Grounds for hope

"We believe that the church exists for the world and not for itself; therefore, its own buildings and programs are to be used for the actual life, service, and witness to the world of God’s grace and love.”

In July, the Session discerned the need for an outside consultant to guide us through the process of turning our space into one that, not only serves the church, but gives back to our community in a way that aligns with our mission and values.

Research and queries within church networks led us to Proximity Project, Inc to take the lead.

Proximity Project (https://www.proximityprojectinc.com/) works “to empower churches to discover missionally-aligned ways to steward their property to contribute to the common good of their neighborhood.” Sara Joy Proppe is the founder, and in addition to extensive experience, she brings her passion “about equipping churches to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their neighborhoods through faithful and creative property stewardship.” Sara Joy’s proposal brings in the expertise of Cite Design (https://www.cite-design.com/), a landscape architecture firm based in Richmond. Cite Design has worked with many churches in this kind of work, and one of their team members is a Harrisonburg native!

Next Steps

As we prepare for the next steps in the development of this project, we need your help. The Congregational meeting on Sunday, January 25th, will include a presentation on the first draft of the proposal from Cite Design, and we want your feedback!

We want to know: Does this align with who we are? Did they hear and understand us, and does this reflect our values and priorities? What do you like? What do you not like? And, any other preliminary feedback or questions.

Email the office your feedback, or participate in one of three Zoom feedback sessions this week:

Tuesday, January 27th, at 2pm (Zoom Link Here)
Wednesday, January 28th, at 4pm (Zoom Link Here)
Thursday, January 29th, at 5:30pm (Zoom Link Here)