One of the most
beautiful aspects of the global Church is that multiple generations can worship
together under one unifying purpose: glorifying God. As growing churches look
to expand their facilities into new areas, there is growing pressure to address
the facility needs and interests of all the generations in a given
congregation. How do you engage all the generations in your congregation when
considering a new facility?
How Baby Boomers are impacting church facility solutions
The median age of
mainline Protestant adults is 52 years old. (Pew Forum) This sets the stage for Baby Boomers to lead
the way in influencing a significant amount of building committees and facility
decisions for a growing congregation.
It’s no surprise
that Baby Boomers are known as the most financially supportive of local church
ministry. They have the most resources readily accessible, and that’s more than
just financial resources. Baby Boomers also tend to have the most relational
and business-related resources due to decades of connecting and contributing to
the lives of others.
Baby Boomers also
tend to impact church facility decisions through senior leadership in the
church. The average age of a senior pastor in the U.S. is 55 years old. (Source) This means your senior pastor is more likely to
relate well to the most influential leaders in your congregation, especially
when it comes to facility expansion.[1]
How Generation X is influencing church facility
expansion
Generation X is
made of people born between 1965 and 1980, give or take a year or two. They’re
characterized by being very individualistic and wary of large corporations,
including churches. (Source) Generation X-ers are the first generation in
the U.S. to noticeably walk away from church altogether. This translates to an
underrepresented generation with strong opinions and experiences tied to having
their voices heard. Many Generation X-ers have children in middle school and
high school, a dynamically influential part of local church ministry.
How Millennials are impacting church facilities
The Millennial
generation is typically understood as those born in 1980/1981 through 2000,
hence the name “Millennial”. The average age of a youth pastor is 33 years old,
a statistic towards the older side of the Millennial generation. (Source) Millennials
tend to be very environmentally and community-conscious. Millennials also tend
to value more traditional worship experiences, such as catechisms, spoken
prayers as a congregation, hymns and folk acoustic music, and community-driven
environments, like coffee shops and lobby lounges.
If you’re
considering a church facility project to fit all the generations represented in
your congregation, our Development Advisors team is here to serve you.
Development Advisors works with local churches to create strategic facility
expansion plans, including multi-site facility expansion. We are a full-service
commercial real estate development organization committed to serving churches.
This vision aligns with our principals’ personal values as followers of Jesus
Christ.
Development
Advisors provides a variety of services, including strategic planning,
financial feasibility, site or building selection, capital campaign direction ,
financing (as owner’s representative), project team selection, project and
construction management (also as owner’s representative), FF&E and AVL
procurement specialists, and relocation coordination, as needed.
Our Development
Advisors team is here to serve you and answer any questions you may have when
it comes to both single-site and multisite church facility expansion.
