The News
St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas is taking an unconventional path to solving its decades-old building problem: 3D printing. The church, originally built in 1959, has limped along with deteriorating facilities and endless deferred capital campaigns. Rather than pursue traditional construction with its massive upfront costs, the congregation is pioneering 3D-printed building technology to create functional worship and ministry space.
Why It Matters
Your aging building doesn't have to trap you in a capital campaign forever. Emerging construction technologies like 3D printing could dramatically reduce the cost and timeline for facility expansion or renovation. What St. Mark's is doing—adapting new technology to solve an old infrastructure problem—is a model smaller churches should watch closely. This could eventually become a viable option for congregations that feel stuck between a crumbling facility and a fundraising campaign that feels impossible.
The Takeaway
Start exploring how emerging construction methods might offer alternatives to traditional capital campaigns for your facility needs.