Each week leading-up to the All Church Conference on Saturday, November 21, 2009, I will address one of five long-term goals for First United Methodist Church of Hudson. These goals were developed by the Vision 2012 team after consultation with scripture and numerous FUMC members in the fall of 2008. Both short-term and long term goals were brought to a June 2009 Charge Conference Meeting as information only. The November meeting will seek action.
A Comprehensive Plan for the Physical Plant of FUMC
This week we are moving forward on major repairs to the roof over the sanctuary. We have known about these leaks for several years but the question we often ask when faced with such big issues is “Where do we begin?” and “Where can we stop?” Each time we hear how much it will cost to repair the entire roof and drainage systems around the roof (current estimate is $366,000) we are overwhelmed by the magnitude. We have decided to do what we must to stop the leaks, and that is good. But there is clearly more work to be done on our 97 year-old building. We need a comprehensive analysis of our old building and then we need a stage-by-stage plan that answers the questions “Where do we start?” and “Where can we stop?”
Before coming to FUMC I was a member of the Boston District Board of Buildings and Locations. I had unique access to many old church buildings as we worked together on renovations. One church planned to spend over $60,000 on sanctuary upgrades but they had not addressed several roof leaks which would cost over $100,000. And there was no viable plan in place for raising enough capital for either project! The trustees rationale was that the roof leaks were “minor” (there are no minor roof leaks) and that upgrading the sanctuary would bring more people to worship who would pay more money thus generating plenty of capital for the upgrade. That church needed a comprehensive plan telling them what to fix and when to fix it.
When I think of vision plans, I think of things that people get excited to hear: Modernizing kitchens! Building a gymnasium! Buying a van for youth! Buying hi-tech worship equipment for a young adult ministry! I don’t get excited about spending $8,000 on comprehensive analysis or creating a forty-page book with photos that shows when we’ll need to re-glaze the windows, re-stain the exterior woodwork, re-stucco the walls, re-floor Lamson Hall, upgrade our electrical system, upgrade our insulation, upgrade our fire prevention/smoke detection systems, etc. That is the reason many churches ignore comprehensive planning. If they have $8,000 to spend, they want to buy that new piano! But a plan would help them to see that they will need that $8,000 as a down-payment on a new boiler that they may soon need.
At our church Conference on November 21st I don’t expect folks to get excited about this first recommendation—that we pay for a thorough analysis, create a renovation schedule and commit to that schedule. But when the analysis reveals that we may have been a few years away from burning the building down because of one, tiny degraded outlet up in a classroom, I’ll bet that will excite folks!
Pastor Doug
