Building Committee

Messages from BC3 Church Survey

(as extracted by Bob Gough, 22 August 07)

 

This summary complements the matrix comparison of several salient features of each of the 11 churches surveyed by several BC3 members, plus St. James, Taos surveyed by the rector.  As such, it attempts to summarize the main lessons from other churches’ building experiences – lessons that BC3 should keep in mind. For the most part, the messages are drawn from the “words of wisdom” notes in the survey matrix, but with emphasis given to lessons from churches comparable to St. Chad’s and without identification of which church the lessons came from.

 

1. Communicate openly and well with the congregation about the planned trajectory for congregational growth, as well as to keep the congregation involved in, and invested in, the building program.
2. Be sure to address the “feel” (or “character” or “style”) of new facilities, as well as just the size and function of such facilities.
 
3. Obtain design inputs for various mission or program areas from “advocates” for each such area, to complement the more general design inputs from the broader congregation.
 
4. Don’t underestimate the need for additional office space, infrastructure, storage space, etc, to go along with the more obvious sanctuary and classroom needs.
 
5. Have church project manager on site daily during actual construction.
 
6. Total project costs for comparable facilities tended to be in low, multi-million dollar range.
 
7. Several architects and builders were evaluated positively by the churches.
 
8. Vestry must let go and not micro-manage (so far, St Chad’s Vestry is doing very well in this regard).