The Most Underrated Way to Activate Your Church Building? Childcare.

There are a lot of ways you can activate spaces in your church during the week. You can put in a trendy coffee shop, like Liquid Church’s Clean Water Cafe in New Jersey. You can add sports courts and conference rooms, like NorthPoint Church is doing in Johnston, Iowa. 

Ministry Solutions Group has helped churches add everything from pickleball courts to community centers as ways to repurpose their empty spaces during the week. One option that always stands out when considering how to activate your church spaces, though? Childcare.

Here are three reasons childcare is the most underrated way to activate a church building during the week as a way to support and even amplify your main ministry.

1. You Can Fill a Real and Persistent Local Community Struggle

There has been a significant and ongoing increase in childcare needs ever since the end of federal funding closed 70,000 childcare providers back in 2023. That means, chances are, people are looking for trusted, safe, and affordable childcare options right in your church’s backyard.

This is what Chase Oaks Church was focused on when Ministry Solutions Group helped the Plano, Texas, church address a childcare vacuum in the local area. We guided them through setting up a professional partnership with a reputable third-party childcare provider. The result was an effective childcare option that genuinely addressed a local need (and boosted the church’s reputation in the eyes of the local community).

2. You Can Partner With Child Care Operators

Many church leaders think of childcare as an unnecessary headache that is beyond their team’s “pay grade.” And the truth is, yes, a professional childcare program is a big deal. But that doesn’t mean it has to be a massive project you take on yourself.

In fact, it isn’t a good idea to keep a program like that in-house. That’s why, for example, we encouraged Willow Creek Church in Illinois to transition its weekday childcare ministry from an in-house team to a third-party operator. This allowed the church to maintain the impact of that service without putting unnecessary stress or risk on internal staff and resources.

The good news (for church leaders, at least) is that professional childcare organizations are also feeling real estate pressure. Many operators are being priced out of the market as things like work-from-home influence how often and how long parents need their services. Church spaces offer a welcome opportunity to partner with these groups at a discount that saves them money while activating the untapped potential of your church spaces.

3. You Can Improve Your Outreach

Building activation is more than a way to balance your church’s operational costs (although that’s a big part of it). It can also make a big difference in your outreach by bringing families into your church who might otherwise never have crossed your threshold.

For instance, we already mentioned Chase Oaks. Its childcare program is part of a larger initiative that includes things like pickleball courts and a cafe. Collectively, these activated spaces are bringing in between 2,500 and 3,000 unique visitors per month — and that’s on top of hundreds of thousands in net profit each year that can go to offset building costs.

Adding a Childcare Program the Right Way

There are plenty of reasons childcare programs can add synergy to your church’s core mission and focus. However, this is only true if you take the time to gather information, understand needs, and build a strong strategy.

Remember, just because you have a kids' ministry doesn’t mean you can run a childcare program. Professional daycare is not a church’s core competency. 

That means you can’t treat this as a “seat of the pants” operation. Don’t DIY it. That’ll erode impact and lead to major problems down the road. 

This is where Ministry Solutions Group can help. Our veteran team has walked alongside many of the fastest-growing, largest churches in America. We’ve helped with over $1.4 billion in church activation projects, including countless daycare centers.

If you’re considering using a daycare center to stabilize your finances and amplify your ministry, call us. We’d love to talk to you about how to chart a Clear Path Forward as you tap this hidden potential in your church’s building.