Several years ago I was a member of a church that had expanded to the point of not having enough parking or seating to accommodate its membership.The church was totally land locked with houses on every side of the church's property.A committee was formed to figure out how to deal with this problem.There were 10 people on this committee, and all of these people knew something about real estate.There were realtors, builders, bankers, etc.It was a great surprise how well this committee worked together.They viewed several pieces of property, got lots of input from external experts, and over about a year, came up with three options for the church leaders and members to consider.These options were: (1) do nothing, (2) buy a large piece of property at another location and build a new building, or (3) buy the houses around the current church building (and remove the houses from those lots), expand the current building, and significantly increase the parking.

Once these three options were presented to the church members and leaders, almost all of the long-time and older members chose to do nothing, the younger families believed the church should buy property and build a new building because they could see the growth potential.Very few of the members considered the third option (buying houses around the current building) as a desirable option.

The problems:

Buying a large piece of property and building a new building sounded great, but the reality was that property was extremely expensive and so was building a new building.Add to that the location of a new site would be 10 miles or so from the current church location and the older members did not want to incur debt or drive that far.

The younger members wanted the new location because they could see it being in a better location to continue to attract more and more young families. They see this as a "no brainier" if the church wants to continue to grow.The biggest issue for buying a lot and erecting a new building, is cost.The church could sell the old building, and borrow enough money to make it happen, but there would have to be more new members to get enough contributions to make it a viable option.

The solution:

The church leaders formed a team to work with the members and make a decision on how to proceed.

1. How did this team need to function to move the church past this quandary?(Note, this is a true story and one year after the leadership team was formed, the church made the decision to stay in its current location, buy up surrounding houses and build a large addition to their current building.The church lost no members and continues to grow.)