Going portable can be one of the best decisions you make for your growing church or multisite. Still, the right portable venue for your church could depend on a lot of different factors. In another post, we started talking about what you should look for in a school as your venue choice. In this blog, we will discuss some other space-related areas you should consider when selecting a school for your portable church.
More Location Considerations
Location, location…….? For the location of a rented school, a central, recognizable location is ideal. Directions and parking can get tricky if the school is buried in a residential neighborhood. A potential large financial cost is the signage required to get people to your venue if it is not on a major road. Good exterior signage is heavier and often costs more than interior. This equates to both financial and volunteer costs.
Parking
In the past, we have discussed the proper parking ratios needed to accommodate all of your visitors. Does the school have enough parking for all of your visitors? We have found that high schools tend to have more parking because they have to accommodate for student parking, not just teacher and visitor parking. Street parking may work well for the occasional school event, however it may not work well on a weekly basis, especially if the school is located in a residential area.
Traffic-flow
You need to consider this in three areas: 1) the parking lot, 2) the hallways, and 3) equipment load-in and out.
Is it easy to get in and out of the parking lot? Ideally, the school will have an entry-driveway and an exit-driveway. This allows cars to easily make their way in and out of the lot.
Will it be easy to move people in and out of the welcome area and worship space? Tight hallways make the space feel more crowded. You want to minimize congestion before and after the service.
Is the equipment going to be used on the same floor where things are stored? If no, are there ramps or elevators? How much weight can the elevator handle? Are there curb-cuts or other issues with egress and ingress?
Onsite Storage
Will you have the option to store your equipment, signs, etc., securely onsite? This can be a big cost-advantage, as you won’t have to store your equipment in a trailer each week. Occasionally schools will allow you to install a shipping container (sometimes it helps to offer gifting it to the school after you’ve moved out). However, you want to make sure that the storage space is secure, especially if you plan on storing expensive equipment. While these can lower the cost of storing your equipment, if the location is a long distance, the cost of volunteer stress and burnout may outweigh the financial savings. We have had many churches come back and make the investment to procure trailers as it ended up being easier and reduced the cost of volunteer burnout.
Room To Grow
When choosing a venue, it is important that you not only consider your space needs for the time being, but that you also give your church room to grow and expand within that venue. Schools can be great for this as you grow from a small church meeting in the foyer, to a mid-size church meeting in a cafeteria, to a large church meeting in the auditorium or gymnasium.
These are fun things to be looking at while dreaming of what your church plant will look like, don’t you agree? Next week in the series we will be looking at what kind of existing resources and equipment you can use for your portable church. Sign up for our blog below to stay up to date on all of our posts for this series and others.
No one gets excited about these little details like we do. We are truly church-planting and portability nuts. This series has a ton of details, but still only touches the things you should lookout for. We love these details and exist so that you don’t have to spend all of your time worrying about them. Instead, we want you and your team to be able to focus on building your church and inspiring the people you serve. Tap into over twenty years of experience in turning any type of venue into an incredible worship and community space. What kind of venue will you be meeting in? Contact us and see how we can help!
To learn more about what to look for in a venue, check out these posts:
Does the school have the space that you need?
Does the school have the resources and equipment you need?
