Out of parking space? Consider a shuttle!

At one church where I ministered, the growth of the church caused us to get creative about our parking. We were already at two services, but the parking lot was full.

Instead of just letting our members and guests try to figure it out on their own, we contacted the director of the public library, which was down the street from our building, and asked permission for our folks to use their lot on Sundays (the library, of course, was closed then).

At the time, the church had one passenger van, and I offered the use of my personal van. We had four magnetic signs printed for the sides of the vans, and volunteer drivers were recruited. Then, while one van was picking folks up at the library, the other van was dropping some off at the church building. We made sure that the drivers stayed on the job until 5-10 minutes into the worship services so that last minute guests would be cared for.

We encouraged our church leaders and established members to park in this lot, and away from the building in our other lot, to allow the closer parking for guests and our older members.

On days with nice weather, many folks chose to walk to the building. But this service was especially appreciated in rainy and snowy weather, and by some of our older members even on nice days!

Get more ideas like this in our church growth seminar!

© 2014 Jim McLoud. All rights reserved.