What makes your church your church? The distinctive elements within your building that tell the story of who you are as a faith community? Kevin Miller, Senior Pastor at Church of the Savior in Wheaton, Illinois, shares insights he gleaned from his own experience leading his previous church—Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois—through a major adaptive reuse building project. He explores three keys for discovering the essential elements that make your church distinct in a video series titled, “Telling Your Church’s Unique Story.”
After placing the winning bid for an abandoned plastics factory that had gone to auction, Miller's church had to decide how to transform an industrial steel and glass structure into ministry space that would resonate with their Anglican congregation.
He covers the process his church underwent in determining what their church's story is and how they could use this new space to convey their mission, vision, and values authentically. For Miller, his church’s building project helped him discern three key elements that must be considered in order to clearly communicate your church’s unique story within its physical space.
1. Loves
Church of the Resurrection loves their congregation, the performing arts, children’s services, and leading people back to Christ. But the church had to differentiate those loves from their greatest love, which is worship.
During their build process, most of the money, time, and resources went into designing a spectacular worship center while creating functional children’s areas, lobby spaces, and other office and classroom areas of the church. By investing in one key space—the sanctuary—Church of the Resurrection tells the story of a worship-focused church.
Every space tells a story. Does your church building tell the right one?
2. Location
Understanding the significance of a church’s location is every bit as important, if not more so, then the built space itself. For example, Church of the Resurrection is an Anglican Church based in the suburbs of Chicago. The church’s steel and glass structure fits well within the context of Chicago architecture, but initially Miller says it felt at odds with the high church culture of the Anglican Church.
Ultimately, Church of the Resurrection opted to embrace both realities—their church’s alignment with Chicago architecture, and interior design elements, especially in the sanctuary, that help to create the liturgical, sacred feel associated with Anglican churches. According to Miller, every church needs to determine the context in which they are located and the spiritual needs of the congregation. What worked at Church of the Resurrection wouldn’t be the right solution for another church in a different location.
3. Lessons Learned
Every church body has a history of victories and fall-outs that shape a church’s story. For example, Church of the Resurrection is a successful, thriving church today. Early in the church’s history, however, there was a fairly public and heated argument between a few staff members, which led to a painful break in the church. According to Miller, the conflict wasn’t handled well, and there was a lot of pain within the church body.
While it’s easier to sweep a history like this under the rug, push it into the far corners of the room, or remove it from the world entirely, Church of the Resurrection took a different approach and embraced the pain. Rather than hiding the split from members and new staff, the church focuses church membership classes on reconciliation, conflict resolution, and healthy relationship building—lessons the church itself learned from this painful part of their story. According to Miller, learning from these lessons, putting them on display, and encouraging a different future is a key way to tell your church’s unique story.
What are the loves, location, and lessons learned at your church? How might you communicate these within your church building? Check out Kevin Miller’s video series.