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The renovation will help us to better serve our congregation and others in faith. Below are just a few of the many benefits:
- Kitchen: The enlarged space and updated appliances will enable us to better accommodate and prepare more food for more people. This will allow us to feed more people at LOGOS, after worship luncheons, receptions for special events, etc. Our Mission and Local Outreach committee has also discussed possibly launching multiple feeding ministries and the impact a new kitchen will have on existing missions—like the Cold Weather Shelter. Others have discussed with interest the possibility that the new kitchen and fellowship hall might make our facility much more appealing as a site for community events. One member even mentioned that the kitchen might become a revenue stream if we open it up to use by small companies needing commercial cooking space—something other churches have done.
- Fellowship Hall: Improvements to Fellowship Hall will increase our capacity to accommodate our growing congregation and enable us to be more welcoming and inclusive to new visitors during fellowship, worship, educational, and mission events. Time and time again we find that the current space in Fellowship Hall is inadequate. In recent years many have noted how uncomfortably tight the space is when we gather for large events like the chili cook-off, funeral receptions, the Stop Hunger Now food packing event, etc. Our LOGOS program is growing by leaps and bounds and pressing the limits of Fellowship Hall each week at the shared meal time as well as at other times (for recreation and other special events). An expanded Fellowship Hall would allow for even greater growth and for programs not even considered currently. All church events not feasible now will be possible with the new space.
- Classrooms: New and flexible classrooms will allow us to better accommodate members and visitors of all ages and learning styles in Christian education from year to year. The new space will aid us in richly exploring our faith through technology, discussion, in-depth Bible study, films and service projects. Our current classrooms are anything but welcoming and are not equipped for 21st Century learning styles. Flexible classroom space will allow us to facilitate small group and large group meetings and classes. The “Triplet” classrooms planned for the lower level of the new addition will be divided by movable partitions and, thus, will provide a second, large space to compliment Fellowship Hall—a space so that two large groups/events can meet/happen at the same time or a medium-sized group can meet without being overwhelmed by the space of Fellowship Hall. The classrooms will be designed in such a way that they can serve multiple functions—such as sleeping space for the cold weather shelter or for outside mission groups using CMPC as home base while they do service work in the surrounding communities or as meeting space for the committees of the church and other groups.
- Nursery: An expanded, upgraded, and better located nursery will enable us to welcome new and growing families to our congregation while improving support of our existing young families. Imagine coming to worship at CMPC for the very first time and having to leave your young child with folks you have never met before on a floor you will not be on. Some of you have done this, but probably not without some trepidation. Having the nursery more convenient to the sanctuary is better for our guests, our regular attenders and members, and our childcare staff as well. A better lit and better equipped nursery is much better for the youngest of the children of God who will be with us.
- Restrooms: With more and improved ADA accessible bathrooms we can increase hospitality to more people. By adding showers to our facility we can improve the quality of our mission work through the cold weather shelter and hosting of out of town mission groups. Restrooms aren’t glamorous, but they are integral. Many have noted how ugly and outdated our restroom facilities are. We only have one toilet and one sink to handle all of the traffic on the main (second) floor of the building. It is easy to take nice restrooms for granted until you don’t have them. Everyone (members, guests, etc.) will benefit from having more and nicer restrooms in the building. The showers will greatly increase our capacity for hosting overnight visitors, groups, and even our own programs.
- Lobby: The hallway between the sanctuary and fellowship hall will be expanded to allow for greater ease of movement. On Sundays following worship and at other times (before and after weddings and funerals for instance) the hallway bogs down with foot traffic. Those trying to make their way from sanctuary to fellowship hall or the elevator or the stairs have to navigate many small groups of people who have gathered to have conversation. With the expanded lobby area the groups can meet with great ease without being in the way of foot traffic. It will also provide space for groups to set up tables to share information and elicit support. Additionally, the new lobby space will encourage worshippers to enter the sanctuary from the narthex and fill in from the center (back to front, of course, because we are still Presbyterian) instead of from the side.