The Bible may never speak of “Church” as a building, (it’s the people, of course), but the gift of our site does still matter. We want to make the best of what we’ve been given, and so we’ve been talking about how we can see a vision for this place become reality. We’re at a crucial point in that conversation and I’d love your input as we move on. But why invest this time and effort in bricks and mortar at all?
A base and our face...
Our buildings are our face to the community around us and also our base for mission and ministry. As a base, they give us a place for our corporate worship;a safe space for children to enjoy getting to know God; an office for planning and contact; storage for resources; facilities for refreshments... When this base is put under strain by our growth or by our increasing aspirations for mission and minstry, then everything is affected.
These buildings also act as our face, being the first thing people see of us or think of when All Souls is mentioned. Those who’ve recently started coming have commented on the gulf between the image presented by the outside of our buildings - closed, a bit run-down and rather shabby - and their experience of Sunday worship once across the threshold. The church’s image fits an impression of church as withdrawn, backward-looking and irrelevant to life. When our face says something so at odds with our heart, we know we need to act.
Those of us who’ve been coming for years have got used to the buildings as they are (as we do with the features of an old friend), but they give a powerful message to our community about whether they are welcome here and their facilities effect our ability to do and to be the people God wants us to be.
Making the most of this gift
There are three parts to what we’re setting out to do. We want to start some of the work on the church itself that we’ve had in mind for years. We also need to do enough to our other buildings that we bridge the gap between how they are now and when we see our vision for the site come together - they mustn’t hold back our growth whilst we’re preparing. Finally, we’re planning a design brief [pdf-485Kb] to shape the architects’ initial ideas for the whole site.
There’s a timeline in the centre pages [pdf-476Kb] of how the next few months might work out as we pursue this plan - and we’ll need to return to prayer throughout it.
The aim of this newsletter is to give all of us the chance to be part of the process. Now’s the time to respond with your questions, your suggestions and affirmations. Don’t assume someone else will do it better or that someone else’s perspective is more important than yours. These buildings are God’s gift to you, to our local community and to all who make up All Souls. Will you join me in praying that in it all, Jesus will be honoured and His church grown?
