Integrating Spiritual Formation in Multifamily Real Estate
Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash
Oh, the irony when the cobbler’s kid has no shoes. This is a favorite metaphor of Chuck Welden, CEO of Welden Field, a property management and development firm that has turned its gaze toward measuring Kingdom Performance Indicators alongside traditional KPIs. It points out the counterintuitive nature of how the American Church typically views mission work as almost exclusively international, while neglecting the mission field within its borders.
Seeking to address this disparity, Welden Field has joined the ranks of other FDIs and FDEs integrating faith in their multifamily business operations. In addition to inviting investors to participate in a monthly prayer meeting, Welden Field designates 2% of its annual equity to support efforts toward spiritual integration in its communities.
Welden Field’s spiritual integration model is rooted in the idea that unreached people groups exist in local communities; that developing countries are not the only worthy or glorious mission fields. One of the local fields most ripe for harvest is multifamily living.
Providing a pipeline for discipleship, equipping community leaders, and embracing life-on-life ministry are three tangible ways Welden Field promotes spiritual integration in multifamily.
The changing culture of multifamily lifestyle can make it difficult for churches to reach residents. Welden Field’s model provides a pipeline to connect churches to these communities, serving as a missional matchmaker that benefits both the church and the multifamily community. In this way, the church can reach new people by meeting tangible needs through sustained connections which lead to both the church going out and the community coming in. This is particularly helpful for those in the church who desire to live missionally, but do not have the desire or ability to do international missions. By connecting people who live in the same community, Welden Field is able to facilitate long-term, relational discipleship in some of the most unreached places in the country.
This is done through designated Community Leaders—individuals and families who live in the multifamily community and intentionally lead and connect to other residents. In addition to hosting events like parents’ night out and barbeques, these leaders engage residents through prayer walks and Bible studies to literally meet people where they live. A portion of the 2% dedicated to spiritual integration goes to funding these events and training the Community Leaders.
Community Leaders come from churches, college graduates with a heart for discipleship, and campus ministries—they are people on fire for people. Community Leaders become part of the multifamily complex. They are boots-on-the-ground local missionaries whose priority is to care for the residents’ in tangible ways that point to the hope of the gospel. When this is done well, residents are more likely to stay in the community—meaning less turnover and greater consistency.
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, many international missionaries returned to the United States with little time to prepare. Many of these moved into apartments and are looking for opportunities to serve in their new homes. Welden Field recognized the opportunity to connect these missionaries with local communities in need of relational, life-on-life discipleship. By turning multifamily living into a local mission field, Welden Field has established a true win-win-win situation: missionaries continue walking in the call on their lives, residents have access to authentic gospel-driven community, and property managers see lower turnover.
Welden Field’s commitment to its spiritual integration model, its engagement with investors, and its designated funding for spiritual integration make it an example for FDIs seeking to reach partners and clients in gospel-driven business. When your business literally takes place where people live, positioning your team inside those communities is one of the most influential acts in authentic integration. In this way, multifamily living communities are a mission field like none other, and developers and managers are matchmakers with an eternal impact.