One of the components of the Sacred Spaces project is to look at our building and its relationship to the community.  Not only are we doing a self-assessment of the facilities and starting to work on some repair/improvement plans but we also hope to get professional help in advising us on the structures.  In preparation for seeking some historic preservation assistance, we contacted the state regarding the official historic status of Christ Church.  We were nominated as a significant building in a historic district to the national register in 1978.  This is an important part of seeking any historic renovation funding in the years ahead. 

The property description in the nomination is very interesting -- and taught me a few things I hadn't known:

Random ashlar, gabled roof sheathed in slate. This Gothic Revival church, built in 1868, from granite from Barre and Berlin, Vermont, was designed by Rutland architect, J.J.R. Randall and constructed by the local builder P. Trow. In 1903, the interior was destroyed by fire. A sympathetic parish house wing of granite was added to the left in 1938. The tower spire, left front corner, was removed in 1973 because of structural weakness. The tower itself remains and is of three stages; the first stage contains a single leaf door recessed in a pointed Gothic arch; the second stage contains two glazed and leaded Gothic arch windows; the third stage contains three Gothic arch louvered belfry windows and is surmounted by a crenelated parapet. The crenelations are not original but were added when the stone spire was removed. The tower is square and buttressed. At the center of the building is a double leaf door, also in a recessed Gothic arch, with rich moldings and paneling. Above this structure is a large rosette window in the gable peak. The peak of the roof is surmounted by a cross. To the right of this is a small corner tower with a steeply pitched polygonal stone roof. The church has Gothic massing with a clerestory roof.
 

We are meeting in a few weeks with someone from the Preservation Trust of Vermont to discuss next steps.

On Saturday, August 12th, Laura Buel and Dick Mansfield attended an all-day training session along with groups from eleven other VT parishes. (Ruth Beard, the other member of the team, had schedule problems.)

This is a part of a successful national initiative run by Partners For Sacred Places which helps church groups assess, plan, and act to save and more effectively use their historic buildings.  It builds off our strengths and helps us develop a story to tell, build and strengthen relationships, find out where interests match up, and determine what will get us all to act.  It’s definitely a look at where we want to be next year, next decade, and beyond.  Support from Bishop Ely and the Diocese covers most of the expenses of the intensive training and program materials.

New Dollars/New Partners is the nation's only program that provides practical help to congregations with older and historic buildings on how to broaden and diversify the circles of donors and partners who can support the care and good use of their property. The four module training will include:

• Strategies for building support from congregational members and generating new sources of capital funds from the larger community
• Writing a strong case statement for funding support
• Organizing to carry out a capital campaign
• Developing an action plan that will help the congregation meet its fundraising goals after the training is over
  

So the first tasks will be developing a case statement describing the church community and our role in the larger community.  It might be described as: Who We Are, What We Have, and What We Do.  

There are three components:

Heritage - how has Christ Church served as a symbol over the years?  What’s special about about our facility.  This may well involve doing a timeline to outline church events in the context of national and world event.  We have nearly 150 years of heritage to celebrate.

Building - What we have. A holistic building survey of the condition of the building  -- first by us and then by professionals.  Some initial priority setting and cost estimates.

Public Value -- nationally, when churches open their doors for community use, 81% of the use of space is by outside groups.  This initiative has an online calculator to document the various ministries of Christ Church, assign values, and compare with national average.  This can give us a wonderful set of talking points when we are engaging community groups, outside funders, and others in developing new relationships and support.

In the months ahead, many will have a chance to help with this.  The nice thing is that it can be a short-term (not lifetime) project you help with.  Perhaps you can can gather some data on one of our outreach programs.  Or, you can do some research to see what we did during WW 1 or WW2.  

Given our special building, our unique location, our long history of community ministry, and our energetic congregation, this can be a wonderful opportunity to keep Christ Church vibrant and sustainable in the decades ahead.