We’ve talked on this blog before and in our free i3 webinars, about the importance of having a clear, concise, and coherent vision for any church design or remodeling project that you undertake. There are a lot of people who need to buy into this vision for your building or remodeling effort to be successful. Naturally, this includes the members of your congregation and community who will be called upon to fund the project, but it also includes all those professionals who will be called to join with you in making this vision a reality.
Concrete Experience
When it comes to creating those professional partnerships that make a major project successful, it is critical that the chosen firms have a concrete understanding of the work they are undertaking. This is most likely to occur when architectural firms and general contractors hired have actual prior experience working on other ministry-oriented buildings.
Every architecture firm and construction company develops their own specializations over time. Some focus on maximizing the number of affordable and comfortable apartments that they can squeeze into space-limited, downtown real estate. Others learn how to create efficient and inviting office buildings that blend into their suburban landscape or concentrate on the specific building needs of specialized clients like high-tech engineering and biological research firms. None of those companies will likely have the expertise you need for your ministry building project, even if the firm’s owner is a member of your church community.
Concrete Relationships
Instead, you need to focus on finding professional partners who understand the particular challenges that come with a church building project. It’s important they recognize the unique way churches go about making decisions, because it will influence their own design and development process. These partners need to know how to interact with the various created church teams and to understand the importance of developing working relationships with church members who can speak passionately about their church’s vision.
As we discuss in our free i3 webinar, the professional partners that you choose to work with on your building or remodeling project need to “offer a process that expertly converts your immediate and long-term ministry objectives into a facility plan that you can afford, and that’s very compelling from a ministry standpoint.”
Concrete Results
The effort you undertake to find the right professional partners is time well spent. Being able to speak, and understand the same language of vision and ministry is critical to achieving concrete results that will turn your building project into reality.
We invite you to join us for our free webinar series and to learn more on why choosing to work with a partner who is an expert at architecture construction and ministry is a key component to a successful project.