Editor's Note: This article is part one of a two part feature titled, "Avoiding Mixed Messages." In this first article, author Lee Dean looks at how church facilities say something about a church's vision and mission. Is your church sending the right message?

When your church's people tell one story but the building conveys a contradictory message, the result is a construction feature not drawn on the original blueprints: walls that potentially keep visitors away.

"The idea that the environment is setting the stage, if not actually telling your story, is something we miss," says Mel McGowan, founder of Visioneering Studios, a California design firm for churches and ministries. "The idea that storytelling begins at the street is important."

The story your church tells to people who pass by continues when they step onto the property. At its best, the story comes from a vision, and the message is the same whether told by the church's people or by its facilities.

"It starts with the sign they see when they drive by and the curb appeal of the church," says Bill Chegwidden, president of CDH Partners, an Atlanta design and architecture firm. "If people see a very traditional-looking church, they will have certain expectations when they go inside. If they see a very contemporary church and a different kind of design, the person will have different expectations. That does impact mission and vision."

When a church plans to construct a new building, it's easier to seamlessly match a vision with the facility. But many churches aren't in the planning stages of a building project and don't have that luxury. Fortunately, there are churches that have successfully navigated the rockier terrain of changing existing buildings to better match their visions.

Changing Midstream
Manchester Christian Church, a 1,700-member congregation in Manchester, New Hampshire, is one example. It met in a facility built in 1985, complete with a steeple and plain white walls in the sanctuary. The church began to outgrow its space, and with that growth came a process of evaluating facilities and better matching them to the church's vision to "change New England by turning ordinary people into extraordinary followers of Jesus Christ."

"Our gathering space didn't seem to match our vision to be an authentic community that was telling God's story in a culturally relevant way," says John Cassetto, pastor of vision and outreach. "The stories we were telling about life change were not being helped by our architecture. In fact, they were being hindered."

The church's solution? Renovate. It built in a new "black box" worship center, then converted the old sanctuary into a social gathering place called Stepping Stones Cafe, renovated the children's space, enlarged the lobby, and added an outdoor gathering place. The steeple is gone, too.

First Baptist Church in Peachtree City, Georgia, thought it was a caring place in touch with its community, located 26 miles south of Atlanta. The church was growing (it now has 2,700 members and averages nearly 1,000 people in weekly worship attendance), the community was changing, and leaders began to think about how the church facilities of the future could match their vision and surrounding community.

"We thought that if we didn't become contemporary and relevant to the community, then the community would get the message that we just don't care about them," says Randy Daughtry, who helped lead the project. "We understand church can be a pretty imposing place to the unchurched, so we wanted to tear down every wall we could."

First Baptist's vision of caring for its community precluded constructing a new campus elsewhere. So, to match vision with facilities, the church first renovated major portions of its existing 30-year old campus, and then later constructed a new community center across the street called The Bridge, of which Daughtry is now the director.

Ask the Right Questions
To help your church achieve clarity about vision and facilities, ask the right questions before you start changes. Church leaders benefit from the input of people both inside and outside the congregation, including neighbors, community officials, and visitors. Architecture and design firms that specialize in church work play a key role as well. MCC is working with Mel McGowan's Visioneering Studios and Plain Joe Studios, which is run by Mel's brother, Peter. First Baptist is teaming with CDH Partners.

"In our process, we want to find out more than just what leadership thinks they are, and wishes they were about. We start understanding what everyone else around you says you are," Mel McGowan says.

These questions include:

• Who are we? How are we unique? Don't look for the one answer that is right for every church. Instead, search for how your church is unique and how its facilities can advance its unique vision and mission.


• Who are we trying to reach? Church facilities need to fit a vision that will appeal to the surrounding community. Within that territory, many churches focus on whether they have a particular vision to reach the unchurched and dechurched, along with younger generations. A church could also decide to embrace traditional and denominational vision and match that vision with facilities.


• How well do our existing facilities match our vision? Again, there is no one set of right answers that fit every church. "Traditional" is no more or less a correct answer than "emergent." Churches go off the rails when they give one answer and their facilities give another.


• How much change are we ready for? To effectively change existing facilities, says Chegwidden, church leaders "have to be willing to rethink a lot of the things they do and make the changes required to grow. Sometimes rooms have certain uses that they can't change, or somebody donated something and they don't want to change it."

  "Make sure your congregation knows who this building is for before you build it," advises Daughtry. "It can be a church family center, or a community outreach facility, or a new Sunday school. Whatever it is, communicate that early and often."