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Revisiting Church Master Planning
By Stephen J. Cavuoto
What is a master plan? Why is it important for the pastor and church leaders to develop a master plan?
Master plans are no different than God’s detailed, sovereign plan and perfect timing for the world. Yet, His plan is small enough for every one of our lives. Master plans are applicable in every aspect of church governance and the harvest. The focus of this article is related to the important function of church facilities and the general overview of the master-planning process.
Defining The Church Master Plan And Master Planning
A church-facility master plan is a roadmap of goals—where the church is now and where it needs to be in the future. These goals must be approached in intervals. Like a roadmap, a master plan is a series of written documents, models, drawings, animations and even listings of precise short- and long-range goals. This includes associated cost budgets and time schedules that the pastor and church leaders envision for their congregation.
A master plan can even be an extension or component of the church formal business plan. As such, it is applicable for all congregations, from small start-up congregations to larger megachurches. Master plans consist of two types: 1) master plans for the property site, and 2) master plans for the building facilities.
Church master planning is the time-dependent process of guiding the development of the physical property site and building facilities in careful, manageable steps. The church master plan is and should be a tangible product and an implementation of the church’s vision and mission. The church master plan echoes the pastor and church leaders’ strategic direction—to promote sustained growth, control spending with little or no debt, and to improve the overall quality of the church environment. This vital step sets the course for action, costs budgeting, staged design, and eventual renovation and/or construction of church facilities.
Inherently, church master plans are designed to be flexible and ever changing. For example, Federal law requires that all U.S. commercial airports have an airfield master plan and that these plans be updated every 5 years. These updates are done to promote and implement the latest technology, laws, and information for continued safety, expansion, and improvements. Similarly, church master plans afford the opportunity to do likewise for the congregation. Master plans should be easy to change and update. This includes changes for immediate/top priority (1 to 3 years); short-range (3 to 5 years); intermediate (5 to 10 years); and long-range (10 to 20 years) updates.
Master plans are public documents and should not be hidden in church files and used only as an instrument of the pastor and church leaders. For every step of the process, input should be welcomed from the congregation and the public. Master plans need to be presented for formal approvals by the congregation for setting legal and contractual action for the next steps. For most jurisdictions, particularly in property rezoning, the property-site master plans need to be approved by the local municipality. So master plans need to be kept in view of the congregation and the public so they catch the vision of the church and share both monetarily and in effort.
Overview Of The Church Master-Planning Process
The master-planning process for church facilities is preemptive planning. That is, it embraces the concepts of preventative defenses and preventative maintenance to ward off potential problems. Such planning prevents monetary losses, and more important, prevents injury to people.
At the same time, the master-planning process is aggressive and continual. When the end is completed, it needs to be started over again. Like any typical problem-solving process, issues are identified and analyzed, solution options are generated, and a solution is implemented. Then after reflecting on and evaluating the solution, the next series of problem-solving issues faced by the church begins.
The church facilities master-planning process can be defined as the following major stages:
- Set up the church facilities committee. This will be the engine that drives the entire process. Establish and write facilities vision statements as they relate to the overall vision of the local church.
- Define and select the initial contractual design professional team. A formal selection process for the design professional suited for the task at hand is encouraged in lieu of popular opinions. The law requires this appointment. (See sidebar, "The Architectural Process.")
- This stage presents a fork in the road.Before addressing new facilities or expansion of existing facilities, certain decisions need to be made. Church facilities generally fall into one or more of the following property categories: 1) maintain and/or expand the existing property, 2) relocate to a new property site, or 3) consider a combination of existing and new property sites. Depending on the decision, the design professional team may need to add additional professional specialists.
- Perform a property site selection study if new property sites are being considered. This critical step has a profound impact on the future marketability, but more important, on the community the church will serve.
- Create the initial master plans (or update the previous master plans). These master plans can vary depending on each church situation. These generally can be defined as property site master plan for existing church facilities; property site master plan for new or future church facilities; master plan for current use church buildings and other facilities; and master plan for new church buildings and other facilities. Define and develop immediate, short-, intermediate-, and long-range work items. Master plans should be prepared in two phases: 1) Develop the conceptual plan and obtain approvals, and 2) prepare the more detailed version and obtain approvals. Prepare realistic and affordable cost budget forecasts for each work task item.
Once the master plans are finalized, design work may be started for top priority work items. Address and establish realistic schedules and work scope commensurate with the cost budget for the design work and eventual construction.
When funding is established and the debt level is defined, bidding and contractor selection for the property site and building facilities may proceed.
Construction for the property site and building facilities may proceed only after there is a clear contractual definition of the work to be performed, the cost, and the time schedule.
Perform postconstruction work, including establishing programs and staffing for the maintenance and equipment needed to take care of the new work.
Start the process over, update, and go on to the next master plan item.
Church master planning is an all-consuming, ongoing task that helps fulfill the church’s vision. Revisiting the plans on a regimented basis creates church health and vitality. As the Lord empowers us to use our full intellectual, physical, and creative skills, we will achieve our goals. Master planning church facilities requires faith, goals, dreams, integrity, and leadership.
Church Facilities Development Guide
How does the church administrative staff create and prepare a master plan if the church does not have one, or update the existing master plan? Enrichment journal is developing The Church Facilities Development Guide, a comprehensive CD tool that provides technical resources that can help in the start-up of the master planning process. The guide includes such topics as appointing the church facilities technical advisory committee; selecting outside professional help; property site acquisition selection issues; preparing and updating church master plans; and the general process of eventual design and construction for church congregations of all sizes. It also presents technical issues in dealing with the latest findings of lessons learned from recent national events and trends in facilities upgrades. The complete Church Facilities Development Guide will be available for purchase in the near future. Look for details in future issues of Enrichment.
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Stephen J. Cavuoto is a design professional and lives in Waxhaw, North Carolina. |
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