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How to Capitalize on Portable Church

Here are seven reasons portable church might make sense as a permanent part of the future:

1. The stigma doesn’t exist with unchurched people. I never expected that to be true, but we’ve heard that story many times. Christians who stay away from portable church will always have another building they can go to for church. Sixty percent of our growth at Connexus is from self-identified unchurched people. Many of them tell us they love our venue because it’s not a “church.” I’ve never had an unchurched person say, “I will come when you have a real building.”

2. Larger churches are finding portable church works. Read through some of the stories Portable Church Industries outlines and you’ll see portable church isn’t just for small start-ups. Churches of 1000+ are fully portable.

3. Building costs are disproportionately high. Where I live, 30,000 square feet of newly constructed permanent space will cost you over 8 million dollars. Even with our $1.3 million dollar budget and a $1.25 million dollar capital campaign last year, building a full scale facility from scratch would be a financially oppressive move.

4. It allows you to pour more money into ministry. As a 5-year-old church, we are debt free with money in the bank and margin for the future. Last weekend, we were able to spontaneously give a $5000 donation to aid flood relief in Calgary. That would not have happened if we had a $6 million dollar mortgage.

5. New buildings don’t grow your church. I know more than a few church leaders who have poured millions into new venues only to discover they didn’t grow once they opened. Effective ministry will grow a church. A building won’t.

6. Portable is flexible. Flexible, agile churches will make a big impact in the future. You can upsize or downsize your venues based on current momentum. Once you’re in a building, you’re committed to or constrained by the size of footprint you created until money is available to change that. Portable is more flexible.

7. Buildings eventually become mausoleums. Almost every church leader has heard of Charles Spurgeon. But who can name his church? It still exists, but almost died for lack of attenders in the 1970s. The point is this: God uses people to lead ministries, not buildings. Facilities are a means to an end.

I’m not saying churches shouldn’t have buildings. There are times when churches need them and ought to have them. But there are lots of dying churches sitting on real estate. And lots of growing churches with none. (I also think dying churches should flip the keys to growing churches, but that’s another post).

Has the time come for us to push past the point where we believe that every growing church should have a building? The time has come for us to give portable church a permanent place in the future of the church. And get on with building a movement.