We’ve arrived at such an exciting moment! We have beautiful, conceptual designs for a potential new sanctuary that will be shared with you all on August 16th after worship at the First Impressions Gathering! The building steering team, the council, Scott Walls and I have worked hard to get to this point and for each of these dedicated people, I give thanks!
The First Impressions Gathering is a time where we will give you an update on what has happened since we finished our congregational discernment process last summer and show you a design that we hope will inspire and excite you. From there, the leadership will listen and each person will have the opportunity to give input and have facilitated conversations led at tables in the fellowship hall.
I want to prepare you for what you will see at the First Impressions Gathering. You asked us to deliver a design for a sanctuary remodel. However, when we sat down with our architect and shared our list of priorities (no more columns, natural light, accessibility, increased space and a functioning HVAC system) our architects told us that it would cost more to try to fit those priorities into our existing building than to simply build a new sanctuary.
What you will see at the First Impressions Gathering is a rendering of a completely new sanctuary. It’s important that you know this going in to the conversation because it would be perfectly normal for you have feelings of grief, shock, or confusion at this idea.
I want to assure you that this change from what we expected to build is not because we weren’t listening. It’s precisely because we were listening that we come back to you with such a big, bold vision. What you will see incorporates all of the things you desired for a new sanctuary!
The First Impressions Gathering will kick off our “pre-campaign” work, which is a time to really test whether or not you all feel God calling us to do something as daring as building a new sanctuary. During this time there will be one-on-one interviews with various leaders in the congregation, a survey will go out and you all will be asked to give your input about this new space and how you are feeling as far as a commitment to turning this vision into a reality. After the pre-campaign, we will move into the actual capital campaign which we anticipate will take place throughout October and November, concluding before Thanksgiving.
I invite you into a time to connect with God, to make space every day to open your hands, your minds, and your hearts and to assume a position of openness to God’s voice and God’s presence. To discern how to move forward together and with love, our call is to listen for God’s spirit in the midst of this. Think back - at other points in your life, what did it feel like to know you were on the right path? To know you were being nudged by the Holy Spirit? Think back to other times when you thought you were following God’s spirit and it turned out to be the spirit of fear or anxiety or ego? It’s important to know what these things feel like so that you can know what it is you are experiencing as we enter this group process of listening for God to direct and guide us.
Again, thank you to Scott Walls, Darlene Morrow-Truver, Richard Nielsen, Colleen Doering, Allison Crews and Jim Grutkowski and to our council members for their faithful tending to this project thus far. I look forward to August 16th and taking these next steps together!
Peace,
Pastor Bekki