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.

The work we do with churches, schools, and nonprofits starts long before the first set of architectural plans are ever drawn up. Our process, which includes a deep dive into your organizational DNA, includes Strategic Master Planning. This master plan serves as a guide to help you establish, measure, and maintain your ministry’s trajectory for your project as well as through a myriad of organizational decisions in the future.

Starting on Course

In order to determine the right course for your church or ministry, it is important to partner with architecture experts and design professionals who can help you decipher between what you think you should be doing and vision what’s possible. This is ultimately a discussion about much more than trends or big ideas. It’s a conversation, a process - that is unique to your church community. One church may embrace one design direction to create a space that is intended for high quality productions, while your church embraces a different design direction focused on multi-purpose usage. Ultimately it should reflect the heart of your mission.

The decisions you make regarding your faith community’s ministry space should reflect the uniqueness of your church’s role in your community. It should reflect your church’s vision for today and for the next generation.

The Trouble with Trends

Trends in church architecture can be just that “trends.” While culture and technology naturally influence the direction and design of ministry space, determining the exact direction you should go based on trends or cultural expectations can lead to a space that feels inauthentic.

Trends reflect what’s popular and relevant. They don’t, however, draw from what’s unique to the culture and DNA of your church community. So while a particular design decision may seem like the right move based on what’s popular or considered “essential” in the broader culture, ask yourself if it reflects what makes your church community one-of-a-kind.

Architecture trends can distract you from creating a space that makes your ministry unique. Having a team and a process that will help you establish and maintain a course that’s specific to you is invaluable.

The right direction will always get you to the right destination.

Staying on Course

Once your direction has been determined and the decision to proceed has been made, the challenge is staying the course through all of the decisions within visioning, design, and construction. At each step of the process, distractions threaten the course you’ve established for your church or ministry.
By keeping focused on the strategic master plan and by partnering with the right people from beginning to end, you can successfully navigate the sometimes difficult landscape of design and construction.

It’s about more than starting. And once you’ve started, it’s about more than finishing. A church new construction or remodel project calls for a partner who can help you vision what’s possible for your unique culture and DNA. Don’t settle for trends, but insist on something that communicates your mission and vision to your community.