Carol Pipes, editor of Facts and Trends, wrote a piece in that magazine’s Fall 2013 edition on church building trends. She explored several significant trends, including
- designing for context,
- multi-use worship centers,
- larger gathering spaces,
- fewer classrooms, and
- remodeling existing facilities (p.24-26).
So What?
Perhaps the most important shift of all is with regard to how size will be viewed in the future. Pipes writes, “Small is the new big in the future.” Regardless of how many members a congregation has or how many attend worship on a typical week, churches of all sizes are likely to adopt a less is more mentality for real estate in the years ahead.
- Is your church the “right size” now or do you think it is too large or too small?
- What percentage of the square footage of your church campus is used less than 10 hours a week?
- What do you think will be some of the positives of churches moving toward smaller physical facilities?
Note: Last month, I wrote about this topic as a part of my series on What’s Holding Christianity Back.