Add some color to your building program! Be creative — give it a life-breathing name, a snappy theme, that captures its unique meaning and purpose. Ultimately this will telegraph the signature message of what your building program and new project is all about.
And so, you ask, how does our church go about formulating this snappy theme idea?
Jim DePasquale
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Glad you asked, for here are a few success stories from actual projects. One is from a church that chose “Imagine!” as its capital campaign theme. Subordinate to this theme, they also chose to emphasize a two-word message: “Gathered Community.”
The design was just that — an interpretation of spaces for the gathered community, with a milling area adjacent to the sanctuary, the many outdoor spaces between buildings that can be used as courtyards, gardens and play areas, and then the entire ensemble of buildings around a central open space entitled the village green.
“Imagine!” energized the congregation and “Gathered Community” spoke to who it is. The end result? Campaign funds that exceeded the goal by $200,000. Before we could get the first building out of the ground, the church called to say, get going with the second. Both were funded and completed together, and the congregation has flourished ever since.
A few other quick examples include “Grow by Discovery!” where the site necessitates placement of new buildings at a moderate distance off of the main road. As members turn into the property they drive toward a tower that punctuates the building entrance, moving through the site with a sense of anticipation. Thus the discovery when they arrive at their new, larger church — and, obviously countless opportunities, spiritually speaking, to “Grow by Discovery!”
As a biblical journey that complements the capital campaign. Another is “A Haven for Retreat!” where the program directive was to create a serene garden/courtyard entrance, enabling worshippers to separate themselves from the outside world as they transition from their automobiles into the sanctuary.
And yet another is “Community of Believers!” that emphasizes the unity of the true church as the body of believers. There is a single entrance that leads all worshippers through a central commons, thereby fostering fellowship and reinforcing New Testament Christianity: i.e., as a place to build relationships with one another — a “Community of Believers!”
At the risk of being redundant, it should be quite clear that a snappy theme not only reflects the architectural interpretation of the congregational needs that were expressed at those workshops and town hall meetings about which I wrote in previous months, but (even more importantly) it can launch a spiritual journey that deeply prepares a congregation for its support of your new building program. It will work because it uniquely and genuinely represents who it is.
Add some color. Take the plunge and juice up your capital campaign. Use a snappy theme!
Jim DePasquale, AIA, a member of Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, is currently chair of the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture of the Virginia Society, AIA, and a partner in a Richmond architectural firm. This column is a regular feature of the Religious Herald, appearing in the first issue of each month. Send building, landscape or site-related questions to the editor at jwhite@religiousherald. org or directly to Jim DePasquale at [email protected].