Creating a New Church Building from the Ground Up

My church will meet for a visioning session on Saturday.  We've got an interesting opportunity in terms of our chunk of land and the possibility of a new building if we sell some of it.  While it is not clear that we'll vote to move in this direction, it's been an interesting experience for me to think about what I'd want in a building if we were creating it from the ground up.

My mind immediately goes to the absence of affordable housing in our county.  Could we build a building that had affordable housing units along with a small worship space?

But we're a small church, in terms of humans--could we really be landlords to all the people who might move in?

I like the idea of a retreat center that makes up the bulk of the church:  lots of small sleeping spaces with communal bathrooms with shower spaces.  We could use the sleeping spaces during shelter weeks, where we give homeless people a temporary space.  We could host retreats.  We could do so much with a retreat center.

I'd love an indoor labyrinth--what a great addition to a retreat center.  It would be protected from the elements--and the vandals that targeted our past outdoor labyrinths.

I love the idea of a better kitchen.  Right now we don't have a stove because of code restrictions and the cost of retrofitting our current kitchen.  It would be great to have a more industrial kitchen, even though we don't really need it right now.

I love the idea of artist studios.  I would love for my church to become a center that studies the intersections of creativity and spirituality.

Of course, part of me resists the idea of taking on a building at all.  Buildings do need so much care and attention--and money--as the years go on.  But a building can be a blessing too, with space for lots of groups and various ways to care for the community. 

The church building we have right now is very dated--it hasn't been updated much at all, and it shows it.  It would be so wonderful to start over.  It's a wonderful opportunity.  But it's also a heavy responsibility.  I'd really like us to get this right.

I'd really like to know what "right" looks like.