Planting Space

Bob Franquiz had a great blog post about Why People Choose a Church. He basically says the church must be good and it must be close. I agree. People will go to a church that is not perfect or their favorite simply because it is good and it is close.

I frequently talk through this with church planters. There are two quick and dirty rules we use when choosing a location:

1. The Wal-Mart Rule: Anecdotally most people won’t want to drive further to church than they drive to Wal-Mart. After speaking with many church planters we have found this to be pretty consistent no matter where you live (rural or suburban- there are different guidelines about urban centers which depend on public transit).
2. The “In or Out?” Rule: People are much more likely to drive to church in the same direction they commute. If they commute from the burbs toward a city, they are much more likely to drive that same direction to go to church. Perceptually, 3 miles toward their workplace is much closer than 3 miles away from their workplace. For churches near interstates, you are better off in a facility one exit closer to town and have people drive in toward you then to be one exit further out and have people drive out to you UNLESS the exit further out has a Wal-Mart and people are used to driving out for shopping.

Tags: No Comments