplace. Activating your building gives you a modern-day well.
Activating spaces is not just theoretical. Some of the most influential and fastest-growing churches in the country are pioneering this model. Here are a few examples that I’ve personally seen.
Before becoming the lead pastor at Willow Creek in Chicago, Dave Dummitt led 2/42 Community Church in Michigan. There, the church purchased an abandoned, 120,000-square-foot tennis and racquetball facility that was rotting in the middle of town. Instead of just designing a sanctuary, they put a sign out front that said, "Coming soon, you decide," inviting the community to share what they wanted to see in the building.
Based on community feedback, the church built a seven-day-a-week community center featuring an indoor soccer field, a three-story playscape, a cafe, a CrossFit gym, and a school for the arts. The community flocked to it. They hosted remote control airplane clubs, senior living groups, and endless Saturday birthday parties.
The missional results were staggering. Members of the church began naturally using the facility to host flag football leagues and free haircutting ministries for people with special needs. These efforts organically built relationships by offering real, relevant value to those living around the campus.
Dummitt notes that the church didn't change its preaching or music. Simply opening this activated space helped the ministry grow organically by about 1,000 people a year for several years. Today, at Willow Creek, Dummitt’s team is exploring similar visions, including potentially developing a residential high-rise over their Chicago campus and activating the 900,000 square feet at their South Barrington location with child care and co-working concepts.
Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church (NCC) in Washington, D.C., started his church in a school cafeteria with an income of $2,000 a month. Today, NCC owns the "Capital Turnaround," a 74,000-square-foot historic Navy Yard car barn right on Capitol Hill.
Batterson operates with a "double bottom line" — missional and monetary. NCC partnered with third-party child care operators to fill a desperate need for child care space in D.C. They use the space Monday through Friday for the city's children, and then the church flips it for weekend worship. The Capital Turnaround also operates as a premier event venue, generating roughly $1 million a year in revenue. They have rented the space to organizations as large as Amazon.
For Batterson, this income allows the church to live with radical generosity. A great example I recently heard was that NCC was able to spontaneously pay off $70,000 of outstanding debt for another local church. That is the kind of kingdom impact that comes from the margin created through activated real estate.
Furthermore, because of the businesses operating in the space, tens of thousands of people circulate through the building. This allows the church to love and minister to a massive demographic that would never ordinarily walk into a Sunday service.
When church boards are presented with this radical new (but not so new) idea of building activation, I’ve seen their "shields go up.” So many times, this is primarily due to fears regarding their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. However, legal and financial experts point out that these fears are largely based on myths. Here are a few truths to counterbalance them.
Ted Batson, a CPA and tax attorney, explains that leasing out church property will generally not harm a church's tax-exempt status. Under tax law, rent collected from real property is typically excluded from Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI), meaning it is often completely tax-free.
The primary exception is if the church has "acquisition indebtedness.” That means the building has a mortgage or debt tied to it. In that case, a fractional portion of the rent might be taxable. However, as Batson points out, paying taxes is a neutral event; it simply means your church is generating a profit. Even if you owe some tax, the net positive income can be used to dramatically offset the church's operating expenses.
Depending on the state, leasing to a for-profit entity may trigger local property taxes. This is simply a math equation to be baked into the lease agreement; commercial leases can be structured so that the tenant covers their portion of the property tax. Furthermore, establishing a separate legal entity (like a for-profit subsidiary) for these activities provides the church with a vital layer of liability protection and prevents the operations from interfering with the church's primary exempt purpose.
If you want to activate your church space, you must fundamentally shift how you approach real estate. Here are a few steps to get you moving in the right direction.
The biggest mistake churches make is building a space they want, and then hoping the community will use it. For example, a church might build an empty coffee shop because they thought it would be cool, without realizing the neighborhood already has plenty of coffee shops.
Instead, "exegete your city." Ask the local government and community leaders what they are lacking. In Nashville, one church discovered the city was short 3,000 child care spots. By filling that exact demand, operators fought to lease their space, generating seven figures in rental income while providing an invaluable service.
Pastors are trained to shepherd people, not design commercial kitchens or navigate preschool licensing regulations. Partner with best-in-class third-party operators.
Let them run the business, hire the staff, and maintain excellence. As a bonus, you instantly inherit a team of business owners spending hundreds of thousands of dollars marketing your facility to bring people onto your campus.
Do not let a board member's "pet project" or a random idea drive a multi-million dollar real estate decision. Engage objective, outside professionals to run demographic and density studies to see what your specific location can support.
For instance, a co-working space thrives in dense, urban areas near Class-A office buildings. But put it in a rural setting, and it will likely fail. You must let data inform your questions, and let those questions inform your decisions.
Activating your church building isn’t a gimmick to make money. It’s a profound paradigm shift in how we view the physical tools God has entrusted to us. It’s about transforming our facilities from fortresses that open once a week into vibrant, life-giving hubs that serve our neighbors every single day.
By partnering with the community, listening to their needs, and strategically leveraging real estate, churches can achieve financial sustainability while placing themselves directly in the path of the unchurched. As we rethink the trillion dollars of real estate sitting mostly empty across our nation Monday through Saturday, we have the opportunity to ensure our buildings are as relevant to our cities as they are reverent to our God.
If you’re feeling the itch to open your doors beyond that Sunday service window, you might need support. Our team at Ministry Solutions Group has helped over 250 ministries nationwide budget, plan, and execute over $1.4 billion in church projects. Whether you’re adding an addition, renovating a space, or activating a coffee shop, pickleball court, or childcare program, we can help you plan a Clear Path Forward.
It’s time to say yes to growth. Reach out for a Free Analysis, and we can start to bring clarity to your growing ministry through strategy planning, financial strategy, and project management.