Church Design

As a designer, I think a lot about how the spaces we occupy inherently provoke responses. Our physical body and our mind are often driven to an action based on the physical environment we’re in.  If you’ve ever been to an IKEA, you know this to be true. The massive furniture store that originated in Sweden and has now taken over the United States has turned ordinary people into furniture super-shoppers.

This third and final post of a three-part series explores how our Aspen teams apply collaboration and learning to support our unique Design-Build-Furnish approach. Recently, we've talked a lot about our integrated Design-Build-Furnish process, and how this delivery method differs from a Design-Build-Bid approach. One of the factors that makes our DBF process successful is the collaboration between all of the different disciplines that makes up a DBF project. Throughout the process, our design and construction teams at Aspen Group collaborate and share lessons learned in order to continually improve the quality and effectiveness of the work we produce. Learning permeates the culture when collaboration between construction, design, estimating, interiors, and other teams is the default way of operating, and in turn, helps us avoid repeating mistakes.  

This post is part two in a three-part series where we explore the advantages of our unique, integrated Design-Build-Furnish approach. Every building project comes together by navigating the tension between priorities and constraints—costs and budget, schedule and programming, and vision and scope. A crucial part of choosing a building partner for a project is selecting a delivery method—the process for navigating those tensions as you take a project from concept to a completed building. But how can you know which delivery method your church should choose? In the following post, we’ll review the differences between a “Design-Bid” and a Design-Build-Furnish” approach.  

This post is part one in a three-part series where we will explore the advantages of our unique, integrated Design-Build-Furnish approach. In the world of church construction, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) has a lot of advantages, including schedule and cost benefits. But Aspen’s Design-Build-Furnish (DBF) process goes beyond even the typical integrated project delivery, design-build approach of the industry.

Shepherd’s Heart Care Center, located in Chapelstreet Church’s South Street campus in Geneva, Illinois, serves 1400 people in the Tri-City area. When this ministry began in 1999, it was a simple food pantry closet with pre-packed bags, where families in need could get a helping hand, but the small, tucked away space wasn’t sufficient to allow the team to actually build relationship with the people they served. Years later, a new, larger location offered more visibility, and the ministry grew to serve more families. But it wasn’t long before they were again busting at the seams, so they decided to expand again, but they didn’t want to limit their help to food only.

Unwelcoming. Dark. Not enough space for ministry. That certainly does not describe First Baptist Church of Greensburg's traditional church facility anymore! This church, located in Greensburg, Indiana, was determined to establish a more welcoming posture to the community, expand connection space to foster deeper relationships and allow for future growth, and create flexible spaces that can be used for several ministries throughout the week.

What’s trending in kid’s ministry? It's a whirlwind of getting back into your space, adding new processes, and welcoming newcomers and longtimers. We love to connect with and support the team at Orange, currently on their Orange Tour Limited. I spoke recently with Orange Kids Specialist, Missy Purcell, about trends and the advice they are offering as they support church leaders.

As churches, schools, and universities grapple with how to meet the needs of a new generation of young adults, they often overlook the part their physical buildings play in influencing spiritual formation. In response, we’ve created a downloadable resource to help your church leaders answer important questions about how your building or campus can be a part of—not a hindrance to—your discipleship process.

Is it possible to build excitement and momentum within your staff and congregation during a church construction process, even when things get a little dusty? The answer is yes! The construction process can grow ministry in unexpected ways. Our team partnered with The Bridge Church in Bradenton, Florida on a sanctuary renovation recently. Goal one was to help them keep their sanctuary open during construction, an approach we refer to as “Ministry in the Dust.” Now, the team looks back on the project with a fondness for how it energized their congregation. What did it take to build ministry amid construction?

The pandemic has changed us in ways we still don't fully understand, but the future of church gatherings will be a combination of physical and digital space. At Barna, we asked, “After the COVID-19 pandemic, what kind of church gathering will fit your lifestyle best?” The majority of people said physical gatherings will be important; those aren't going to go away. What was interesting is that there is also a sense that both physical and digital experiences are going to be favored. Before, technology was a barrier to us in how we were joining church. Now, we have people whose virtual literacy has gone up immensely over this period, across generations.