How does a church figure out how much space they need to accommodate the people they have and the growth they're experiencing? "When we talk about expanding ministry space, what we're really trying to do is create space for people," says Jeff Otero, vice president and senior strategist for Strategic Dimensions, a facilities planning company.

According to Otero, you need to know where you've been. "Have good historical data on attendance," he says. "Many churches either don't track attendance numbers at all, or they do so in a very inaccurate way. Being able to evaluate accurate data is key to making good decisions on facility space."

Here's how to gather and use data to guide you:

1. Track attendance. Go back however many years you've got. If all you have is annualized attendance data, that's a good place to start. Track every ministry—kids, adult, youth—not just worship attendance. Include car counts to know how many parking spaces are used. "We don't track attendance to chart growth; we track it to help plan for facilities," Otero says.
2. Break it down. "Break your data down to individual services," Otero advises. "You want to know how many people are actually attending your 9 a.m. traditional service versus your 11 a.m. contemporary," he says. "You may discover one service is growing faster than another. If three services are the most you can physically do, and only one of those three is really growing, you might make different decisions based on this info."
3. Analyze the data. "Get someone who's an Excel geek and ask them to set up a spreadsheet with attendance patterns from week to week," suggests Otero. Critical information will surface, such as seasonality of attendance, where you still have space versus where you're so full you need to turn people away. This data helps you plan for facilities as well as how to staff-up your different ministries with volunteers.
4. Think big for master planning. In a sense, a master plan is a church's dream map; it's what you create to help layout the plans you think God has for your church. A master plan helps you determine the size and scope of your entire church campus. A church's plan may evolve over time as circumstances change, so it's safe to think big when it comes to master planning.
5. Think small (read: realistic) for financial planning. Consider how much debt you can support and create realistic projections for funding based on historical giving patterns for your congregation. "Churches should be conservative on their financial projections," warns Otero.
6. Mind the math. "If your church has experienced rapid growth, don't assume you'll continue to grow at that same pace indefinitely," Otero cautions. Determine a point in time when growth may begin to plateau or taper off. This is a more fiscally prudent approach.
7. Identify the peak service. Be sure to include not only the number of people in your sanctuary at each service, but also the number of kids in your nursery, children's and youth ministries during worship time, along with the number of cars parked in your lot, and people meeting for small groups. Counting people in every area of your facility at any given time will give you a clearer picture of how your church is being used, and what the peaks and valley in this usage are.

What else would you add to this list? How have you been able to track your attendance to help you determine when it's time to expand your ministry space?