Churches Reclaim Declining Urban Church Facilities

The multi-site church model, one church meeting in multiple locations, is quickly changing the landscape of American Christianity. Many urban church facilities have fallen into disrepair or even abandonment due to diminishing congregations or population shift to other areas. Thankfully, the revitalization of urban demographic communities is allowing multi-site churches a unique chance to reclaim urban church facilities for new campus locations.

Denver Community Church (DCC) is a multi-site church with two campus locations: Uptown at 16th and Pearl Street, and Washington Park at Mississippi Avenue11th and Washington Street. Denver Community Church started as a single-site church and expanded into its newer Uptown location in the old Temple Emanuel synagogue building. Temple Emanuel was built in 1899 and listed on the National Register of Historic Landmarks in 1987. (Source) DCC purchased the building in 2013 to launch its Uptown campus.

This is a beautiful example of a multi-site church using an already established urban church facility to continue building into the Kingdom. There are several other examples across the U.S. of multi-site churches purchasing or assuming urban church facilities as new campuses. Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois is another church that’s working to reclaim urban church facilities. Although Harvest Bible Chapel is not considered a multi-site church, it does plant several churches each year across the world. Harvest Bible Chapel new church plants across the Chicago area are using existing church facilities as launch points for new plants.

Before you consider a brand-new facility in an urban community, it’s worth a look at existing facilities to see which can be reclaimed for your next new campus. There’s a sacred atmosphere and charm to older church facilities with stained glass and vaulted ceilings. What better way to preserve a church building’s rich tradition of worship than to repurpose it for the Church of tomorrow.

It can take significant time and finances to revitalize an outdated urban church facility. 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. 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.

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.