Christmas

The builders finish this Friday for 2 weeks. Work is now 40% complete on site, the floor upstairs is complete despite a couple of minor problems. The roof will be put on after the holidays and then then walls.

There was a break in on site on Tuesday night but fortunately nothing was taken. Site security is the domain of the builder and naturally they are fully insured.

Please continue to pray for protection for the site and the safety of the men working on the building.

CB

Prayer Request

Please pray for the building team, the builders and the architect tomorrow as they meet on the land for a progress meeting.

CB

Boys and there toys !

Duncan's crane fetish took a dramatic turn this week with the return of the 'biggun' on site to lift the upper floor into position. This required a number of non-load bearing roof cross beams to be removed in order to lower the heavy pre-cast concrete floor slabs. I was lucky enough to be able to shoot some film of one of the panels being put in place.





The building has come such a long long way this week. The inner walls surprised me a bit. Instead of industrial grey the breeze block is industrial beige. It actually looks quite good. The floor upstairs is quite something. It looked so strange seeing guys wandering around up there. One things for sure its not going to get blown over in a breeze.

Mike was saying that people using the bus stop outside was now referred to as the 'new church' stop rather than the 'pet warehouse' stop - that's the way it should be.

Up with the walls

The upper floor has been largely completed today and the front elevation block work is also in place. It has been a tough days work on site by all accounts..............I knew there was a reason I wasn't a brick layer !

CB

Ashley R from Ossy says.....

Ashley R, Oswaldtwistle says...12:11pm Fri 5 Dec 08

Why build a new church costin half a million pounds when the christian faith claim numbers in churches are falling?!?! There are a number of churches in Oswaldtwistle, 3 of which are all on New Lane.Why on earth do we need a new one?

The above is a comment attached the the article in the Telegraph this week. Its a question that a lot of people have asked during construction.

The challenge is to alter peoples mind set to 'what did we do before this church arrived' building a building is nothing compared to the challenge of altering public perception of the Church. The church at large not just our church.

Onwards and upwards

CB

£500k church is changing Oswaldtwistle skyline

Source : Lancashire Evening Telegraph

THE skyline of Oswaldtwistle has an imposing new addition after the steel structure for a new £500,000 church was built.
The frame for the Christian Institute Church’s new £500,000 building now stands in Union Road.
After more than a decade in the pipeline The Christian Institute, also known as the Melbourne Street Church, is on target to reach its March 2009 deadline The new church is just metres from its original chapel in John Street when it was formed in Oswaldtwistle 107 years ago.
The building, which will match the town's predominantly stone built, slate roofed buildings, is the first major development in Union Road since the opening of the Co-Op.
The congregation revived fundraising for the church in 2003 when they launched a campaign and started applying for grants to build a new church on land in Union Road.
Chris Brindle, secretary of the new building committee and trustee of the church, said: “The steel frame shows the scale of our new building and it looks huge.
“We have waited a long time for this and we are very much looking forward to opening next spring,”
“We take our place in the community very seriously and we believe this new building will enable us to go from strength to strength.”
The Christian Institute bought the derelict site in Union Road for £75,000 11 years ago, then in 2006 sold the site for the church in Melbourne Street.

In the Media

On Thursday I was delighted to discover that Nasreen over at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph ran practically a full page spread about the frame going up complete with an atmospheric shot of the steel skeleton back lit in radiant sunlight. As usual it was a very positive piece highlighting the opportunity the new build presents - this was similarly echoed in a report produced by Kate at the Accrington Observer the previous week.

In line with the renaming of the church, a new website is being built to showcase our activities. In time hopefully this will be the portal through which we bring new people into the church

Fancy a dip ?

The ground floor is taking shape as can be seen in the image above. The tarpaulin in the bottom left covers the hole in the ground created for the baptistery. The baptistery floor has also been laid in place - looks pretty deep down there certainly more than adequate for full water immersion baptisms.

Somehow the overall scale of the building has altered this week. With the floor in its easy to gauge the size of the main hall and again its more than adequate for our purposes.

CB

'You should have put the lid on first !'

'Snow in winter who would have imagined' said Duncan our site foreman when I went to see him this morning.

Work continues in spite of the snow, our remaining reinforced concrete floor slabs are being put in situ today. Once this is completed, the baptistery will be constructed in the corner of the main worship area. The roofer is lined up to start shortly and the stone should soon be arriving so that the walls can go up.

Duncan reports that the build is progressing well and there are no issues for us to address. All good stuff.

Why now is right to build

Yesterday we held our annual Christmas Craft Day and we welcomed almost 80 children to the event hosted by our extremely hard working action team. It is quite something to see so many children from our own church, other churches and those who don't normally attend church having fun together. Because of the limitations of our own rented building we were forced to use Hipping Vale Community Centre.

Next year we will be able to use our own building and I'm sure it will be a great improvement on the facilities that we are used to. Being a main road location, we can better advertise these type of events on our own premesis and hopefully draw in even bigger numbers than we currently welcome.

Our program of children's events and our forthcoming youth events firmly establish our church as the towns best provider of christian outreach for the young. With our own facility we can further extend the range of activities to all ages.

Obama and Brindle share same communications strategy

I read with interest today that Barack Obama made great use of email and various other web tools such as face book and YouTube to speak to his potential voters.

The article is located at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7754485.stm

He has recently launched a website change.com where he plans to post information about how he is changing the country and will invite people to join a mailing list to receive information directly from his press office without messages being filtered through the media. Clever stuff.......sounds very familiar.......isn't that why I created this blog ?

The truth is whether you are the president of the United States or a the secretary of a small church the message is clear. Efficient communication is paramount. Would we will happy hearing from God via a middle man I don't think so.

Thanks to all of the positive feedback I've received about this blog I'm going to keep it going beyond the opening of the new church and for as long as it continues to be of interest. I want to share the story not just of building the bricks and mortar but how we are going to build our church. Its going to be a great story.

CB

Building our church on strong deep rooted foundations

Finally the land that has been a headache for so long is being covered. The first stages of the concrete floor were laid today in what will be the foyer. The whole floor is actually on site in piles waiting to be laid in place. This includes the floor slabs for the upper room.

This week we also start the process of balloting members about the new name for the church. The leaders shortlisted a handful of names, some that are possibly predictable, some which are unusual and a one or two with a modern twist. It will be interesting to see what the members decide after all in our church we take the views of all our members seriously and I think that's what makes us who we are. We 'do' church together, we all have the opportunity to get involved, we all look after each other - isn't that what church is all about ?

Walls up, barriers down

This week the walls and floors will be started. The roof will follow shortly as well so that at least the builders will be protected from the elements.

Last week a number of the leadership met with representatives of the young peoples work and we have put in place a couple of small changes designed to better accommodate their work. We also discussed practical issues such as room usage and the type of equipment we need to put in. The kitting out of the building is a big thing particularly as we want the building to be totally flexible to meet the needs of all of our activities.

From provision for parent and toddler groups to lunches for senior citizens and everyone in between we hope to cater for as many people as possible. Our building will have the following :

Main hall - multi purpose room with sound system and seating for 166 people
Classrooms - Initially one class room with capacity for approximately 60 people although this will be designed to be subdivided in due course into two smaller rooms
Mezzanine Room - Multipurpose room capable of accommodating 60 people

We currently average 70-80 people in our Sunday services with approximately 20 young people so the building is more than adequate for our current needs. However it remains to be seen what God has in store for us as far as expansion is concerned.

There are a lot of displaced Oswaldtwistle Christians camping out in churches outside of town seeking a place to call home. These people may have passed through our church in the past but our message needs to be clear - It's a new beginning for us and a chance for a new beginning for them. If we welcome them in the way that I have been welcomed in we stand a chance of making a real impact in our town. When I became a member of the church I introduced myself as 'the first of many' and i intend to fulfill that promise.

Please continue to pray for the builders. There is a lot of heavy work taking place at the minute - rather them than me :-)

CB

Video : Progress so far

To celebrate progress so far ive made a short video about the journey we've been on.

Enjoy !

CB

What a team

Yesterday we had a site meeting with the builders and the architect. In total there was seven of us and we had a very constructive meeting, minor changes to the building were discussed which will make life easier for all but are of no real consequence to us were agreed such as the siting of electric meters and so on.

There was a really positive vibe about the place and the site Foreman reported that he was extremely pleased with the project so far and that there was no security issues or other annoyances.

A number of our team commented that the project had really caught the public imagination in the last week with the frame going up.

Next week the floor will be installed and the roof and walls will also start to be put in place. Its all systems go right now

CB

We've been framed (part two)

Frame complete !

Today the final parts of the frame were erected. The shape is complete and Ive got to say it looks much bigger than I thought it would be. Tomorrow I'm on site so I will get some pictures and post them on here.

CB

We've been framed (part one)

The sight of a HUGE crane rolling into town this morning must have been quite something. By 09:00 the Leviathan was parked and ready to hoist into position the frame of a building which will literally change the whole face of Union Rd, the first new building to appear on the main road since the Co-Op.

By 09:15 the steel had arrived and by late afternoon, three quarters of the walls and part of the roof frame were in situ. It is anticipated the rest will be completed tomorrow. On Wednesday the building team will be the first people to set foot in the confines of the building ! I am actually really excited about getting in there this week and photographing the thing





Photo courtesy of Flick

A church without walls

There is a meeting on site on Wednesday with the builder and the architect. Its a standard practice to have a full site meeting on a monthly basis to discuss how things are going. We are hoping that by the time of the meeting we should have some steel up forming a frame. Once the frame is complete the floor goes in followed by the walls.

The frame is pre-cut away from site and simply assembled when it reaches us. A Crane is on order for Monday to start the job so the first real scale of the build will be evident.

We have had to have surveys done on the land to establish the best position for the crane, weight calculations etc have had to be taken so that we don't damage what has been done in the foundations.

Please continue to pray for the safety of the men on site.

CB

Baptistery

A couple of people have asked about the baptistery. I can confirm that the building will have a baptistery. It will be located adjacent to the stage area. I understand the architect has issued the builders with plans for its installation. It is a full walk in number for full imersion baptisms.

CB

Message from the builders

I've caught up with the builder today and can report the following :

We are today pouring the concrete for the foundations which will finally see an end to the ground works for the building. The works in the ground have been very time consuming, but we are finally over the final hurdle and hopefully from now in, we can actually see visible progress above the ground as opposed to progress which is in the ground!

We have also fit most of the new drainage for the site and connected to the existing mains sewer.
Due to the problems which have happened in the ground, we missed our original slot for the steel frame installation but we are now officially booked in for Monday 17th November. The steel frame should take around 1 week and will give you an insight to the overall scale of the building.

The builders further report that the estimated completion date is early April although they hope to make up time so that they can complete a tad earlier than this. A lot depends on the weather over the next few months but once the roof is on there will be some protection from the elements.

As for the building team we will over the coming months work closely with the Grants team to establish what money we have for finishing the fitting out of the building.

I anticipate that we will be in a position to confirm our opening date by mid-February. Certainly by the time the AGM comes around we should be in the new building and can plan for the future.

CB

Now I get it......

Mick has enlightened me about the poly blocks.

The lads were on site yesterday back filling the outer edges of the poly blocks with shingle to hold them in place. On the inside, the steel skeletal network has been separated from the poly blocks by plastic spacers. The plan now is to fill the channels with concrete completing the skeletal foundations.

Whilst on site today I also noticed that the external rain water drain is in place with spouts placed at numerous points which will eventually be linked to the guttering. The drain follows the outside perimeter of Union Road and around John Street into a the drains at the back of the building. Interestingly (yes I'm going to get even sadder now) the drain has its date of birth on it 6/6/08

Coming Soon....a building

Not much appears to have happened this week other than further demarcation of the variations of the rooms by what appears to be polystyrene blocks !?!? Must admit for the first time I actually have no clue what these are for but I'll report back after I've had a word with the architect !!!!

Meanwhile our ever resourceful worship team have produced a lovely little CD for Christmas with songs exclusively written by members of the team and available only on this CD. Proceeds to go to the new building fund :

CHRISTMAS CD
by
SIGNPOST

Are you Ready for Christmas?


Two members of our church worship group have written Some Christmas songs. Proceeds from sales of a CD of the songs will go towards the new building fund

The writers, Linda Asbery and Dave Wilkin, have teamed up with Josh Potts, now a drummer for Helmshore Christian Fellowship, and called the resulting group SIGNPOST. The CD is entitled “Are you ready for Christmas”?

Like a signpost the group aim to point the way to Jesus in their music

The CD costs £4 (plus £1 if P+P required.)

You can hear extracts from the songs here on the blog

To order a copy see Dave or Linda or email davewilkin_uk@yahoo.co.uk

For more about Josh visit http://www.joshuapotts.co.uk/

Building more than a building....building a church

This week is actually hugely significant for our church as we start to lay the foundations not only for our building but also what it will be called, how it will be managed and what will take place in it.

As I stated in my previous post, the foundations will shortly be covered up and building 'on top' will commence.

On Friday we have a members meeting where we will be having a bit of fun trying to fathom a new name for the church and also get some ideas of what people want to see the building used for i.e. what activities we will have.

We will also be appointing a new church secretary (although a skirt is optional I believe) who will oversee the administrative side of the church with a team of people including a facilities manager (caretaker) and others to ensure that we are legislatively compliant, charities commission compliant, the building is maintained and so on. This is an exciting opportunity for the church because it will enable us to have a strong infrastructure and allow members of the church to actively participate in its running whether leaders or not.

This week we have submitted forms for CRB clearance for a number of our members to allow them to drive a bus to be chartered weekly from Dial a ride. This will allow us to pick people up who may otherwise not be able to get to church.

We have a bright future with many new opportunities and this week really plants the seeds for growth.

Your last chance to see what lies beneath

This week the builders are completing the steel grid which forms the basis of the floor and frame. The basic outline of the building is becoming more clear. The next phase of construction is to but the floor in and the steel skeletal frame.

This week is the last chance to see the foundations before they are built upon.

Sadly enough I have taken to visiting the site daily to see the progress because I find the whole thing fascinating ! Yep I need to get out more.

Happy from Northampton

Our Architect called me at work on Wednesday to say that 'he was on site and he was very happy'. A good sign i thought because as interesting as piles are to the untrained eye the verification that they were good from a professional is good to here.

Over the last few days the newly installed piles have been cut down to uniform height and are now being interlinked with steel beams. That Ladies and Gents is the biggest bit done we can lay the concrete and build the steel structure.

The bricks are ordered and should be on site in 6 weeks by which time the frame should be ready to be built around.

What a difference a day makes

12th October 2008

13th October 2008









The piles are now in place and for the first time we can appreciate the boundaries of the building. In the second image the piling machine and forklift are sitting in the foyer and toilets !

The Main worship area is clearly visible whilst on site as are the shape and size of the classrooms and office.

Next stage is to bind the beams with steal girders which will spread the weight of the building evenly by distributing it across the entire foundations.

Once this is done its down with the concrete floor and up with the steel skeletal frame.

Not another church

I was down at the site yesterday evening admiring the plot that will soon be our new church. A couple walking behind were talking and one said to the other 'what are they building there' to which the other replied 'a church'. 'What for ?........' I smiled.

At church yesterday Mike asked how many people had gone past the site to take a look at what was going on and there were many smiles. Certainly I have diverted my route home to travel past and see what is going on. Conscious of the fact that I know what is going on probably better than most its my job to let you know which is what this blog is all about.

The blog address is on the sign on site so anyone who really wants to know 'what are they building there' can find out.

As to the answer to the curious passer by's question the answer is simple.

There has never been a time when people have been so isolated an disenfranchised by the things of the world, crime, soaring fuel costs, credit jams and so on are troubling to everyone. What we will offer is a different way, a way to receive the good news of the gospel from cradle to grave.

When we open the building I will make it my personal mission to ensure that every passer by has the opportunity to make an educated decision as to why we exist.

Who knows I may even start a 'Now Were Open What are we here for' blog :-)

CB

Cotswold and Lindley Moor

The brick selection has been made and subject to approval from the council the building will be constructed using Cotswold stone and Lindley Moor Quoins (Think Sandstone and the front colour of the TSB and you won't be far wrong.

Slate is provided by www.chinaslate.co.uk and the link to the brick place is http://www.bradstone-structural.com/



CB

Operation Crusher :SUCCESS!!!

Arguably the most concerning part of the project has always been the actual state of the land. I can now confirm that the plot has been completely cleansed of impediments to piling which means that on Monday work can start on the foundations. After 11 years owning the land its finally ready for the building.

Tonight there is a Deacon's meeting and one of the items of AOB (Any other business) will be looking at the colour of the brickwork and making a selection !

Strange but true we actually get a choice !

CB

Crush

The big yellow object in this image is the machine we have hired to sort out the foundations once and for all. Its job is to crunch up the hardcore into manageable chunks....and its working. In addition to masonry a skip full of steel has also been unearthed.

Piling proper starts Monday

CB

Brick Crumble

The crusher (or whatever the technical term is) is on site today taking care of crushing the foundations of the old Co-Op ready to start piling for the new foundations. So far that cant be crushed appear to be a safe, steel girders, tyres and assorted wire !

CB

Those who have gone before

I received the following message on Friday from an old friend of the church and really brought home to me just how much this project means to friends of the church who are no longer in fellowship with us

Dear Chris

Having co-pastored Melbourne Street with Richard Priestley prior to Mike coming I was part of the planning and dreaming for the day we would see the building going up.

I'm so delighted to hear the news and send my best wishes and prayers to you and the new building team - I'm sure there are lots of hurdles to overcome yet. I guess the old Co-ops cellars caused some difficult issues reading between the lines! Our vision in starting things off was exactly what you have in the blog - to be a significant influence in the very centre of the town!

I'm now minister in a baptist church in Aylsham, Norfolk. Busy and quite some distance away, physically and socially. God has been at work blessing and saving and building here too. But the work there in Ossy has continued to be important to me. It does my heart good to here how it is developing.

Many blessings

Rev Robin Wilding

In addition to this it was Joan and Les's 80th birthday today and the whole church and many old faces came together for a celebration ! Former Pastor Richard Priestley and his wife were also present. It was good to catch up with Richard who was really pleased that having acquired the land in 1997 we were finally building.

Work will recommence this week on Piling which will enable foundations to be be laid down so we can put the framework up and complete the build.

More later

CB

Piles - not nice things

Work will start shortly on Piling works. Effectively this is approximately 30 'sticks' roughly 10 meters in length which are pounded into the ground. They are then bound together with steel beams and fancy locking mechanisms designed to distribute the weight of the floor and the building evenly. Once this work is completed, the main frame can start.

We are running a little behind because of problems with the piling configuration which the builder and architect have had to resolve. These problems were due to the previous building on the site but after a stressful 48 hours for all we've sorted it.

Once the foundations are in we anticipate a smooth build to take place. Speaking to the site foreman we are coming through the toughest bit,

Please continue to pray for our builders, architect and building team. At the rate we are going we will all have grey (or greyer) when we open the doors to the public.

The building team will be meeting tomorrow to run through the financials and legals.

If you ever feel the urge to build a church - my advice - think very carefully !!!

CB

Little Red Flyer (no Flick hasnt got another new scooter!)

As I posted the other day i issued a letter to all the local businesses explaining what our project was about and sure enough said letter is being discussed openly within the community with customers asking local shop owners what is going on

Some businesses have shared the content of the letter with their customers - interestingly word has got back to me that we are planning on putting a dome on the roof. I can confirm that this is not the case ;-)

Its good to know that there is an interest in what is going on and it certainly adds to my belief that we as a church have a real chance now to make an impact in the community if we rise to the challenge. We are now the focal point of the town its as simple as that.

The word on the street is that Oswaldtwistle needs a really good church, there is a belief certainly amongst Church going circles that people are looking for us now to be a stabilising influence an anchor that Christians can believe in and a place where true Christian values are represented.

I joined the church specifically because of our solid biblical teaching and fine children's work and I'm sure that others will see that in us.

CB

If your foundations are solid......

Excavation of the land is well under way. Several tipper loads of earth and assorted debris have been cleared to level the ground

CB

Whats happening this week

This week, the team are leveling the land off so that next week the piling rig can go on site. Also next week, temporary electricity supply will be added to alleviate the need for a diesel powered generator.

Also next week trenches will be dug out for water, gas and electricity supplies.

Q&A

Ive had a couple of businesses ask me some questions about the land

Q) Will there be parking on the site

A) Yes, there will be parking for church members on the site

Q) What is happening with the back passage between Pet Warehouse and the new church

A) The church own the back passage and plan to build a play area on half of its length, the other half will be part of the car park

Q) What sort of church will it be

A) We will be a community church as we always have been but our new facility means we will be able to have more activities for the community as well as church members

Q) What will it look like

A) Stone faced and Slate roof like neighbouring buildings. Its an attractive building with shrubs on the union Road Elevation.

If anyone has any more questions, please feel free to contact me

CB

No going back now - hold on tight !

There is a real buzz about the church at the minute and I'm fairly sure that the community at large are inquisitive as to what's happening. Certainly on my one off annual school run this morning there was plenty of banter about the new build.

And because I'm off work today I'm going to be canvasing our neighbours to let them know what is happening.

Its really important now that we keep in touch with not only our church members but also local home owners and businesses.

Must admit the sight of that HUGE digger on the land certainly impressed my 4 year old son but it brought home the scale of the project to me.

The ground is currently being turned over to level it out before the piling rig comes on to start the process of making the land ready for the steel skeletal frame to be but into place next month. Ive told them if they find anything of any value down there its going in the church building fund.

Incidentally talking of building funds Joan and I have worked out how to place a pay pal button on the blog just in case anyone fancies donating to the project.

CB

Site Secured

Yesterday the site was secured by fencing around its perimeter. Over the coming couple of weeks work will be undertaken to prepare the ground for building including piling works which will enable the steel skeletal frame to be built in mid October. By early November the basic frame should be in place and the process of building around and within it will commence.

Work to begin on new £500k Oswaldtwistle church

From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph : 15th September 2008

CONSTRUCTION is set to start on a new £500,000 church in the centre of Oswaldtwistle.
After more than a decade in the pipeline The Christian Institute, also known as the Melbourne Street Church, has appointed builders to construct the church in Union Road.
The site is just metres from the original chapel built 106 years ago in John Street.
The building, which will match the town's predominantly stone built, slate roofed buildings, is due to open in March 2009.
Members of the congregation began fundraising for the church in 2003.
And trustee of the church, Chris Brindle, said they were coming to the end of a ‘very, very long journey.’ Mr Brindle said: “It is really exciting.
“The new building is significant because it is unusual to have church in a town centre but a lot of people know the church and have family who come to it.”
Planning permission for the church was granted last year by Hyndburn Council.
The Christian Institute bought the derelict site in Union Road for £75,000 11 years ago.
In 2006 it sold the original site of the church in Melboure Street.
Members of the congregation currently rent Harvey Street Youth And Community Centre, Harvey Street, for services and children and youth activities.
The Union Road site will cater for more than 200 people.
Melbourne Street Church had a capacity of 70 people and Harvey Street Youth And Community Centre has room for up to 80 people.
Last month, Hyndburn Council approved plans to demolish the Melbourne Street church, with four three-bedroomed houses being built in its place

One last look

Its difficult to believe that we are finally starting to build. And perhaps even more difficult to imagine that over the next 28 weeks, thousands of man hours of work, 18 scheuled site meetings and no doubt numerous questions to be pondered upon and ancillery items to be sourced.

We should, by late autumn see the finished frame of the building in place before work starts to build in the roof and the walls. Next its time for electrical and mechianical installation, bathrooms, kitchens, IT equipment, floor coverings, blinds, chairs, baptistry, speakers and sound equipment and then most important of all............you !

What I propose to do with the blog moving forwards is to update it weekly with what is scheduled to happen in the week ahead and of course points for prayer.

For one last time Ladies and Gents - our land as we've known it for so long

The day the sun shone

With all the rain that has fallen it was going to be something of a minor miracle if we managed to get a couple of hours of sun for our pray on the land and sure enough God did not disappoint.

The whole church it seemed supported the project and after a quick song, bible scripture, pray and a virtual guided tour it was time to leave the land we had for so long prayed about.

Bring on the diggers !

Prayer on the land

We will be gathering on the land at lunch time on Sunday to give thanks before work commences. If you are a friend of Melbourne Street or just a curious passer by please feel free to join us.

I will be on hand to give 'virtual tours' of the build to give you an idea of the scale of the project

CB

Builders appointed - WORK TO COMMENCE 15/9/08

I can now confirm that I have this afternoon appointed Ibbotsons Building Contractors to build our new church on our land 309-317 Union Rd Oswaldtwistle.

Build is expected to take 28 weeks with work finishing late March 2009.

On behalf of the new build committee I would like to thank you for all of your prayers, we will continue to work with the architect and the builder to ensure smooth and timely delivery of the project.

Spring 2009

The builders have come back with a proposed schedule for the new build. A financial projection is also in hand and workable.

Im always cautious when blogging but subject to approval from United Utilities for the drain we could be looking at early April '09 as the date we move into our new home !!!!

Please continue to pray that approval to build near the drain will be forthcoming from United Utilities. I know this is a frustrating hold up to many people but we are pushing them as hard as possbile for a speedy resolution.

What it means to you

A number of people have shared stories with me about what our new church means to them. For some it is the culmiation of over a decade of hard work, prayer, ups and downs and for others its the start of a new journey, a chance to fulfil minitries which can only be fulfilled with a suitable facility to house them.

If you would like me to share your stories on the blog, please email them to me at chrisbrindle75@hotmail.com

Thanks to our church............

I'm pleased to announce that yesterday's rally call to provide pledges for the mortgage has been successful and we are now awaiting confirmation of acceptance.

We can also confirm that our project is VAT exempt so the final prayer point is the matter of the adoption of the drain. Our architect and building team are working to resolve this matter as speedily as possible and then we are ready to proceed.

Please continue to pray as we take this bold and exciting step

CB

Coming Together

This week we made real progress with the building project. Following a successful meeting with the builder a number of issues were resolved and assistance offered with others which (God willing) should mean that we are ready to proceed with the building.

The building team and grants committee will meet this week to synchronise our efforts to ensure that members of both teams can work together to complete the building in style.

The timetable at the point isn't set in stone but I anticipate we will be ready to go in about 6 weeks at which point contracts will be signed and the builders will take possession of the land with an estimated build time of 28 weeks. Then the land and building will be signed back over to us and we will be able to meet in our new home and fulfill the ministries that many have been wanting to run with for a long time.

Apples for Oranges

We have now completed the task of finalising the specification and costing for the new building eliminating certain items and replacing them with others. On Wendesday next week, we have a meeting with the builder and the architect to discuss the plan for the way forwards so hopefully we can get started.

One Step forwards

Negotiations between ourselves, builder, architect, charities commission and so on just to dot the i's and cross the t's.

Hopefully God willing we should start building by the back end of summer with works scheduled to take 26 weeks.

Please pray that all of the obstacles in our way will be removed to facilitate furtherance of the building project.

Decision Time

The leadership will meet tomorrow to discuss the tenders received last week. In a nut shell its time for us to decide the future of the project.

The building comittee has placed an embargo on sharing the actual figures with anyone until after the leaders meeting simply so that we can work on finding out a bit more information we need to deliver our verdict.

The final report from the architect is due to me tomorrow so I should have all the facts ready.

Please pray for us as we meet

CB

Tenders in

All recipients of the tender document have entered sealed bids hand delivered to me today. Tomorrow we open them !!

7 Days

The tender documents are due back a week today. Apparently they will come in envelopes clearly marked 'tender'. The documents will be opened the following day by the building committee. over the past few weeks we have been looking at some of the incidental costs trying to get a clear picture of the overall cost of the project. It little things like phone line connection, fire extinguishers and some bigger items such as furniture which we need to get a handle on.

Once we have got everything together we will be having a full leadership meeting (scheduled for 7/7/08) to reach a verdict as to which builder we will be appointing.

Then the fun begins !..................

Red Letter Day

If you regularly mark red letters on your calendars you may wish to mark Monday 30th June 2008 on as the day in which tenders are to be returned.

Once the tenders are in the building committee will add in their findings of this month's fixtures and fittings quote exercise which I anticipate will start in earnest next week. Once we have completed this task I anticipate calling a full leaders meeting very early in July to present our findings.

The leadership will evaluate our findings and collectively we will identify the way forwards.

Remember your prayers are still very much needed. There are pros and there are cons. The price of raw materials is increasing (in particular steel) but the building industry is slowing down too so its a case of praying that everything balances out in our favour.

Onwards and upwards !

Church leaders : Refreshed

Yesterday the leaders of the church met for an away day designed to re-focus ourselves as a team, question ourselves as leaders and generally invigorate us for the challenges that lie ahead in our church.

Inevitably our temporary accommodation means that we are limited to what we can achieve with regards to events other than our usual weekly services and this led us to consider what we can do when we get our new building.

The building is going to be a catalyst for a great amount of positive change in the church and the leaders look forward to meeting the needs of the church and the community with the new facility.

The leaders now suitably focused have a great deal to think about as we look to the future.

Wise words from the Lord !

Luke 14 v 28

28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Whilst we are waiting for the figures to come back it is perhaps timely to remember the scope of our project. With rising steel prices, rising fuel prices and a period of uncertainty in the financial markets with ever fewer mortgages being accepted we must ensure that we pray that God will help us to overcome any pitfalls we must encounter. We must also be aware that God will only provide if he feels we are ready to receive.

No pressure or anything..........but you might wish to fire some prayers up !

100 pages of small print

Its quite incredible when you get down to the process of preparing a detailed tender document for a new building. During the past week our selected builders have been sent a 100 page dossier to scrutinise so that they can come back with a quote

The good news is that once this process is complete we will be a big step closer to building the church.

As spring turns into summer hopefully we will be in a position to award the building contract and start to put the foundations down

Patience is a virtue

We're currently in that really frustrating time between getting the land surveyed and getting tenders out. We're 3 weeks behind our anticipated schedule but after years of waiting to put the building up I'm sure couple of weeks won't make a lot of difference and when we are in the building it will all be behind us.

God has spoken very clearly to me about the project and I'm reminded of the fact that the Israelites travelled the wilderness for 40 years before entering the promised land. Furthermore, God certainly won't be rushed into allowing us to build until he is ready.

The new build committee will deliver the building when God is ready to bless us with it in the meantime - be reminded that God will never leave us or forsake us - He just likes to remind us whose Boss now and again

On a lighter note - I see someone was trying to flog an old banger on the Co-Op car park yesterday. What goes around comes around as they say.

A time to be tender

Friday 2nd May 2008 is the day that the new build project is put out to tender. All of the builders selected to quote are local so the work and other contractors who will complete smaller jobs such as carpeting and electrical installation will also be local.

The design of the new building uses materials which will blend in beautifully with other buildings in the area. The main exterior walls are precast sandstone and the roof is slate.

Further details of the building will be released as the project progresses

India calling

A little bird told me that the blog was gaining internatonal fame ! Which really is fanastic news. Please share the blog address with friends, former members and others

Owen and Tracey - It may look sunny on he pictures but believe me it wasnt as warm as where you are !

CB

Digging deep

Mick and I were on site at 08:45 this morning to wait for the digger. Its funny but we both had the same idea ! If we bring our cars we could block the entry to prevent the saturday morning shoppers from taking root !

The structural engineer arrived at 09:00 and by 09:20 we were strating to break ground. The first few scoops were an assortment of bricks, stone and assorted rubble. In fact it was 2.5m of the stuff right down to the old CoOp cellar floor. Slightly concerned we moved over to the other side of the land and we struck gold ! Well..... Gold colour clay which gave us some encouragement and on subequent digs we found more clay which means that 60% of the piles would be quite straightforwards. Our Structural Engineer felt that there was nothing to worry about and that there was nothing preventing us from putting the building up and that tge land was much better than he had anticipated.

Fom the first hole we managed to recover some large stone pillars, which have been used to temporarily block the land off. Temporary fencing will be installed at both ends shortly to ensure vehicles definately cannot access the land.

So all in all a good morning, certainly I was encouraged by what I saw but more importantly so was the engineer.

Breaking Ground

The digger which we are using to test the ground will be on site at 09:00 on Saturday morning

CB

Big isnt it !

With the land cleared the task ahead looks somewhat daunting !

However we are on our way and with God's help im sure we will be fine

Will the owner of the Green Micra....

Well done to Mick and crew for the fanastic job they have done clearing the land of cars ! Bring on the digger !!!

Going, going.......

About half of the cars that we were trying to move from the land have now gone. Hopefully by the middle of the week we will have them cleared and the land secured !!!

Sunday 13th March

No Parking

After years of allowing private and trade cars on the land its finally time to put up the no parking signs. With machinery, structural engineers, builders and members of the church requiring access to the land its time to stop cars parking.

Signs have been placed on all sale cars and their owners have been advised to remove the vehicles by the weekend.

United Utilities

Please pray that United Utilities allow us to adopt the drains on the land. This is purely a legal matter but a swift resolution is required to allow us to build on the land.

Dig away !

New week we hope to get a digger on site to check the condition of the foundations so that we can advise the builders where any problem spots are so that these can be factored in to the cost of the project.

Hello!

Welcome to the new church blog for the Christian Insitute Church in Oswaldtwistle. Over the coming weeks and months this will be the place to find out what is happening with the new build project.

Please pay for the church as it embarks on its most ambitious project ever !