C O V E R    F E A T U R E

Church in a Box

Everything a portable church needs on a Sunday morning for quick setup and storage

Jennifer Schuchmann

If you think getting ready for services is difficult for your church, imagine having to unpack every item you need from crates stored in a trailer!

Many churches that do not own their own facilities meet for worship every Sunday in such diverse locations as schools, skating rinks, video arcades, car dealerships, malls, medical clinics, and fast food restaurants. Even though these churches don't have permanent quarters, they are still expected to have all the necessities of a church, including furnishings for nurseries and children's programs; supplies for coffee and other beverages; audiovisual, sound, and lighting equipment; and musical instruments. Further more, unlike congregations that accumulate such assets gradually as do nations come in to pay for them, people in port able churches expect all the amenities of a fully functioning church.

Church on the Move
Will Davis, Jr., senior pastor at Austin Christian Fellowship in Texas, knows what it means to be a portable church. His church started meeting in temporary quarters six years ago. The congregation bought a building but soon outgrew it. Today it's back to being a portable church, this time meeting in a local elementary school.

That means that each Sunday a crew packs up everything needed for services and programs for 350 adults and 150 children including nursery equipment, toys, floor mats, TVs, VCRs, multimedia equipment, podiums, plates, microphones, greeter tables, food supplies, and signs. "About the only thing we don't have to pack and unpack is the chairs that the school lets us use," Davis says. It takes 20 volunteers about 90 minutes to unpack 30 6-by-4-by-2-foot crates from two trailers and set up for church.

Church in a Box
What goes into the box is key for a portable church. Pete van der Harst, an industrial engineer and owner of Portable Church Industries (PCI) says that even little decisions make a big difference when you need to store items. For example, churches may want wicker rocking chairs for the nursery, but an aluminum rocking lawn chair will take up a tenth of the space and be a quarter of the weight.

Space and weight are important criteria when you consider storage costs, which van der Harst estimates at $50 a cubic foot. "The low-cost solution is not the summation of the lowest cost parts," van der Harst says. If buying the cheapest microphone means you will need to add another trailer for storage, you may want to pay an extra 20 percent for stacking microphones because the overall cost is cheaper.

Another important consideration is speed. For example, portable churches with quick set up times need coffeepots with an "instant-on" feature or the brew won't be ready for the setup crew. Likewise, such churches must avoid coffeepots with water jackets that will freeze if stored outside.

Furnishings That Flex
Churches that live out of a box appreciate items that are adaptable and portable. "We get calls for easy-to-move lecterns, portable baptisteries, and portable sound systems," says Bruce Baber, marketing coordinator for Life Way Church Sales. Items that work well:

• Walls that move. Portable partitions can be used to create Sunday school classrooms as well as backdrops behind the pastor and choir. One of the most popular partitions, made by Screen flex, has accordion-style walls on wheels instead of tracks. "It can easily be folded up and rolled away by one person," says Vic Moore, national sales manager of Christian Purchasing Network.

• Flexible staging. StageRight Corporation makes staging, choral risers, and band risers that are modular and lightweight and store compactly. In less than an hour, two to four people can set up a 16-by-24-foot stage complete with stairs, skirt, and guardrail. No tools are required, and the modular design is adaptable.

• Adaptable altar furniture. Imperial Wood works offers pulpits on a special caster system, says John Hancock, national sales manager. When a worship service is finished, the pulpit can be tipped back and wheeled away like a wheelbarrow.

• Multipurpose tables. Tables with attached chairs are great for portable churches, Moore says. He recommends mobile tables from Midwest and Virco that have attached benches or stools that can be folded up and rolled away on wheels. The tables and chairs are available in bright colors that are especially appealing for children's ministries.

Baber suggests churches should invest in caddies to help protect tables and chairs from being damaged. He also warns people to be careful in folding and unfolding tables. "Usually, you don't wear out a folding table by using it. You wear out a folding table when you move it improperly," he says. Tip: Save original packing cartons to repack expensive equipment before moving it.

• Easy-store chairs. Comfortable, stackable chairs are great for portable churches. These are often called "pew chairs" because they can link together to look like continuous seating. These chairs come in a wide range of styles, comfort levels, and prices.

Church Chair Industries's Royal Stacker can be stacked up to 12 chairs high. Virco's 8830 can be stacked 17 chairs high. For a superstacker chair, check out Ki's matrix chair, which can be stacked 42 chairs high.

Ten Surefire Signs of a Portable Church 10. At a church-growth conference, you attend sessions like "Stacking Boxes in Limited Space." 9. On Sunday morning you find a seven-foot paper-mache fish hanging from the ceiling. The pastor immediately changes his sermon title to "The Miracle Feeding of 5,000." 8. Visitors who are waiting for the arcade to open drop into Sunday School. 7. Christmas Eve services are held under a blue tarp because the school roof is being repaired during the holidays. 6. The pastor cuts the sermon short because members can't hear it over the industrial-strength Noizy-Vac being used in the next room.  Just as he begins to pray, the ice machine kicks in and dumps 30 punds of ice into the cooler. 5. New members with big biceps are first draft picks for the setup crew. 4. The setup crew discovers the facility has replcaed its old folding chairs with brand-new padded chairs. More than 80 boxes need to be unpacked before services begin. 3. The altar has to be built on the set of "Guys and Dolls." 2. The first prayer said every Sunday is "Thank God we made it." 1. The last car leaving the parking lot has a trailer behind it.

Projection Plus
Before including videoprojection equipment for a portable church, Guy Mahmarian, president of Worship Visions, ad vises answering the following questions: Will the church be able to store such equipment in the place where it meets or will it have to be packed up every week? Does the facility have a large projection screen that the church can use?

If a screen isn't available, the church may want to invest in a portable freestanding screen. Mahmarian, whose firm offers screens in more than 100 sizes and styles, advises churches to choose a screen that fits the sanctuary size, not the projector. "Even if you need a screen up to 12 feet wide, there are portable screens that fold up and can be stored in a hard plastic case no bigger than 10-by-12-by-39 inches, he says. Screens vary in price, depending on size and style.

Consider also using an ultraportable projector, such as the VPLS-900 Sony from Fowler. It weighs a mere 13 pounds and is only 13-by-43/4-by-11 inches in size. Plan on about a half-hour to set up a videoprojector and screen, including the cabling and hookups to a computer and VCR.

More Useful Tools
Putting up a sign is one of the quickest, most economical ways to create an identity for a church in someone else's building. Sandy Sutton, sales manager of Praise Banners, recommends that portable churches use nylon screen-printed banners because they are sturdier and easier to transport than embellished banners. "They are easy to clean, and they use self-standing T-poles, making them easy to take down and carry," she says.

Another product that can help a church without a permanent home is a digital hymn player. It's an item that can be used when the church later moves into a permanent setting.

Creating a storage system for all the equipment needed in a portable church is critical. Mann's church sets up a nursery in the hallway of the high school where the church meets. Workers built 35 portable shelves that can be used as classroom dividers as well as storage crates for toys and nursery items.

Church of the Awesome God, in Lincoln, Nebraska, created a storage system out of plastic boxes. Rebecca Kincaid, pastor at the church, says the boxes are color-coded for different ministries. "Everything goes back into the trailer in a certain order to keep the weight evenly distributed. It takes 45 minutes, tops, to put everything away."

Davis hired PCI to assemble everything that his church needs on a Sunday morning. "We were portable before but we were inefficient," he says. "We would break and lose stuff." He and others at the church love the new system.

Everything in a Crate
PCI was created to help set up churches like Austin Christian Fellowship or others that need help be cause they've "just dropped the drum set for the third time, or the wife of the setup dude says, 'You aren't doing this anymore,'" says van der Harst.

PCI designs crates that contain everything needed for worship: musical instruments, sound and video equipment, chairs, stage accessories, plants, coffee supplies, signs, nursery equipment, and toddler-registration systems. Every thing is loaded into trailers, which a PCI team drives to the church in time for the first service. The delivery crew then teaches church volunteers how to set up for church and take it down. "From attaching the trailer hitches to using the baby wipes, we train 'em!" says van der Harst. A typical church pays about $50,000 to $70,000 for the package.

Jennifer Schuchmann is a management consultant from Marietta, Georgia.

Helpful Resources

For help with organizing equipment for a portable church:

• Bertolini • Christian Purchasing Network • Contemporary Design • Herman Miller Company • Imperial Woodworks • LifeWay Church Sales • LL Sams • Modern-fold • National Church Purchasing Group • Overholtzer • Panelfold • Portable Church Industries • PraiseBanners • StageRight Corporation • Worship Visions

800-647-7725 800-927-6775 888-LECTERN 616-654-3000 800-234-6624 800-622-8610 800-972-1120 800-869-9685 800-795-6274 800-367-7397 305-688-3501 800-939-7722 800-226-6377 800-438-4499 800-368-6701

Copyright © 1999 by the author or Christianity Today International/Your Church Magazine. Click here for reprint information on Your Church.
January/February 2000, Vol. 46, No. 1, Page 10

	Subcategories of Church Furnishings
	Baptistries Banners & Display Resources Carpets & Flooring Children's/School Furnishings Chairs Communionware & Altarware Dividers & Movable Walls Fabrics Handicap Access Internet Directories Pew Upholstery, Padding & Refinishing Pews Pulpits & Lecterns Risers Tables Theatre Seats

Your Church
Home  |  Archives  |  Contact Us  |  Subscribe  |  FREE Newsletter