Churches As Economic Assets: The impact of location and traffic

Churches are so much more than houses of worship.

They act as community centers, childcare centers and sometimes, even schools. Yet there’s more. Although churches don’t pay property taxes, they can be valuable drivers of local economic development in several ways.

One economic impact that’s become more apparent with the rise of the megachurch involves location and church size. Churches serve as community centers and gathering places, drawing attendees to services and programs throughout the week. And simply by bringing lots of people to a neighborhood regularly, large churches can also provide significant economic boosts to local retail businesses and communities.

Of course, having a megachurch in your neighborhood means challenges, too—like traffic and loss of property tax revenue. So, to provide extra value, build good relationships with their communities and pursue a more integrated vision, some large churches have been doing more to be forces for economic revitalization.

For example, last week Christ Fellowship Church, the nation’s 15^th largest church, held its first services at a new location in a Florida mall. The church now owns and occupies the Boynton Beach Mall’s anchor spot, which had been vacant for roughly three years since Dilliards closed.

The mall has been struggling, and city officials hope the church in that 7.5-acre location will help vitalize the area. They expect the church to attract some 3,000 visitors throughout each week. It will also run a coffee shop, the proceeds of which will go toward outreach.

When the church-in-the-mall idea first came up in 2011, some city officials were concerned that it’d cut into the city’s retail tax base. But since then, they’ve reportedly come to believe the church will provide other economic benefits that’ll make up for that. Christ Fellowship has put more than $7.1 million into onsite construction and, instead of taxes, will donate $25,000/year to the city’s enrichment fund.

This sort of thing is a growing trend. As ecommerce threatens brick-and-mortar retail establishments like malls and shopping centers, many experts expect that non-retail tenants will increase as malls look for ways to get people in the doors. And growing churches are increasingly seeking out nontraditional spaces.

The Sun Sentinel newspaper reports that 220 out of 114,000 shopping center properties in the U.S. list a “church/community center” as a tenant.

While churches must be careful about blurring the lines between business and ministry, we’re excited that more are thinking directly about ways they can provide economic benefits to their broader communities.

One church we’re working with now, Grace Place in Berthoud, is actively partnering with municipal leadership to provide community amenities and even a regional trail. We hope to see more and more churches doing similar things.

It is important for a church to have a great relationship with its neighbors; and it’s vital for a community to see the church as an important and vital resource. That occasional traffic jam might not be so bad after all.

How does your church impact its local economy? Send us your thoughts! For more information about Development Advisors’ church facility development services, contact Scott McLean at scott@developco.com. To read more about church trends in economic development, read our next blog!