By Dan Reiland (condensed)

November 2008

There are some things that are almost impossible to anticipate, but you can plan and prepare for the vast majority of what you will face. If you do, you will have the margin you need to deal with the things that life throws your way before moving in and soon after moving into your new building.

1. What will people love about it? Anticipate the things that your congregation will genuinely appreciate. What will they find helpful and be proud of in your new building. How will you leverage those things?

2. What will people complain about? There will be things the people don't like, so be ready for that. Among those you can anticipate, which ones should you solve, in what order, and which ones do you intentionally ignore?

3. What changes must not happen? What are the specific expressions of core values and culture that you and the church leaders must protect?

4. How / when do you cast vision for the coming changes? This is not exclusive to the general congregation, but relates to all levels and departments.

5. How will you market to the community prior to move-in? What is your plan for advertising? What is the budget? When do you start?

6. What sermons (series) are required before, during and after the move-in? This requires much thought and prayer to discern the balance of reaching both those who are far from God and those who are Christ-followers.

7. In what ways will the staff need to be different and function differently? This, of course, is a massive question. You may not be able to afford more staff upon move-in, but you should know who you want to hire next.

8. What will the new shape and expression of Spiritual Formation look like? How will the process function, including baptism, new Christians, volunteer service, and small groups, etc.?

9. How will you help people transition from the big experience to small group environments? How will you utilize mid-sized environments?

10. How will you leverage creative arts and evangelism in fresh and productive ways? How will you ensure that evangelism remains at the cutting edge?

11. What are your clear, fresh and creative plans to continue strong in building pledge monies? If your building isn't paid for, what is your plan to keep the revenue source alive after move-in?

12. How will you deepen and strengthen church-wide leadership development?

13. How will ministry programming be different? (What is cut, what is added?)

14. How will you respond to / communicate with first-time visitors?

15. How will you communicate your vision after move-in? What's your next hill to conquer? This is often where churches drop the ball. Once the building goes up and people move in, the vision dies down. Decide before you move in where you are headed after that day.

16. If you have a video venue or a satellite campus ministry, how are they affected by the opening of this new building?

17. Where and when do the sacraments fit in? Why?

18. What does community look like in the new building? Will you encourage community within the large building? Example, will you permit small groups to meet on campus? Why? How? Seating areas?

19. What is your strategic use, and implications of that use, of the building outside of your regular services and events? This relates to unique ministry ideas.

20. Is the building open to your community for outside events? (Concerts, Graduations, Weddings etc.) Will you charge a fee or grant usage at no charge?

21. What will a typical week of activities look like? (Small Groups, Support Groups, Student Ministries, Worship rehearsals. etc.)

22. Guest Services - how will you communicate events and opportunities with everyone considering multiple entry points to the building? (This relates more to larger buildings.)

23. What do you pray / want to accomplish in the first 30 days? First 3 months? In the first 6 months? In the 1st year?

"This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland's free monthly e-newsletter, "The Pastor's Coach," available at www.injoy.com."