Dear BPCWA worshipper, You may be wondering what has been happening regarding our church’s building extension project.  We thank God that many of you continue to return what our Lord has put in your hands for His spiritual house’s use, which He first gave to you to be stewards of.  I felt it is important to give an update, in case you wonder if things have been moving at all.

What we have been occupied with.  We have been reviewing the architect’s plans.  The Session and the project team have been going through each area thoroughly.  We want to make sure we minimise resubmissions after the first submission because we missed out on something.  The architect’s design is based on what he sees fits our use. But ultimately, we are the church who is the end-user and we must be fully comfortable with the proposals.  So, instead of rushing to submit, the team has been going back and forth on the details and meeting with the architect to seek clarifications and to make suggested changes that better meet our requirements. Hence there were several iterations that took time.  We raised questions and discussed modifications where possible.  Just to give you some idea, some examples of these changes are regarding Audio Visual booth locations, ceiling heights, improving soundproofing, roof access and other aspects to improve the ease of long short term and long term maintenance, rainwater drainages, power distribution for old and new buildings, balancing the number of toilets and ongoing costs, landscaping requirements, size of doors and entrances to avoid congestion issues, night lighting outside the church, how to avoid the public using our side walkways as a “hang out” place at nights, etc.  We thank God for leading us to an architect who is experienced in design and very patient in answering our many queries.

Where we are at for submissions 1) Write up to support our submission.  We have completed the many details with the architect to support our case for the church extension.  For example, these include how we will mitigate traffic congestions by showing our transport ministry operations, considerations for our neighbours in the public domain, carpark management, and safety plans.  Importantly, we want to be very accurate and honest in all our justifications.  We will not submit deceptive information just to get our approval.  This is a test of our trust in God who will bring His will to pass if it is His purpose for us to have the extension.  2) Finalization of drawings and plans.  The architect is currently including all our needed modifications and inputs into their final plans and drawings for submission to Melville council for approval.  Once both we and the architect have fully agreed on the submission details, they will be submitted to the Melville council.  We expect this to be extremely soon, if not already done by the time you read this pastoral.

Project leads put in place.  This extension will be a major undertaking.  As we pray, we also need to exercise human responsibility in setting up the right infrastructure to ensure that the project proceeds well.  While awaiting the authority’s approval after our submission, the architect will be working on the detailed structural engineering plans and drawings.  These are to prepare for the building permit approvals and also for tender purposes.  Simultaneously on BPCWA’s side, we will need to start digging really deep into the details of our requirements to ensure that our anticipated needs are included for the tender where necessary.  Hence, while the Session will be the steering committee, individuals in the project team will be responsible for overseeing the respective areas assigned to them.  The major areas include audiovisuals, airconditioning plans, Sunday school and seatings, ongoing maintenance, kitchen, logistics, storage space planning, purchasing, church communications for updates and prayer support, etc.  These project coordinators will each set up their respective teams in each of these areas to assist them to work on the next level of detail.  Of course, an overall finance controller is needed as well as having a building project administrator in place too.  These teams will need to commence work very soon as well. 

What timeframes may look like.  A caveat – the following are very preliminary and rough “guesstimates” of anticipated timelines.  Things are in the very initial stages, but we do need some approximations for planning purposes.  1) Approvals.  The architect expects that Melville Council will take 3 months to approve.  But it appears that many councils are running behind in planning building approvals due to the recent large number of applications.  So the normal 3 months lead time may experience delays.  2)  Permits. Following the building approvals, there are still other approvals such as building permits and the amalgamation of our properties.  These may take several months as well.  While awaiting approvals, the architect can start working on the detailed architectural drawings which are required for building permits and tender.  Adjustments may be required, depending upon what eventually emerges from the authority’s planning approvals.  The architect estimates that points (1) and (2) together can easily take up to 6 months.  But this can be an optimistic guesstimate.  3) Tender and award.  The step before commencing build is obviously to put out the tender, evaluate, and award the project to the most suitable and trustworthy builder.  This can also easily take 3 months, depending on responses received.  All in all, these can therefore take us to March 2022, if there are no major show stoppers such as financial issues due to insufficient funds if prices are too high.  There is a strong possibility that this may happen, as building costs and materials have been escalating in recent months.  4) Construction to build.  The pre-start process may take 2 to 3 months to get all the selection of materials and designs agreed upon.  The rough expectation is that construction work may take a further 12 to 18 months. 

What you can do. 1) Agree to help when approached.  As the project teams will need to set up sub-committees, they will seek help from suitable worshippers.  Like the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem in the Old Testament, we need to all be hands-on deck.  Worship and work strode side by side, hand in hand through that period.  The people all contributed in one way or another.  Treat it like it were your own house extension in terms of diligence, effort, and carefulness in whatever we are assigned when the time comes.  2) Continue to return to the Lord’s work.  The fruit of our hands is from the Lord.  And He puts it into our bank accounts for the time when He requires them back from us.  I hope none will think, “here it goes once more, they are asking for money again!”  To think so is to mock God while we say and pray at the same time and teach our children, “all things are from God, and for God”.  The privilege to return to the Lord’s work is in our lifetime through the project.  3) Pray earnestly.  As you can see, the task ahead is not easy, to say the least.  Please include it daily in your personal and family prayer for this Kingdom’s work.        

I hope that this pastoral has given you some insight into what has been going on and what is in the pipeline.  With that, let us be stirred for the extension work, which is ultimately a spiritual work for the extension of God’s kingdom to house more elect to learn His Word, defend His Truth, and live lives that count for our God and King in this and the next generations.

“I love thy kingdom, Lord, the house of thine abode,
the church our blest Redeemer saved, with his own precious blood.”

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor