I know the church is not a building. That is not to say, though, that the building is unimportant. A building says something about the congregation that gathers there; so, we need to pay attention to our facilities.

Listed here are 15 facility issues I and my consulting teams have seen recurrently in churches, including established churches and church plants.

1. No obvious main entrance. We have seen this problem in churches with large facilities as well as church plants that meet in rented space. The building has several doors, each that enters the facility in a different location. Only one leads to the main entrance, but guests must guess which door that is.

2. An unmarked (or unattended) welcome center. No signage indicates the welcome center, and no greeters direct people there. Brochures and sermon CDs might be available there, but sometimes no one is there to distribute them. Such a location is an information kiosk—not a welcome center.

3. Paper signage. Even in larger churches we've seen it: handwritten (or even poorly done computer-generated) room signs on a piece of paper taped to a wall. I realize emergency situations necessitate a "quick fix," but this kind of signage implies a lack of attention to excellence.

4. Old information on screens or bulletin boards. I've seen bulletin-board announcements for events that took place six months ago. Even in churches with computerized announcements, I've seen outdated information flashed onto the screen.

5. Unsecured children's area. Our "secret shoppers" often report having complete access to children's areas. In some cases, no security system is in place to protect children. In other cases where security does exist, unmonitored outside doors still allow entrance to this area.

Dr. Mark Rutland's

National Institute of Christian Leadership (NICL)

The NICL is one of the top leadership training programs in the U.S. taught by Dr. Mark Rutland. If you're the type of leader that likes to have total control over every aspect of your ministry and your future success, the NICL is right for you!

FREE NICL MINI-COURSE - Enroll for 3-hours of training from Dr. Rutland's full leadership course. Experience the NICL and decide if this training is right for you and your team.

The NICL Online is an option for any leader with time or schedule constraints. It's also for leaders who want to expedite their training to receive advanced standing for Master Level credit hours. Work through Dr. Rutland's full training from the comfort of your home or ministry at your pace. Learn more about NICL Online. Learn more about NICL Online.