Planning for the Future

 

These are exciting times in the life of Hope Church.  Since October of 1997 when our first worship service was held, Hope has become a living and growing body of people seeking to find and share life in new ways through Jesus Christ.   Last year, we developed a five-year plan called “Bridging the Gap” which cast a vision for how we see Hope’s ministry developing by the year 2007.  As we move together toward that vision and beyond, there are several elements which we believe will play important roles in planning and implementing our ministry goals.  These elements include Identity and Vision, Facilities Planning, and Funding.

 

Identity and Vision

“Who are we?”  “What are we trying to accomplish?”  Since Hope came into being almost six years ago, there has been a lot of growth and change.  As we prepare to step into the future, we wanted to take a good look in the mirror and revisit these essential questions of identity and vision together.  Accordingly, in the Fall of 2002, a group of people representing Staff, Ministry Team Leaders, Elders, Land Master Planning Team and others started meeting to discuss these issues.  Crucial to this process was the involvement of RightMinds, a professional organization whose purpose is to help other organizations answer such questions and translate those answers into means and methods of communicating a group’s identity and purpose to the public.  Discussions among this team gave birth to a process designed to gather collective ideas from the whole body of Hope about “who are we?” and “what are we trying to accomplish?”.   The means of gathering that information was a Questionnaire  which was circulated to the whole congregation during a worship service on March 2, 2003.  The results from all the questionnaires were reviewed, discussed, entered into a database and then culled into common themes.  On April 6th, 2003, the results were then shared with the congregation, in the form of both Statistical Data and a Thematic Summary.  With the help of RightMinds, we have translated those results and common themes into a Summary of Conclusions which we believe will help us better articulate who we are as a body of believers in Jesus Christ and therefore will help us better accomplish our ministry goals in Richmond and beyond.  

 If you have any questions or comments regarding these ideas, please click here to send an e-mail and someone will respond to your inquiry.

 

Facilities Planning

In January of 2001, Hope Church purchased a 36-acre tract of land in eastern Goochland County.  We celebrate that God has provided this resource which represents significant potential for Hope’s future.  The land is on the south side of Patterson Avenue (Route 6), one half mile west of the Henrico/Goochland County line.  This location was deemed especially promising because of its location and usable acreage.  It was purchased from the family of Thomas Pruitt of Richmond, after approximately 2 years of searching for land.

 

February 2002

June 2003

The Land Master Planning team has been working to help develop a Master Plan for our site's long- term development. This Master Plan is a general "birds-eye view" of the nature of buildings and land use, as developed in phases over the long term. After seeking information from 17 architecture firms, the Land Master Planning Team selected BCWH of Richmond to work with us to develop our Master Plan.  BCWH was chosen for their excellence and creativity in projects similar to ours. In addition, Higgins & Gerstenmaier and Jordan Consulting Engineers, P.C., both also of Richmond, have been selected to work with BCWH as the Landscape Architect and as the Civil Engineer, respectively, for the master planning stage of development.   If you would like to learn more about the professional consultants who will be assisting us in developing the Master Plan, visit their respective websites linked above.  In the Spring of 2003, the Land Master Planning Team held meetings with various ministry teams and the Hope body at large to dream dreams and gather ideas about the development of facilities on Hope’s property.  These meetings have been exceptionally helpful for sharing ideas. 

Through the Summer and Fall, BCWH will be working with our other professional consultants to use these ideas to draft a Master Plan of development.  It is currently anticipated that the final Master Plan will be completed by late Fall of 2003. 

If you have any comments or questions you would like to share with the Land Master Planning Team, please click here to send an e-mail and someone will respond to your inquiry.   Pray for God's blessing and provision as we continue to plan for facilities that will enable us to pursue our mission and vision!

 

Funding

 

Hope has been blessed by God in providing for our growth.  As we try to dream God’s dreams for our future, we are aware that as we move forward we must weave together bold faith and prudent planning and stewardship.  Accordingly, a team of several people from Hope with backgrounds in finance are researching various avenues of funding for Phase I of facilities development.  It is anticipated that a new fundraising campaign to pay for Phase I of our facilities will begin in Fall of 2003. 

 

If you have any questions or comments regarding ideas for funding, please click here to send an e-mail and someone will respond to your inquiry.