Christ Church Building Plan
Dear church family,
In June 2014 Doug spoke to us and distributed a document about space constraints we have, and
our mission objectives for this church and Stellenbosch.
Here are a few highlights to refresh our memories;
1.
2.
3.
4.
God has given us growth and our current facilities are a constraint.
God’s mission for His church is to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19)
It’s not that we have too many people inside the building, but far too many people outside.
Aiming to have 10% of the Stellenbosch area in ‘evangelical’ churches would mean 16,000 people
or 120-160 churches.
5. Why grow ‘Christ Church’?
- To harness and increase momentum.
- To become a central, equipping and resourcing church for the Stellenbosch area and beyond.
6. Whatever we do will be costly, though investing in gospel growth is the best investment.
The survey invited us to share our thoughts on whether we should build or/and plant a new church.
There was solid support for both.
The Current Situation
The Church
The church building is regularly full. (2 weeks ago we had 251 adults and 54 children at church, and
this is a 260 seat church) There have been many studies done which show that when a church
becomes 80% full the growth levels off.
Our options are;
1.
2.
3.
Remove children from the first part of our service (20% - 30% including teachers).
There are books written on intergenerational worship and how it adds value to the child’s church
experience and greatly contributes to church retention. The leadership are of one mind about
this – the children stay.
We can start another service by splitting this group into two groups.
This will effectively create two ‘churches’ because their socialisation will occur at different times.
It has been done before with mixed results. It will also mean more staff to manage both
‘churches’.
4. We can plant another church at a rented and temporary venue. This will also cost in respect of
rental and staff.
5. We could increase our current building size capacity, carry on using our existing staff and appoint
only as the congregation increases.
The Hall
The Hall has inadequate office capacity, children’s church facilities, catering/serving facilities, and
terrible ablutions. This is exacerbated by the roof being too low resulting in the first floor only having
about 60% productive space. Insulation is a challenge.
The Building Plan
We employed BE3 architects to come up with a best case scenario, to maximise the site, with input
from professional engineers, and had it costed by a Quantity Surveyor. They allowed for everything
including cost escalations during the build.
Building plans are up at the church for your viewing.
1. Church seating capacity increased from 260 to 450 (73%)
2. Hall (office / meeting room / Children’s Church) capacity increased by 60%
3. New cry room with connecting protected passages.
The full build comes to R8.5 million including fees, vat and escalations.
If we don’t trim any specific cost, but exclude the connecting passage, air cons, acoustic folding
doors, landscaping and some paving (the purpose of men’s breakfasts ) we get to R5.5 million.
This translates to about R50 000 pm cost of capital (or less depending on donations).
We plan to raise as much capital by way of donations to this specific building fund. At a certain level
we may borrow the balance from the central trustees over a 20 year period.
We could summarise this into the following table;
Options
When
Cost pm
1
Do nothing
Not an option
2
Exclude the Children
Not an option
3
Plant another Service
Always an option
40,000 +
4
Plant another Church
Always an option
60,000 +
5
Expand this facility
2015
50,000
We prefer the option of maximising the current site because;
• We have an existing staff team that works well together.
• We benefit from the synergy created in their various strengths.
• We can easily take on ministry capacity how and when we need it.
If we proceed, we will;
• Consult with other folk in REACH that have built church facilities recently – there’s a number of
successful projects.
• Have a transparent tender process.
• Make sure that significant means are in place first.
We must make sure;
• The Lord Jesus is glorified in whatever we do.
• The gospel reach into our area is accelerated.
• We are not divided by this.
What we would like is;
• For people to ask questions now and get as much clarity as you need or that we can give.
• Email support with or without concerns to [email protected]
• Email (confidentially) financial support/pledge to the treasurer at [email protected]
Yours in His service,
Cecil Munch
Chairperson: Building Task Force