Mission Strategy and Building Development Planning

The Premises Development plan represents the route to achieving the facilities required by an individual or wider Church family incorporating sufficient flexibility and review processes to ensure that it continually reflects the needs of the Church. It can be incorporated into a broader Asset Management Plan.

It will enable:

• A long-term plan will facilitate maintenance and repair planning and focus funds upon those parts of the building where this remains relevant.
• Small alteration and improvement projects to be shaped by the plan avoiding the all too frequent requirement to alter ill-conceived recent works when undertaking larger projects.

A development plan with an accompanying financing and resourcing plan will allow longer term financial planning and enable supporting organisations and denominations to plan more accurately for property investment or recycling of funds invested in the current building stock.

The plan must be compiled in response to and in support of a mission strategy for a single Church family or for a wider grouping of families.

Outline suggested process:

• Identify building needs in conjunction with a realistic assessment of the performance of any existing buildings.
• Try and draw a diagram or produce a statement describing how the Church family operates, particularly in relation to the process of growing the family and reaching out within the wider family and the community. This will inform the understanding of the spaces required within the building to facilitate this process. Or perhaps demonstrate the part if any which a building plays.
• Develop an understanding of the premises and facilities required for the healing and caring ministry.
• Compare the existing buildings with the picture of the facilities required to support and facilitate the work of the Church.
• Gather information in relation to maintenance and asset management to incorporate into the plan

There are a variety of programmes and sources which can be used to assist in mission planning which will serve as a suitable basis for facility planning. Alongside these a variety of grants are available to assist churches, some of which are specifically buildings focused and others on other areas of the churches life and mission.  Information can be found here