Church buildings and resources play a vital role in our ministries, yet they might not be being used to their full potential.
Gregarious 2011 is the inaugural how-to-build-a-church seminar. The half day program on March 29 is designed to ‘equip churches and Christian groups with the knowledge required to successfully plan, undertake and utilise buildings and resources.’
NBRS+Partners, a multi-disciplinary design practice, will run the seminar. James Ward a strategist will be speaking at the seminar on church planning and master planning.
“The challenge for churches is that they are a group of volunteers, all with a different grounding,” he said. “This seminar is an opportunity for ministers and their senior teams on the same level. It’s a complicated topic; buildings, assets, funding. We hope the seminar will bring clergy and their teams up to speed.
The seminar was born from many churches contacting the company with specific issues about their buildings and resources. Mr Ward hopes that the speakers will give churches advice and skills to tackle these issues.
“We were asked similar questions by a number of parishes,” Mr Ward said. “People needed advice on motivating their teams, or how to best utilize that old building at the back of the property.”
Topics to be covered include: sharing our faith in culturally sensitive and relevant ways, financial strategy, music, architecture and overall vision.
“We are going to look at a variety of things,” Mr Ward said. “We’ll talk about people, and building a church for the future parishioners, we’ll give advice on a basic church plan and putting together a church master plan. We’ll also discuss ways to raise funds and how to best utilize your people, activities and assets.”
Scott Sanders from Evangelism Ministries will also hold a question and answer session.
Senior ministers are encouraged to attend with the head of the property committee and anyone who has an interest in the church infrastructure.
The seminar will be held at Willoughby Uniting Church which Mr Ward describes as a ‘living case study’. The church is architect designed and showcases how churches can best make the most of what they have.
