Last year I wrote a post about how Parkhill Christian Church and how they were able to save money and increase their ministry by making several energy upgrades to their facility.
The blog was entitled, “The Power of Knowledge…Literally,” and it has served as a great success story about how churches can improve their facilities, increase ministry, and save money- at the same time. This blog is a follow up to that post, and it is designed to see if these initial results continue.
I recently called Rev. Chris Franklin to interview him about how the church was doing and if the church was still seeing great results from their participation in an energy audit and ministry planning session with Church Extension. Here is a snapshot of the conversation:
John: Chris, so tell me, how are things going at the church?
Chris: I think we are in the midst of what we would have to call dynamic change, in part stimulated by the analysis of the Green Church building report. The most startling was the the high relative cost of maintenance and utilities in comparison to the low utilization of the building for ministry. The change in the model of ministry to use the building for community and those outside the church and to be welcoming in doing so is transformational and challenging. Our numbers of visitors have skyrocketed, and the congregation is thrilled to see prospective visitors in church on a regular basis, but surprised they don’t join after a few weeks of visiting. We did not have the mentality of having active visitors.
J: What have been the savings that you have seen over the past year?
C: We have started seeing the savings as we replaced lights as they failed and insulated in the most cost effective locations. The financial chair thinks we will save up to $12,000 this year in electricity and gas. We certainly saw a saving of around $4,000 for this winter’s gas bill and have seen a 30% reduction in electricity usage, but we have not had a summer’s season of airconditioning to prove that the savings in utilities will fully 30-40% this year. We are so excited about the changes, we are looking at replacing some old school type single pane glass windows that are a big problem in both heat and cooling and if those were replaced we would see the full 50% that was predicted by the green report. The other big savings were in medical care for staff. The report showed us where we had water coming in the building through bad drainage and broken pipes. The fixing of these problems has increased staff health and decrease sick leave!
J: How have these savings affected your ministry?
C: It was great to have a budget report be in the black for the first 5 months of the year. This meant that we increased activity of the church instead of cutting budgets, which we would have with the expenditure of $5,000- $6,000 and more to utilities. We have been able to catch up of our tithe to regional church and missions that had been behind from last year and still be in the black. I do think that as we are better stewards of our money, giving is better. No one wants their tithe to pay for the light bill, and so if the light bill is lower, we have happier givers. We also do not worry so much about use of the church and become as concerned if someone leaves the lights on overnight. This lowers tension and blaming in the congregation and allows us to focus on positive ministry.
J: Last time we spoke you had mentioned that the church had tripled the use of its facility and expanded its ministry. Are you still seeing the same results?
C: Even more so. Our Life center’s Gym is used almost everyday, bringing visitors of resources to the budget of the church. With our connection to the community, we are also considering partnerships with local athletic groups to put in a outdoor recreational center (Chris later shared that these partnerships are also providing $24,000 in income for the church, and they are looking to expand their programs to include outdoor recreation).
J: If you could offer one piece of advice for churches who wanted to copy your success, what would it be?
C: The biggest piece of advice is for the congregation and leadership to be dedicated to the process and to utilize the follow up consultation to encourage implementation. Fortunately for us the Property chair had the leadership and the vision to implement key segments of the report which built momentum for moving forward into other recommendations. Having all the leadership on board from the beginning would have sped up the implementation and the savings as well as the potential for new ministry. Trust the expertise of the Board and work with them as a partner.
I would again like to thank Rev. Chris Franklin, and his church, for their participation in the program and for sharing all of this information. Chris also wanted me to share that he is very happy to talk with any congregation considering this issue (considering how to use their facilities better for ministry). He can be contacted via his church’s website (http://www.parkhillcc.com/).
Finally, as a consultant, I can say that Chris’ leadership has also make this project very successful. It was his vision and gifts for ministry that encouraged his church’s leaders to see the larger ministry purpose of this program. He told me, “it was hard at first, but now that people are seeing the results….they just want to do more.”
Blog Notes: For more information about how Church Extension can help your congregation with its building, energy, and ministry needs, please visit the website at www.churchextension.org
