Chase Oaks Church: A Multisite Ministry Repurposes Space to Meet Local Community Needs

Chase Oaks Church

Churches need experts to help them use under-utilized resources to discover and meet local community needs. This boosts impact, builds relationships, and increases community connection outside of Sunday morning services.

The Partnership

Chase Oaks is a multisite church located in and around Plano, Texas. The church consists of a community of real people invested in coming together for good.

Chase Oaks embraces diverse backgrounds and perspectives of all kinds as it seeks the common ground of faith to overcome the hurts and divisions of the world. 

The church has multiple campuses, most of which remained dormant and unused during the week. The leadership team saw this glaring misuse of valuable resources and decided to do something about it.

Opportunity

The core push at the center of Chase Oak’s desire to optimize the use of its space was its Reimagine initiative. This ongoing campaign seeks to invest $20 million into activating empty spaces to holistically amplify the church’s impact on the local community and better meet the needs of its members and organizations.

One of the key elements of the Reimagine initiative is to funnel $5 million specifically toward community spaces for work, play, and connection. This includes opening on-campus childcare centers.

While childcare centers are a no-brainer in theory, they are not easy to create and maintain in practice. Launching a high-quality daycare program means maintaining rigorous standards, being safe, operating efficiently, and not interfering with core church functions.

Rather than put the church’s reputation at risk, the Chase Oaks team decided to bring Ministry Solutions Group in to consult on the project. Our Building Activation team got right to work, collaborating with the group behind the Reimagine initiative to seek the best option to minimize risk, stay cost-effective, and result in maximum community impact.

The Ministry Solution

In the end, the smoothest path with the greatest chance of success was not to turn this into a DIY project for the church. Instead, we positioned Chase Oaks as a partner with the required real estate. From there, we looked for a collaborative organization that could bring the structure and experience required to run a successful daycare.

Pathways Learning Academy fit the bill. The modern preschool is designed to offer nurturing care and quality learning through hands-on experiences with STEAM subjects. Children are constructively and purposefully encouraged to explore and discover as they grow — which is a perfect fit for a church that aims to bring together individuals who are seeking to grow in positive ways as they lead different, messy, and beautiful lives.

On August 13, 2024, Chase Oaks announced an agreement with Pathways Learning Academy. Ministry Solutions Group was able to provide clear guidance throughout the establishment of this collaborative effort, not only with how to go about executing the vision but with what to offer.

The initial on-campus Pathways Learning Academy provided childcare for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and pre-K-aged children. The service ran from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Along with the daily classroom curriculum, families had access to elective programs, such as Spanish and yoga.

Ministry Solutions Group was also able to bring an informed perspective to what parents from the community would look for in a quality daycare program. With this in mind, Chase Oaks also emphasized the need for transparent communication and equipped the program with live-streaming video for caregivers through the brand’s exclusive app, SproutAbout®.

Chase Oaks has successfully activated its idle building space by offering a quality daycare on its Legacy campus. It is also busily setting up further Pathways Learning Academy locations for additional Chase Oaks campuses (due to launch by early 2025) as the ministry continues to seek the best way to use its resources to impact its local community.