Editor's note: Download the full report on the ministry facilities expansion trends survey for free at YourChurchResources.com.

Churches in the United States spent about $7 billion on church buildings in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

But did these churches construct new facilities or add to existing ones? Building on their current property or elsewhere? What prompted these projects?

In early 2010, Christianity Today International and Cornerstone Knowledge Network attempted to answer questions like these by co-sponsoring a survey on ministry facilities expansion trends titled, "Does More Space Mean Better Ministry?" The goal of the survey was to better understand how churches view their ministry space and to gauge their feelings about recent ministry space expansion. The study also attempted to identify correlations between the types of expansion, church growth rate, and makeup of growth. For churches that have not expanded, the study explored what elements of their ministry space they would most want to expand if they could.

Shootings at churches are all too common across the nation. Put together a comprehensive plan of action that will help your church to be safe and secure while remaining open and inviting. The following focuses will help you do that.

Focus on Education
As a pastor, I want to provide safe sanctuary for everyone who comes into my church to worship or to participate in its programs. Church members should be educated about what they can do to make that happen. Some suggestions:

1. Lock car doors before coming into church. Store valuables out of sight.

2. Keep an eye on purses or other valuables, no matter where you are in church. If you have to leave something in a room, make sure it's locked in a safe place.

I recently spoke to a church staff member who had been working with youth full-time for 12 years. Yet in his dozen years of service, he had only attended one Youth Specialties conference—that was all the training he ever received. I couldn't help but think how much he and the thousands of youth he worked with over the years could have benefited from additional training at conferences.

During tough economic times, many churches are looking at cutting all travel for training and events, but that may not be the wisest decision. Why?

There's no doubt that the 75 million baby boomers set to retire in the United States during the next three decades will have a great effect on our society. We have yet to experience the explosion of demands our aging population will require, including new models for senior living.

Churches dedicated to finding relevance both today and tomorrow should take note. They may offer meaningful answers to the challenging questions facing nearly every community around the country.

Today, boomers retiring will do so with more education, more financial independence, better overall health, and longer life expectancies than those of any previous generation. Many of today's seniors will spend as many years in retirement as they did in the work force. And many will want to remain in their homes, even at the expense of their health and well-being. Why? The alternative seems painfully worse, as we've seen through our own parents' and grandparents' experiences.

Our society typically rips seniors from their roots and daily routines just when their need for support—and a loving environment—reaches its pinnacle. They are removed from everything familiar: their home, their neighbors, their friends, their postman, their mechanic, their neighborhood bar, their supermarket clerk, and their church.

During a time when finances are tight for families and ministries, bring clarity to your vision. Churches cannot be practicing "fat thinking""—throwing money to any project that seems like a good idea. Drill down to what really speaks to the vision and priorities of your ministry. God will provide the money, but we need to spend it wisely. Jim Sheppard offers a three-point litmus test for church spending:

Is your spending:
—urgent
—compelling
—aligned

Watch his video to learn more.

THE NINES was a one day event held on 09/09/09. Leadership Network asked over 75 leaders, "If you had just nine minutes to share with church leaders, what would you tell them?" This was Jim Sheppard's response.

Until recently, churches didn't have to bother with such damage. The continuing unraveling of our social fabric, however, is affecting even the sacred places. Not only are churches being hit by vandals with increasing frequency, but they may even be special targets of those who are hostile to God and his people.

Our congregation recently moved out of the building we had occupied for almost 20 years.
The state bought the structure as part of a city expansion project and will demolish it in the next few months.

The final service in the building was sentimental, but most of us were ready to leave the aging structure, which required so much maintenance it was draining our finances.

Our new worship and ministry facility is scheduled for completion in 2011.

For now, we now rent space for our Sunday and Wednesday services at an events center called Noah's. The irony is not missed. As with the biblical prophet, the building serves as an ark in our time of transition.

When church leaders envision their next building project, many are selecting interior and exterior styles that may deter the very people they're trying to reach—the unchurched—from visiting.

According to the "Church Facilities Expansion Study", a joint research project between the Cornerstone Knowledge Network (CKN) and Christianity Today International, church leaders consistently chose building designs that are the opposite of what the unchurched said they preferred in a prior study, "Sacred Space", conducted by CKN and Lifeway Research in 2008.

In the "Church Facilities Expansion Study," most churches that are planning to build within the next 18 months say they will go with a more modern look for their exterior, sanctuary, and foyer designs. However, "Sacred Space" respondents, all of whom are unchurched and do not currently attend a church, said they prefer churches with a much more traditional, cathedral-like design.

Assumptions about church facilities are changing. The young are looking for sacred space. Others believe the church should spend more on the poor and less on multi-media theatrical buildings. And the multi-site movement is decentralizing church programming. What does all of this mean for how we plan our facilities? Ed Bahler and Bill Couchenour from the Cornerstone Knowledge Network have decades of experience as church architects. They have also been helping churches think more clearly about vision and facilities in our rapidly changing culture. Leadership's managing editor, Skye Jethani, will be interviewing Bahler and Couchenour about what church leaders should do before they decide to build or renovate their facilites. And you will have the opportunity to ask questions as well.

Sign up for this live webinar event featuring Ed Bahler and Bill Couchenour with Skye Jethani of Leadership journal, on November 17th, 11 a.m. (CDT).

As part of an alliance between the Your Church team at Christianity Today International and Cornerstone Knowledge Network, the two organizations collaborated on a joint research project to better understand the growth in U.S. churches and its underlying factors.

This research aims to understand overall church experience and church plans for facilities expansion. It explores church growth in attendance, types of worship associated with the growth, and how churches are accommodating such growth. In addition, the study aims to compare respondents' reactions to different images of church buildings (both exteriors and interiors) to learn what types of design they would most likely create if they are going to build or design a new church facility in the near future.

Download the executive report:

Does your church facility encourage people to slow down, build trust, and explore what God is doing in their hearts? At the September 15th Cornerstone ALIGNMENT4 Conference in Chicago, Mel McGowan will help you answer these questions with his session on "Creating Connecting Space."

Do you know what you need to know to build the church of the future? That question will be addressed at the next Cornerstone Alignment conference on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 in Chicago.

The theme for Cornerstone Conference series in 2009 is Alignment, and the core message is the vital relationship between Culture, Ministry, Leadership and Facilities. New faces in the Cornerstone line-up this year include Will Mancini (author of Church Unique), Jim Sheppard (President of Generis), Mel McGowan (President of Visioneering) and Denny Wilson (Senior Pastor of Warsaw Community Church).

Call (888) 595-7360 or visit CornerstoneConferences.com to register.

"We're way over the top at this point, folks," Phil said, shaking his head as he reviewed the numbers. Building a new church always seems to cost more than planned. Was it indicative of churches, or just a fact of new construction? He didn't know. This was only the second time he'd been a part of a building project this extensive. But the cost overruns were going to test his leadership as pastor. Each board member had a pet project, and no one was willing to have his or her piece of the puzzle dismissed.

"So it looks like it's time to do some serious belt tightening and prioritizing," he continued, as he looked at the faces of his board.

A recent research study included a survey of 406 young adults who stayed in church during the critical ages of 18 to 22, and who have remained in church since then. What are some of the primary reasons these young adults stayed in the church?

Recently, I attended a Thought Leader Event sponsored by Cornerstone Knowledge Network, creators of the Alignment4 conferences and BuildingForMinistry.com. The leaders gathered included innovative pastors, such as Dave Ferguson and Mark Beeson, consultants—Will Mancini and John Holm, writers, including Skye Jethani and Frank Viola, and others who bring out the best in churches.

The conversation pointed out some key shifts in church life.

Ed Bahler and Bill Couchenour discuss the vision of the Cornerstone Alignment 4 Conference, and how they approach issues of culture and foresight in the creation of ministry space. Alignment 4, a conference by the Cornerstone Knowledge Network, provides four opportunities in 2009 for church leaders to consider the critical factors of ministry, culture, leadership and facilities.

Christianity Today International
Christianity Today International is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit communications ministry whose mission is to create Christian content that changes the people who change the world. CTI serves the global church with 11 magazines, more than 40 e-newsletters, and www.ChristianityToday.com, which together reach nearly 4 million people each month.

Cornerstone Knowledge Network
The Cornerstone Knowledge Network (CKN) is a select group of innovative companies that collaborates to develop exclusive insights into:

culture,
ministry,
leadership and
facilities.

Our passion is to radically enhance ministry's impact in this dawning digital age. We are dedicated to creating powerful resources for church leadership, as well as designing and constructing strategic church facilities.

Both separately and together, the Network companies offer valuable information as well as proven consulting services to ministry teams. We are committed to helping these teams develop an empowering missional ministry that has a transforming impact on their communities.

The best way for you and your church to receive this knowledge is to attend a Cornerstone Conference. This acclaimed church building seminar is a clearinghouse of the latest information you need to assure your construction project is on a firm foundation.

Creating space, engaging people, and transforming lives—that's the mission of BuildingForMinistry.com, a website created through a collaborative partnership between Christianity Today International and the Cornerstone Knowledge Network (www.theCKN.com). Christianity Today International is the publisher of Christianity Today, Leadership, Your Church, and Church Law & Tax Report, and Cornerstone Knowledge Network is comprised of a select group of companies that design and build churches and provide expert guidance through conferences and consultations.

Ed has a passion to help build better churches, not to just build better church buildings. He serves as president of Aspen Group, the Midwest's premiere church construction company. Aspen Group designs and builds original, effective facilities for growing churches by using an integrated process, combining visioning, feasibility, architecture and construction.

When Ed met Bill Couchenour, the two discovered they had much more in common than just an expertise in building churches. They both share a deep desire to understand what factors contribute to ministry effectiveness. It was this shared vision and passion that led to the birth of Cornerstone Knowledge Network (CKN), a joint effort initiated by Aspen Group and Cogun, Inc.

As a founding member of CKN, Ed has directed research that demonstrates building better churches requires an understanding and clear alignment of these dynamics: Evolving Culture, Relevant Ministry, Empowering Leadership, and Intentional Facilities. Along with speaking at the CKN regional conferences, Ed is a frequent speaker at events such as WFX, NACBA and NACFM conferences,

You can keep up with Ed at:

Website: Aspen Group
Cornerstone Knowledge
Network
Blog: EdBahler.com

Bill Couchenour serves as president of Cogun, Inc., a premiere church construction company, which has coordinated the design and building of more than 650 church facilities since 1970. Since 1995, Bill has led the company in serving hundreds of congregations to bring about facilities that met specific ministry plans and budgets.

Bill is the author of the book, Churches: Before You Build (2003).

Ed Stetzer has planted churches in New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia and transitioned declining churches in Indiana and Georgia. He has trained pastors and church planters on five continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books. Ed's primary role is President of Lifeway Research and Lifeway's Missiologist in Residence.

He has written many books, including his most recent, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them (with Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes, 2009)

THE NINES was a one day event held on 09/09/09. Leadership Network asked over 75 leaders, "If you had just nine minutes to share with church leaders, what would you tell them?" This was Ed Stetzer's response...

Dave Ferguson is the Lead Pastor of Community Christian Church, an innovative multi-site missional community that is passionate about helping people find their way back to God. Community Christian Church (CCC) has grown from Dave, his wife and four friends to more than 5,000 people meeting every weekend at nine locations. CCC empowers more than 600 volunteer leaders to oversee difference-making ministries throughout Chicago and was recently recognized as one of the most influential churches in America.

Dave provides visionary leadership for the NewThing Network, whose dream is to be a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches. NewThing is a network of reproducing churches internationally and a resource to churches looking to reproduce to multiple sites or start new churches. Dave is also the co-founder and serves on the board of directors for the Institute for Community, which partners with real estate developers to accomplish their mission of helping people build quality relationships where you live and work through the power of genuine community.

Dave is the author of the newly released, The Big Idea: Focus the Message, Maximize the Impact along with Jon Ferguson and Eric Bramlett.

Next to Jesus, Dave loves his wife, Sue, the most and then his three terrific kids, Amy - 18, Joshua - 15 and Caleb - 10. Dave and his family live in Naperville, IL. Dave enjoys hanging out with his family, reading, running and playing any sport with a ball. If you want to keep up with Dave's adventures check out his:

blog: daveferguson.org
church: community christian church
network: newthing

THE NINES was a one day event held on 09/09/09. Leadership Network asked over 75 leaders, "If you had just nine minutes to share with church leaders, what would you tell them?" This was Dave Ferguson's response...

Skye Jethani serves as the managing editor of Leadership Journal, a publication of Christianity Today International. Leadership's purpose is to equip pastors and church leaders for the challenges of ministry in a complex world. In this role, Skye not only has the opportunity to engage many of Christianity's most influential leaders, but also translate their thoughts into practical help for those struggling to live faithfully in a rapidly shifting culture. Skye also contributes regularly to other resources within the Leadership Media Group including Out of Ur , Preaching Today, and Building Church Leaders, and he's the author of The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity (Zondervan, 2009).

Prior to his editorial role with Leadership, Skye served for six years in full-time pastoral ministry at Blanchard Alliance Church in Wheaton, Illinois. During this time he helped Blanchard launch a second congregation in Warrenville, Illinois, and wrestle with questions of mission and spiritual formation in a postmodern, post-Christian culture. As a teaching pastor, Skye has taught adult classes with a special focus on issues of faith and culture. He continues to serve as a member of Blanchard's teaching team and preaches in both Wheaton and Warrenville regularly.

What kind of name is Skye, anyway?It's a nickname. His given name is Akash, a Hindi name that means sky in English. Since birth his family has called him Skye, although he still doesn't know who decided to add the -e.

THE NINES was a one day event held on 09/09/09. Leadership Network asked over 75 leaders, "If you had just nine minutes to share with church leaders, what would you tell them?" This was Skye Jethani's response...

Marian V. Liautaud is the editor for Your Church Resources at Christianity Today International. Her position includes serving as editor for a variety of books, publications, websites, and e-newsletters, including BuildingForMinistry.com, ChurchSafety.com, Church Law & Tax Report, Church Finance Today, and Church Office Today. Marian has edited dozens of books and written numerous articles. She is a member of the National Association of Church Business Administration.

Marian has been married for 23 years to Dan. Together, they are raising four boys and savoring the joys of a grandson.

Jim Couchenour began his career serving churches 25 years ago as a Project Consultant with Cogun. He currently serves as Director of Marketing and Ministry Services, and has developed tools for growing churches to bridge the gap between the church and unchurched. Jim has spoken on these subjects at many conferences, and has written a number of articles on church ministry in postmodern culture that have appeared in national Christian magazines. He graduated from Mt. Vernon Nazarene University and received his MBA from Youngstown State University.

Rex Miller is a nationally respected futurist, consultant, speaker, theologian and communications expert and author. His book, The Millennium Matrix: Reclaiming the Past, Reframing the Future of the Church, introduces an innovative historical view describing the power of changing media on culture and the organizations within the culture. It describes the new leadership models necessary to navigate change and lead a rising iGeneration. His book outlines the new leadership and organizational paradigms for a digital world.

Rex is an expert in working with Generation Y and the iGeneration and is a trusted advisor and consultant to over 200 organizations over the past 20 years. He has been active in lay ministry since the late 1970s with a degree in theology and communications from the University of Illinois.

Rex has been a youth leader, tennis coach, Boy Scout master and lay pastor. His interests include camping, tennis, music, photography and researching future trends. His lifelong focus has been on mentoring relationships while his professional focus has been on developing healthy organizational cultures. Rex, a Chicago native, lives in Southlake, Texas with his wife and three children.

Other books by Rex Miller:

The Commercial Real Estate Revolution

The Millennium Matrix, published in July 2004, by Jossey-Bass, is his first book.

Kevin Ford is the Chief Visionary Officer and Managing Partner of TAG Consulting, a management consulting firm specializing in strategy, leadership and ministry development. TAG's client list includes Merrill Lynch, the Federal Aviation Association and the Salvation Army. Kevin is also an author and speaker in both the corporate and Christian world. His father is Leighton Ford and his uncle is Billy Graham. Kevin and his wife and two daughters live in Northern Virginia.

He is the co-author of The Thing in the Bushes: Turning Organizational Blind Spots into Competitive Advantage (Pinon Press, 2001). His newest book, Transforming Church was released by Tyndale House Publishers in 2007 with the paperback version released by David C. Cook in 2008.

Sam S. Rainer III serves at Sarasota Baptist Church, a multi-site church on the Sun Coast of Florida. Sam is the co-author of the recently released book, Essential Church. He has written numerous articles for several publications. He serves as president of Rainer Research, a firm dedicated to providing answers for better church health. He is a frequent conference speaker on church health issues. Sam holds a BS in Finance and Marketing from the University of South Carolina and an MA in Missiology from Southern Seminary. He is currently working on his PhD in Leadership Studies at Dallas Baptist University. Sam enjoys hanging out with friends and family in the Florida sunshine.

You can follow Sam at:

Website: RainerResearch.com
Blog: SamRainer.wordpress.com

At the Cornerstone ALIGNMENT4 conference, you'll learn about the underlying movements in our society so you can understand culture. You'll hear about ways to have a more relevant ministry. Experts will explain how to empower your leadership. And you'll learn how to channel all of that into an effective church facility.






The ALIGNMENT4 conference is for anyone who desires relevant ministry in an effective facility, including:

Pastors
Business Administrators
Staff
Lay Leaders
Building Committee members

You'll also discover research-based, experience-tested information to:

Connect with your evolving culture and powerfully address the soul cravings of your community. Avoid ministry burnout by discovering your church's unique call.
Discover how to leverage your next change initiative to pull your leadership team and congregation together.
Inspire spiritual growth and congregational generosity in these times of economic difficulty.
Design the right space to support a culture of connection.
Assemble an effective building team based on the strengths of its members.
Explore the benefits of building a sustainable, green facility.

Register now online or call 888-595-7360 today!

Dates & locations for 2009 conferences are: Indianapolis, March 3, 2009; Orlando, May 5, 2009; Chicago, September 15, 2009; Charlotte, October 27, 2009

BuildingForMinistry.com, a collaborative partnership between Christianity Today International and the Cornerstone Knowledge Network, offers a variety of tools and resources to help church leaders with their thinking regarding ministry space.

One of the ways the site desires to help is through electronic training resources. For a low cost, church leaders can purchase these resources and use them as they work through facilities-related matters with staff members, board members, committee members, and volunteers.

Here are resources that BuildingForMinistry.com offers; watch the site in 2010 as new ones get added: