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Home > The Building Process > Start With a Vision
The Process Starts with a Vision and an Idea
Most projects start with a vision or idea based on a parish or school need or mission. The genesis of the idea may start with the pastor, parishioners in leadership roles, or church committees.
The natural tendency at this point is to begin to translate this vision into a concrete building plan. Instead, we encourage you to first examine your mission and look at ministries you are performing and other ministries you want to perform. This focus on mission and ministry may help you discover things you may not have thought of. For example, if your mission is to serve the elderly, your ministry may call you to consider not only a building addition that is accessible to the elderly, but perhaps a commitment to transitional housing, as well. By bringing the congregation to a consensus around ministry goals, instead of around a particular building drawing, you may find that your capital campaign support will be intensified.
Usually the finance committee of a parish becomes involved when the project deals with renovation or repair. When the vision calls for a new building or addition, the idea usually is handed over to a parish building committee or the parish council, which is asked to help focus the project and gain consensus or support for ideas being advanced.
How CFC Can Help You
Even at this early juncture—in fact, preferably at this early juncture—CFC would like to be invited to an introductory meeting to discuss the project with you. We may meet with the pastor, the business administrator, the building committee, the parish council, or the finance committee. At this meeting, we can provide you with general information about what to expect in the building process, general ideas of rough spots that may lie ahead and solutions that have worked for others. We can also discuss resources that can be brought in at each step, and help you decide where and when you want to rely on outside consultants, rather than use people within the parish (see CFC's Guide to Selecting Consultants).
Drawing on the experiences we've had with other parishes and schools, we also will share benchmarks based on similar projects within the Archdiocese. We'll let you know how these benchmarks may compare to your projected timing, capital campaign expectations and estimated building costs.
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