The grassy knoll where Shannon (Ill.) Baptist Church sits is verdant and tidy. Spring growth is just beginning, and leaders of the small congregation must reconsider the annual issue of lawncare: Hire a professional--which they did for the first time last year--or count on returning college students to volunteer.

Tim Lehman, assistant pastor of the 230-attendance church, said that despite the savings that come with using their youth, outsourcing was not without its temptations.

"It sure looks nice," Lehman said about the work of the landscaper who took over mowing last year.

The same debate can be heard in many churches.

Money for groundskeeping is "one of the first budgets that gets cut," said Vanoy Hooker, the executive director for the National Association of Church Facilities Managers and manager of the Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.

"Every church is different," he said. When it comes to groundskeeping there are as many ways to cut the grass as there are types of fescue.

"If you talk to 25 different churches everyone will do something different," he said.

Church size impacts groundskeeping decisions

Church membership size and property size may be the No. 1 factor determining how churches manage their groundskeeping.

Hooker's church has 10 acres of landscaping. The groundskeeping budget for the large congregation is essential, according to Hooker, and probably a good idea for even smaller churches.

"Outsourcing is probably the best way to go for anybody," he said, "unless you have great volunteers."

Great volunteers are what another large church, Southeast Christian, is interested in cultivating. Facilities staff member Rick Razor said the mega-church in Louisville, Ky., prioritizes volunteers for groundskeeping. The congregation sits on a 120-acre site that is weeded, mulched and planted with annuals by a team of 30 to 40 volunteers.

Southeast encourages members to spend one hour a week in volunteer service, and many of the 18,000-plus members choose to do it in the great outdoors.

"My challenge is plugging volunteers in," Razor said.

The church uses a professional mowing service for about 80 percent of its lawncare. Volunteers cut the remainder, and the church is budgeting for more mowing equipment for them.

Rules of (green) thumb

So when should a church consider outsourcing its groundskeeping? There's no standard, but Hooker said the larger the acreage, the more church leaders should consider outsourcing.

Usually property size relates directly to congregation size. But some smaller churches see that outsourcing lawn care can be an efficient use of money for other reasons.

The Rev. Jack Cohen of Moores Chapel United Methodist Church in Elkton, Maryland, has pastored for nine years in a rural church that has grown from 40-50 members to 100-150 in worship each weekend.

Cohen said the changes he has seen in the rural farm community as it is developed for nearby city dwellers have also changed his church. The changes in the congregation reflect changes in American society in general, he said, and as a result instigate changes in the way the church uses volunteers.

Despite the recent poor economy, for example, the Professional Lawn Care Association of America reported that the demand for lawn and landscape services rose last year. With fewer folks cutting their own yards, it's becoming harder to find them to cut the church's.

"We're becoming some of the most overworked people in the world," he said of Americans. "There's less time for that [volunteering]. I think people do give in different areas."

While no specific numbers are available for churches, Bob Stephens, a regional sales manager for the Atlantic Region of TruGreen Land Care, the largest provider of landscape services in the U.S., said the trend toward using professional service also is growing among churches.

"More and more churches are turning to landcare contractors," Stephens said. Churches today, particularly upper-middle class churches, prefer the professional and consistent service of a contractor to the variances of volunteers. That was the appeal for his own Pennsylvania church, which manages the church lawn and the care of an adjoining cemetery through a contractor. "We just put that in the budget," Stephens said.

Moores Chapel contracts with a landscaper, who is also a church member, to keep their grounds. "It just makes life easier," said Cohen. "I like knowing it's taken care of."

Choosing a lawn care service

The NACFM offers some tips for churches who are in the market for lawncare:

Even if they contract with a lawn service, churches are still responsible for watering the grass. Hooker advises churches to make sure the landscaping contract stipulates the mowing company repair any damaged sprinkler heads.

Other options for churches to consider when they hire out groundskeeping are tree and shrub trimming and pest control.

Cutting Costs

Rates for lawncare vary widely, with most related to the size of the lot. Other costs, such as fertilizer treatments, pruning, weeding, mulching, and leaf removal, can set them higher.

"The lawncare business is very competitive," Stephens said. "You can find good prices."

TruGreen's Atlantic region provides services for several different churches, with packages ranging in price from $2,800 to $9,100 per year. Stephens said the variations in pricing primarily reflect property size, but may also indicate differences in services performed. He also said rates vary across the country according to the length of the growing season.

In a 1996 study commissioned by the state of Maryland, churches there reported an annual average cost of $166 per acre for their lawncare. That was somewhat less than other institutions that hired landscaping contractors, such as parks and schools. The study indicated churches see a cost-savings because they use part-time workers for lawn care.

Most lawncare providers offer free on-site estimates.

Many churches, such as Moores Chapel and Shannon Baptist, can find landscapers among their congregation who will discount his or her rates. And of course, the rates of church volunteers can't be beat.