A moving conversation

As you know from my last post on this blog we are in high-gear regarding our facility search.  Part of this process will be getting some feedback for the Steering Committee as they help to make a good decision.  Keeping in mind that nothing is perfect and that the building is not the community, it would be great to hear what folks have to say about some of the things we are thinking about.

There are three areas that I think would be helpful to get some thought about, so please feel free to make your voice heard about any or all of these things topics.  These seem to be the three big shifts that could be made in to some degree.

LOCATION - How important is the location?
We are looking at spaces throughout the city from our current location (Mission Bay, Portrero Hill) to further  out (Excelsior, Mission, SOMA) to the West side of the city (Sunset, Richmond).  How would any location effect your commitment to MBCC?  We are keeping mind parking, public transportation, etc.  Are there other things that we should be sure to keep in mind?  What weight should we give this in our decision-making?  Other thoughts?

SETTING - How important is the setting
With most of the spaces we are looking a we will most-likely not have a worship space as individualized as we have now.  We will probably be sharing a larger multi-use area, might have pews, might be a theater, etc.   How important is meeting in our current configuration? We are trying to find a flexible space that allows for our kids to have some good space as well as a space that can be transformed without a huge about of weekly energy.  What weight should we give this in our decision-making?  Other thoughts?

TIME - How important is the time of our service?
Our options increase greatly if we meet in the afternoon/evening.  Would this effect your commitment to MBCC?  Would you welcome a later service and a possible meal afterwards? What weight should we give this in our decision-making?  Other thoughts?

There are of course many other complexities to this next move for us.  We want to be somewhere for a while. We want to be sure the we understand any sacrifices we may have to make. We want to continue to build on our energy. We want to be good stewards of the fiscal gifts of the community.  We want to do what will best move us forward as a community.  We need to listen for God.

Please take a few moments to let us know what you think, respond to some other people's ideas and generally be part of the conversations about where we will next call home.

Thanks - Bruce

Comments

[Chris McClendon]

LOCATION:
Anywhere off of a Muni Rail Line or in the mission relatively close to 16th street would be good for me, even the Sunset would be ok, but please not the Richmond :P

SETTING:
I'm pretty flexible here, though I like the semi-circle format, it really helps the congregation be part of the dialouge

MEETING TIME:
I'd prefer Sunday morning, then Sunday evening, less so Sunday afternoon -- I'd like for church not to break up the afternoon, but having church at 5:30pm or later followed by dinner would be pretty sweet, would leave time for hanging out with folks in the evening afterwards, catching movies, etc.

[A.Y. Siu]

I think the location should be accessible by public transportation and have good parking. I don't think it needs to be in the southeast of the city, though.

The setting should feel comfortable and not cold. Even if we were stuck with a more traditional configuration of seating, it'd be nice to be able to make the space have a home-y atmosphere.

I don't care about the meeting time.

You didn't want to do a SurveyMonkey on this one?

[Bruce Reyes-Chow]

Chris - Thanks. Good stuff.

Alan - Also thanks. We have done a full survey before, just trying to check some thoughts, get some folks engaged, etc.

[Bruce Reyes-Chow]

Here is one more from someone . . . location is the most important. It would be a lot harder for us to go to church if it was on the other side of town.

As far as settings go - pews or more traditional church settings are fine - as long as we can still drink coffee. And we wouldn't mind having a later service either - probably an evening service would be best - 5:00 or 6:00 with dinner after would be fun.

But we really want to stay in the Excelsior/Potrero/Mission/Ingleside/even SOMA would be good too.

[Hayley]

LOCATION SETTING TIME

It is easy for me to say how much each of these factors matters individually, but collectively all of them balance each other in different ways.

For us, the current location, setting, and time are all ideal, so changes to any of those are based in comparison.

That said, we're open to changes. I'm definitely in favor of a location with easy access to public transit and with a decent parking situation. Setting is flexible, I like the semi-circle format but traditional pews work fine too. In terms of time, this might be the one I'm least likely to want to change. Afternoons really break up the day for me, as I often work in the afternoons, and Sunday evenings are usually family dinners for us.

[Ryan]

Sunday mornings are a "well respected" time. What do I mean by that? It's very easy for me to explain to family/friends/co-workers that I'm not available on Sunday mornings. People (especially non-church goers) are surprisingly respectful of this time. Last week, one of my non-church attending friends said to me, "Let's meet up Sunday afternoon, since you have church in the morning."

I felt like he was almost reminding me to go to church...

[Bruce Reyes-Chow]

SENT VIA eMAIL

Location: Setting: Time:

All of these are fairly important but the least is probably setting (yes an architect is saying that). I'd prefer not to drive/transit across the city to go to church and mornings are easy for us because we tend to have other things going on in the afternoon. I could see an evening service with dinner/snacks being ok though. Although this is usually are getting ready for the week time.

Setting: I like the current setting, lends to church as "conversation" instead of church as a place to be preached to.

[Sara]

Place: As long as I can get their via public transit, I'm ok.

Time: No earlier than 11, please. I've done Sunday night church and liked it, because there was usually a group of us who went out to dinner afterwards.

Setting: I like that it feels very informal now...and there are places I can slide into if I come late. Something that lends itself to conversation and being able to move around is about all I'd ask for.