A Guide to the Upgrade / Maintenance of the Church Facility – a draft

Wednesday, June 25, 2014 4:55:40 PM modified.

This is an attempt to help the board of deacons think about and plan for maintaining or upgrading the church facility.

While many of the business organization use dollar amount to define responsibility and power of decision at every level of management a Presbyterian church might do better if using other sets of considerations.

There might be some other keys involved in making decisions related to church facilities, especially in a Presbyterian church where collective efforts in the congregation might be more important than anything else.

The most critical factors might be in how the works of maintenance or upgrading are related to the mission and the vision of the congregation. The mission and the vision is supposed to reflect the faith and the theology of the congregation.

Then the scope and depth of involvement and participation need to be considered, especially in a Presbyterian church where support and complaints come from all corners in the church. How the decisions are made is very important for keeping the congregation alive and working. Heroic achievement of individuals and outstanding quality of work might not be as important as having the congregation working and supporting behind the scenes and be able to continue maintaining the quality.

It is important to study the impact of any single attempt might have on every aspect of church life, including the levels of appreciation and continuing maintenance, and everyone in the membership. It is important to keep the church from becoming an arena of intelligence, wealth, or power.

It is important to develop the concepts behind every idea of upgrade or maintenance, especially in the implication of living out our faith and testimony before we take sides in how to do and how much to spend. In many cases, there are many different ways of achieving the same result with a different effect.

We normally have to go through the selection of the methods for handling the facility. We need to study the result, effect, implications, and impact of each method.

Then we need to select the hardware involved and the persons involved. For this, sometimes the prices, the suppliers, and the product support become important issues.

For acquisition of items at an affordable low cost sometimes we have the urge to bypass the study and choose a quick and timely resolution. Again, we might need to pay attention to how long the effect might last and how soon and easily we can fix the problems afterward.

Consider developing the future leaders might be well worth the effort of involving in-experienced members.

Finally, we need to decide how we use to make and the budget. Recently I have new thoughts on budgeting: consider the effect of the spending – is it for an end in the fiscal or beyond. For long-term investment, we might consider using long-term budgeting than annual budgeting.

----------

This is an attempt to help the board of deacons think about and plan for maintaining or upgrading the church facility. 這是在嘗試協助執事會思考維護或更新教會設施。

While many of the business organization use dollar amount to define responsibility and power of decision at every level of management a Presbyterian church might do better if using other sets of considerations.一般商業往往用額度界定權責層次，或許用另種思考會使長老教會更好。

There might be some other keys involved in making decisions related to church facilities, especially in a Presbyterian church where collective efforts in the congregation might be more important than anything else.在重視集體努力的長老教會裡，有關設施的決策跟決斷或許另有關鍵。

The most critical factors might be in how the works of maintenance or upgrading are related to the mission and the vision of the congregation. The mission and the vision is supposed to reflect the faith and the theology of the congregation. In other words, we need to make sure the work is not contradicted to the faith and theology of the congregation.最關鍵的要素也許是維護或更新的工作跟教會的使命與願景有何相關。使命與願景應該會反映出一個教會的信仰與神學。換句話說，我們需要確認維護或更新的工作門有抵觸該堂會的信仰與神學。

Then the scope and depth of involvement and participation need to be considered, especially in a Presbyterian church where support and complaints come from all corners in the church. How the decisions are made is very important for keeping the congregation alive and working. Heroic achievement of individuals and outstanding quality of work might not be as important as having the congregation working and supporting behind the scenes and be able to continue maintaining the quality.然後需要考慮參與的廣度與深度，這在「注重會友從教會裡各角落出現的支持與抱怨」的長老教會尤其重要。決斷與決策如何進行是維持長老教會會眾活意與事奉的重要因素。個人英雄式的成就與工作的高品質不見得比會眾們的事奉、幕後支持、與持續維護品質更重要。

Study the impact of any single attempt might have on every aspect of church life, including the levels of appreciation and continuing maintenance, and affecting everyone in the membership. It is important to keep the church from becoming an arena of intelligence, wealth, or power.研究每一個動作對於教會生活各個面像的影響或衝擊，包括欣賞的層次、持續維護的行動、以及是否牽動每一位會員。要避免使教會成為擂臺。

Develop the concepts behind every idea of upgrade or maintenance, especially in the implication of living out our faith and testimony before we take sides on how to do and how much to spend. In many cases, there are many different ways of achieving the same result with a different effect.在針對如何進行及花多少錢選邊站之前先發展出每一個更新或維護的幕後概念，尤其注重對實踐信仰及展現見證。在許多情況下，往往有不同的方法可達到同樣的結果卻不同的效益。

We normally have to go through the selection of the methods for handling the facility. We need to study the result, effect, implications, and impact of each method. 我們通常需要選擇處理設施的不同方法。我們需要研判各種方法的結果、效益、牽連及衝擊。

Then we need to select the hardware involved and the persons involved. For this, sometimes the prices, the suppliers, and the product support become important issues. 然後我們要選擇牽涉到的硬體與執行者。為此，有時價錢、供應者、售後服務都成為重要事項。

For acquisition of items at an affordable low cost sometimes we have the urge to bypass the study and choose a quick and timely resolution. We might need to pay attention to how long the effect might last and how soon and easily we can fix the problems afterward.有時為了特價時機我們會有跳過研判的衝動要選擇快速、及時的作法。或許我們需要注意獲得的效益會持續多久跟出問題時能多快解決。

Consider developing the future leaders might be well worth the effort of involving in-experienced members.為了開發未來的領導人才或許需要考慮找沒有經驗的人來參與。

Finally, we need to decide how we use and make the budget. Recently I have new thoughts on budgeting: consider the effect of the spending – is it for an end in the fiscal or beyond. For long-term investment, we might consider using long-term budgeting than annual budgeting. 最後，需要決定如何運用預算、訂定預算。最近我有個新的想法：看看預期效果及效益是否只在會計年度內用得到。若是跨年效益的長期投資獲許值得採用跨年長期預算額而不是採用會計年度內的預算。