Renting out fellowship halls, gyms, or sanctuaries to outside groups — a community meeting, a wedding, a scout troop, a 12-step program — is a great way for a church to serve its community and generate a little revenue. It also means inviting someone else’s activity, and someone else’s risk, onto your property, which is worth thinking through before the calendar fills up.

The single most useful tool here is a certificate of insurance. Before any outside group uses your facility for an event with meaningful risk — think a wedding reception with alcohol, a large public gathering, or an activity involving physical exertion — it’s reasonable to ask the group to provide proof of their own general liability insurance, and ideally to name your church as an “additional insured” on their policy for the date of the event. Many community groups already carry this kind of coverage and are used to being asked.

A written facility use agreement is the second piece, and it doesn’t need to be complicated. At minimum, it should spell out what the group is allowed to use, any rules (alcohol, capacity limits, cleanup expectations), and a hold-harmless or indemnification clause where the renting group agrees to be responsible for claims arising from their own event. Templates for this kind of agreement are widely available, though it’s worth having your church’s version reviewed at least once by someone with legal experience.

Finally, it’s worth checking with your agent about how your own general liability policy treats third-party use of your building — most policies extend coverage to these situations, but limits, exclusions, and any additional-insured requirements for outside caterers or event vendors can vary. A five-minute conversation before your first big rental of the year is much easier than sorting out a coverage question after an incident.

Action Items

• Create a standard certificate-of-insurance request for any outside group renting your facility.
• Draft (or have an attorney review) a written facility use agreement with a hold-harmless clause.

This post is for general informational purposes only and isn’t legal or insurance advice — every policy and agreement is different, so please talk with a licensed insurance professional (and an attorney, for facility use agreements) before renting out your space.