The Right Next Step For Your Ministry: How You Can Discern Your Vision for Ministry

Having a clear vision for your ministry is crucial. It serves as your guiding light, helping you understand the purpose and direction of your work. But how do you discern the right vision for your ministry? It's a question that many leaders and individuals within the church grapple with. Our ministry experts have over 40 years of experience working with ministry leaders to help them strategically plan for the future of their organization with a time-tested approach to help them discern a vision for ministry and how to take the right next step.

Cultivating Authentic Spaces: Bringing Wow And Creativity To Your Ministry

In the world of ministry, the spaces in which we gather hold deep significance. They are more than mere buildings; they serve as vessels for storytelling, embodiments of vision, and catalysts for community impact. With over 50 years of experience, Station 19 has been at the forefront of providing unique ministry solutions that bring a 'wow' factor to each facility, fostering innovation and creativity through collaboration with ministry communities.

Unique Solutions at All Sizes: Small Churches and Honoring Traditional Architecture

Creating spaces that serve your community well is a vital piece of your long-term ministry. Without intentional thought, spaces can become dark and cluttered over time, making navigation difficult and design outdated. This is especially noticeable in smaller churches where these challenges are more pronounced. But updated and new doesn’t mean that you have to let go of the history that’s been built over time. Station 19 works with clients like LeSueur United Methodist Church to honor the legacy of churches while creating innovative solutions for small spaces.

Responsive Spaces: Crafting Spaces That Stand the Test of Time

In the fast-paced world of design, trends come and go like gusts of wind. What's hot today may become outdated tomorrow, leaving you with a space that feels stale and uninspired. At Station 19, we believe that true design excellence lies in creating responsive spaces that not only meet your current vision but also endure the years ahead. Our philosophy revolves around crafting environments that remain effective, functional, and aesthetically pleasing for generations to come. It's not just about the trends; it's about building spaces that leave a lasting impact.

 

Fresh Eyes for When You're Losing Sight of Your Vision

At some point, all Christian ministries face a time when the path ahead feels foggy and the once clear mission and vision you had seems distant or even forgotten. These moments can be disheartening, but they also present an opportunity for self-reflection, renewal, and a deeper reliance on God's guidance. If you’ve found yourself in such a situation, there are practical steps to help you bring clarity back to your mission and vision when it feels like you've lost sight or hope.

Planning for Change: Strategies for Implementing Change in your Ministry

In an ideal world, ministries could function the same throughout the ages. But the truth is, our societies and the way we live, work, and gather change. We’ve seen technology develop leaps and bounds over the years giving ministries more ways to reach people. We’ve seen a pandemic change the way that we worship, do our jobs, and get together. So, it’s safe to say that change is inevitable.

Planning for Change: Leading through Change

What happens when your ministry faces change? Is everyone involved supportive? Do they have the information they need to move forward? Have you communicated expectations clearly? Leading through change can be a difficult task. Our team at Station 19 is equipped to come alongside ministry leaders at moments of change - planned or otherwise.

Planning for Change: Strategic Master Planning

If the past few years have taught us anything it is to expect the unexpected. When change happens, how positioned are you and your facility to accommodate it? Can you move into the future with the confidence of knowing that your spaces are equipped to serve people well both today and tomorrow?

More than just Architecture: Creating Spaces that Bring Value

A building design that reflects your unique mission is developed by your passion and vision for what you do. And it’s brought to life by architects who provide experience in creating ministry solutions that bring value to your community.

More than just Architecture: Innovative Ministry Solutions

Unique designs call for innovative solutions. Our goal at Station 19 is to work with you to create spaces that not only are functional and practical, but that move outside the box, reflect your vision, meet the needs of your community, and that can respond to the changes your ministry will face in the coming years. 

More than just Architecture: Collaboration for Lasting Results

When it comes to your ministry facility; teamwork really does make the dream work. The team at Station 19 values collaboration in every step of the process from beginning to end. But what does it mean to build a team that is focused on collaboration?

Your ministry is unique.

The people who work with you, worship with you, who are in your community, who are engaging with you are all specific to the mission that you are working toward. Station 19 knows that unique organizations also mean unique challenges and opportunities. 

Equipping the next generation is a vital part of your ministry.

You have the opportunity to guide and walk with children as they learn about God’s word and grow in their faith. Creating a safe and engaging space for this to happen means that there is more focus on the children in your care. Your vision for your children’s program can come to life in a space designed for people to interact with it, not just be in it. 

Creating Space for Change at Trout Lake Camp

Station 19 Architects focuses and reflects the uniqueness of each project, simply because each of our customers is unique. Since our clients don’t have cookie-cutter visions, they should not have cookie-cutter facility solutions. It’s why we develop your unique design concepts after we’ve spent time listening and learning who you are, what matters most to you, and where you’re going. 

Creating Space for Change in Your Building's Design

Everyone on our architecture and design team holds a degree, title, or certification. But beyond that is an absolutely essential part of who we are and what we do.

We are ministry advocates. We are ministry enthusiasts.

Setting the Tone for Worship in Your Space

Whether you are refreshing, remodeling, or building a completely new worship center each decision you make communicates who you are and what you care about as a church community. Every choice, from room layout, seating arrangement, seating type, music preference, artwork to signage and way-finding, you’re communicating your identity and values to guests and regular attendees — whether they’re online or in-person.

Beauty: Something to Discover

Beauty isn’t always about new products, shiny surfaces, the latest technology, or a grand building project. It’s not about architectural renderings or ornamental features. The care you take of your space can that — and even more — to demonstrate beauty to your community as the efforts that go into a remodel or a new building concept. A clean parking lot & building, a fresh coat of paint, or new carpet and attention to detail all contribute to a welcoming atmosphere. Being intentional with the atmosphere you create is an essential part of communicating care and beauty to those who come to your church and those who drive past it.

Reflecting God’s Beauty in Your Worship Facility

God’s story for the world begins and ends with beauty. It starts in a lush garden and finishes in a golden city. Between those bookends of history it redeems the lost and restores the broken. It pursues wayward sons and daughters and breathes life into dry bones. God’s story of beauty is everywhere.

Accessibility = Hospitality

At Ridgewood Church in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a dedicated effort was made to modernize their space, open it up for connections, and give people a sense of belonging. Gathering spaces were refreshed. Traffic flow was improved. Entrances were well-defined and children’s ministry areas were more safe and secure.

One of the most significant changes made by the church was the steps they took to make their space accessible to people with disabilities. The elevator was outdated, unreliable and too small. Restrooms were only partially accessible and built by outdated code requirements. Navigation and way finding was not intuitive and even confusing.

But the church decided that hospitality doesn’t discriminate based on ability.

Helping Ministries, Non-Profits, Schools and Churches Make the Right Decisions for the Future.

At Station 19 Architects, we do more than plan new facilities and design church worship spaces. Before decisions are made on how much square footage to build or what the paint colors could be, organizations need to consider some fundamental questions about who they are and what matters most. They need to consider the most strategic, meaningful, and wise steps forward as they discern who they are, why they exist, and who they are in the community.

Leading the Charge in Making Your Neighborhood a Better Place to Live, Work, and Worship

In Matthew 5:14, Christ calls us the light of the world and a city on a hill. He told Simon Peter that the gates of hell would never prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18) and He later said that people would know we are his followers based on how we love one another (John 13:35). 

When Christ spoke of the Church, it was with authority; strength, hope, and life. On one hand, He spoke of something that was unmatched in its fortitude, able to withstand fiery assaults. On the other hand, he talked about something humble and lowly; reflecting on serving and loving. 

Reimagining Your Space While Rediscovering Your Purpose 

2020 was an incredible year to say the least! Things in our world have changed! We get to have new conversations, we get to rethink our ministry approach, and we get to rethink the spaces we have to better serve our ministries and communities. 

Our question for 2021 is this: How can our understanding of ministry space help us rediscover our purpose? 

Your Building—An Invitation to Meet Christ

Luke 2: 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

A new building isn’t the goal. It's the beginning. The space that you create for your ministry is a canvas; a starting point. It’s the context for big things to come. A well-thought-out, well-designed, and inviting building is a setting for ministry to happen, for lives to be changed, and for God’s kingdom to be impacted.

 

A building is an invitation.

Keeping Your Ministry Alive in the Adventure (and the adventure alive in your ministry)

With each week that passes, it seems new standards and expectations are put in place on our behalf. Outside voices are telling us what we can and cannot do and where we can and cannot go. Some churches are adapting more gracefully than others to these constantly changing guidelines.

Some churches and ministries have used this crisis as a way to implement long-overdue technology upgrades. Some have invented new strategies on the fly. Some are still navigating the best alternatives. Some have a plan. Some need a plan.

Redefining Redesign

2020 has been all about adapting. Overnight our world was turned upside down and we had to get used to a completely new way of living and interacting with the world. Your plans for your ministry have likely shifted as well. You’ve had to come up with new ways to reach not only your people, but your communities as well. Perhaps you had a dream for a new building or construction project for your ministry that you have put on hold because you’re not exactly sure how to move forward in the midst of uncertainty.

Why and When to Build

Creating Space for People to Find God…Today and Tomorrow.

Should building a new church facility solve a current problem or anticipate future growth? In other words, should your ministry wait to build until they are feeling the “squeeze” of growth? Or should you build so that you have room to accommodate growth?

This question is at the center of many church leaders’ discussions surrounding strategic leadership and growth. When a church plans for facility expansion, they’re often trying to accommodate both the current context and anticipate future conditions. You need facilities that will be agile enough to have capacity for your future but still provide an immediate benefit to your existing community.

Aesthetics & Space: Finding the Balance Between Exquisite & Efficient.

Principles of Good, Beautiful Design on a Budget

Our lives are filled with stories. Our homes, clothes, language, and Instagram accounts all whisper stories about who we were, who we are, who we hope to be. Similarly, our church buildings share the stories of the people who fill them. They hold memories of growing children, weddings, and old friends. They are the places we continue to go for connection and they are the places we look to for future hope. The places we spend our time to both reflect and shape who we are.

Your Church Facility is a Place for Creativity and Beauty

At Station 19 Architects, our Minneapolis-based team of planners, architects, and designers partners with churches, ministries, and schools across the country. Together, we develop design solutions that are uniquely creative while also practical and functional.

Leadership and Moving Your Church Ahead

The word “unprecedented” has been used more in the past three to four months than perhaps it’s ever been used in modern history. A global pandemic. Cultural tension and a fight against systemic racism. Political and economic chaos. Fear.

There is no one way for churches to navigate the season we're in. No two communities are the same; no two scenarios alike. What’s achievable for one church may not be for another. What’s ideal isn’t necessarily attainable, and so churches, leadership teams, and pastors are finding themselves with an opportunity to “make lemonade out of lemons.”

Leadership in a Time of Crisis

A Conversation about Coronavirus, Crisis, and Relaunching Church

At Station 19 Architects, we value teamwork. We want to partner with churches, listen to their needs, and help them move in the right direction. It's not about what we want to do; it's about what's best in their exact situation. Jared Carlson, the senior pastor at GracePoint Church in New Brighton, MN, and his team partnered with Station 19 Architects several months ago to help them begin to navigate the facility planning and construction process. As their project began to build momentum, a shelter-in-place order put a stop to everything. We caught up with Jared to ask him about what this process has been like for him, his team, and his church.

Creating the right space for community to happen

Churches have long been the place where communities have met to connect with each other. With the increase of access to the internet and social media, Americans have attempted to replace their normal human connection with online connections. With social distancing restrictions, we are beginning to realize that while we are thankful for the gift of technology to be able to see and hear our friends and loved ones, it is not a replacement for meeting together face-to-face in community.

Creating Space for Connection

Doing Church in a World that’s Changed

In a matter of just days, the way that churches and nonprofits do ministry and think about programming has dramatically shifted. In a moment where we are serving each other and those most medically vulnerable by keeping our physical distance, we find ourselves in need of new creative ways to connect. After all, the longing for relationship is how God has created us as humans, reflecting His image and desire to have relationship with us.

We’ve said it all along – your facility is only a tool for the ministry that you’ve been called to do. Pastor Nate Ruch from Emmanuel Christian Center in Spring Lake Park said “Our building helps us do the ministry. It’s not the other way around.” And never has this been more true than in our current climate...during a worldwide pandemic.

People and Buildings...in that order

Our Best Days at Work

We are made for relationship. It’s who we are. It’s woven into our DNA, written in our psyche. We are wired for community. We are made to be connected to people; to live authentically with those around us. We are also made to be connected to the God who made us.

Creating Space for Community in Your Facility

“It’s not about a project. It’s not about brick and mortar. It’s about people.” – Pastor Bill Berg, New Hope Community Church, Cambridge, MN

The notion of “build it and they will come” comes from the theory that by simply just existing, the church will attract newcomers.

But today’s culture asks for more than just a building for a Sunday morning service. People are seeking a meaningful connection with God and with each other. What does it look like to create spaces where people are welcomed and invited to do just that?

How your church’s new construction or remodel project can start - and stay - on course.

Setting the right course for your church is only part of the story. Staying on course takes vision, clarity, and the right team of people working beside you. At Station 19 Architects, our desire is to partner with churches and ministries who are ready to create spaces that reflect their vision and sets the course for their ministry.

Redefining Possible for Your Church

Station 19's Work is About What God Can Do...not what we can do. 

Perhaps you’ve thought about what it could look like to remodel your church’s welcome area or worship space. Maybe you’ve spent some time dreaming with your staff about how much your kids area needs an update. Maybe you tell yourself that these types of dreams “just aren’t possible for our church.”

But what if possible doesn’t depend on you?

Vision Blueprint: Great Architecture Takes a Team

At Station 19 Architects, we have more than 4 decades of partnership with churches, ministries, and schools, designing massive new construction projects, simple remodels, and strategic redesigns. Since the day we started our work, we’ve been bringing visions to life with the work that we’ve done. Ultimately, this has been more than designing what’s trending and more than adding space and modernizing worship centers. It’s been building a plan and blueprint for the entire dreaming, designing, fundraising, and construction process for our clients so that their visions can be accomplished while their community thrives.

Vision is the ability to see beyond what is in front of you to the possibilities of what could be.

Our Strategic Master Planning process captures your vision and provides a unique pathway for your ministry that effectively utilizes the resources God has provided. Our Station 19 planners combine extensive experience with a detailed planning process customized just for you. We take time to identify and understand your core mission and vision; listening to understand your unique DNA. We work with you to objectively evaluate your ministry's present and future needs by quantifying and confirming your recent and projected patterns of participation and facility use.

Vision Blueprint: Great Architecture Takes Clarity

Every ministry is unique, and so is every architectural project.

The space you create for your ministry, whether new construction or a remodel, should reflect who you are and where you’ve been while also paving the way for who you are becoming and where you are going. At Station 19 Architects, we are committed to navigating that process with you with clarity.

Only in clarity can you set a course that’s uniquely yours. Only in clarity can you have the confidence that the decisions you make for your project align with the mission of your ministry. Only in clarity can you make decisions based on the life and vitality of your people and purpose.

A Blueprint for Your Vision

At Station 19 Architects, we are committed to partnering with churches, ministries, and schools to create spaces that reflect who they are with a vision for where they’re going. We’ve been doing it for decades. Sometimes it looks like helping churches accomplish exactly what they have in mind. Other times, it means helping them discover it.

It comes down to two simple, but extraordinarily vital, things: a process that’s been tested time and time again and a team committed to our client’s success. The start-to-finish experience with Station 19 Architects puts our clients in the driver’s seat of their project, with experts there to direct and instruct each step of the way.

Great Architecture Happens When We Listen

Listen First.

This has been Station 19’s launching pad for our process for over 40 years. It has been the foundation of our Architectural Design Philosophy. Our dedication to building a space that reflects your ministry’s unique DNA calls for in-depth discussion about where you have been and where you see your ministry in 1, 5, 10 years and beyond. We believe that by listening first, the design process yields results that empower leadership and visions. It helps foster creativity.

Station 19’s Design Philosophy

Station 19’s design philosophy can be summarized in three words: Passion. Creativity. Expertise.

Our unique approach to design starts with prayers and listening and culminates with bold choices for God-sized dreams!

Vision Crafting: Building to Match the Dream

The facility you build should reflect the culture and community you’re a part of. It should be planned and built according to your unique vision, strategically reflecting who you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going. It must do more than react to current demands and church architecture trends.

This process takes vision and clarity, so that who you are can be reflected in the future of your ministry. It also takes a team: a partnership with the right people who can match the dream of your church with the facility you design, finance, and build.

Vision Crafting: Bringing a Vision to Life

How S19 helped take Faith Covenant’s vision and reflect it in their space.

It takes time, effort, and motivation to build a dream...to cultivate a vision. It doesn’t become a reality overnight.

Before designing any sketches or concepts, Station 19 always takes time to listen first to the client’s dream. That principle, “Listen First.” has always been at the center of our process. It gives us the clarity we need to create spaces that will communicate and reflect a ministry’s vision.

Vision Crafting: Bringing a Church's Mission to Life

Every project we work on is unique. Every project is important.

No matter the church community or denomination; no matter the location or the budget: Every project we work on needs to reflect the vision of the organization. And vision isn’t limited to the number of people that fill the seats in an auditorium. It involves the ministry that churches do; the people that they reach. Ultimately, it is about each church community’s unique expression of what it means to be “the Church”.

New Partners. A Continued Legacy.

Station 19 Architects is proud to announce that as of January 1st, 2019 we have welcomed two new associate partners! Registered Architect and LEED Green Associate Dan Torgerson and Certified Interior Designer Cristina Earley made the leap into leadership and are ready to dive in to the ins and outs of being a Station 19 partner.

Building Better…Not Just Bigger

At Station 19, we are committed to working together with our clients, partnering with them to take the right steps forward. When a church is ready to talk about a facility construction or remodel project, we don’t view it as a chance to bring our ideas to the forefront. Instead, it’s our responsibility and privilege to bring your vision to life.

Building Your Vision: It's a Bold Move

Are you ready to be bold in communicating your vision? At Station 19, we have a passion to serve churches regardless of size, whether a large church or a brand new church plant, whether in the middle of a small farming town or in the heart of the inner-city. We want to help them discover what it means to be bold in communicating their vision for their facility and their community.

Recognizing a Bigger Vision–
Sanctuary Church

We say it all the time. Every project we work on at Station 19 is unique because every church’s vision is unique. We partner with churches to help them reflect who they are in the space they create for their community. It’s what makes our job great. Each project takes on a look and feel of its own, and we get to co-create something beautiful in partnership with our clients.

God Size Dreams for Your Church

At Station 19, we are joining our experience with the ministries we work with, whether across town or across the country. What this looks like for a community in North Minneapolis is different for one in Pierre, South Dakota. Likewise, planning a new facility is different than planning the remodeling of an old space. Every project is unique because every vision is unique. 

Casting Your Vision for Your Building 

Recently, I was talking with a pastor and was fascinated by the variety of opportunities that ministries have in front of them. Church used to be predictable. It was on Sunday morning. People sat in pews. They brought their Bibles and dressed up and went to Sunday School and drank Folgers.

Any Size Church. God Size Dreams

At the start of his keynote address at an international denomination’s annual pastors’ conference, Irwin McManus asked attendees how many churches were represented at the conference. A few of the up-front leadership chimed in. Some unscripted and un-mic’ed conversations transpired. Someone yelled a number from the back.

Station 19 Architects, Inc., currently has an architectural entity or individual architects registered or licensed as a business entity or an Architect in the states of MN, IA, WI, CO, ND, SD, NE, MO, and WA. Our goal is to serve clients nationwide, so if you're interested in pursuing a project with us let us know and we'll start the process of getting properly registered in your state. The information contained on this website is not an offer to provide, or a solicitation to sell, any product or service in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation, purchase or sale would be unlawful under the appropriate licensing laws or other laws and regulations of such jurisdiction.

Project Photography © Saari & Forrai Photography