Capital Campaign update - March 14, 2020

Dear Trinity Members and Friends,

We live out our faith in exciting times. These times include concern for our families, communities and the world.

Sharing a Wider Welcome, the capital campaign to help us fund and launch our building renovation and upgrades, was planned to begin later this month. Much preparation has already gone into our getting ready for the campaign. We know this work will bring a strong a response to support our ministry at Trinity Lutheran.

In recent weeks, and especially in this past week, there has been a lot of information shared about the coronavirus COVID-19 and its spread around the world, the United States, and now even closer to home. A growing number of communities are finding their regular routines changed by the public health priority to slow the spread of this virus. Because of the coronavirus pandemic our business community, financial markets, small businesses and hourly workers face uncertain times.

With an abundance of caution and focusing on the best possible outcome for Trinity and our ministry, we have decided to re-time our Sharing a Wider Welcome capital campaign to begin sometime in the Fall, most likely during October of 2020.

We remain fully committed to our Master Building Plan and our decision to conduct a capital campaign to support this plan. We feel that it is prudent to re-time this capital campaign to provide for the best possible outcome for our congregation. If you want to discuss this decision or the capital campaign, please talk with Pastor Erica or one of our Campaign Co-chairs, Marc Cajolet or Scott Morrison.

As the weeks unfold, please keep the ministry and leadership of Trinity in your prayers. We ask that you also pray for our community and world, as together we navigate the anxieties and challenges of these uncertain and yet exciting times.

Together at Trinity we live our Vision - Sharing God's gifts, we joyfully serve!

Your partners in ministry,

Pastor Erica Kennedy, pastor@trinity-chelmsford.org

Marc Cajolet, Campaign Co-Chair, mcajolet@gmail.com 

Scott Morrison, Campaign Co-Chair, smorrison_1229@yahoo.com

Our Vision for the 21st Century Church

The Building Team in conjunction with Finance and Prayer teams, have worked throughout 2019 with Context Architecture to create a master plan for Trinity Lutheran Church. This plan is intended to align with our mission, address the highest priority needs and set forth a roadmap that can be implemented over the next few years. This summary lays out the highlights. 

Goals

The design process has involved many meetings to evaluate different solutions that match needs identified in 2019 and the conclusions reached from the Welcoming team in 2018. The plan set forth below, when built would help us achieve the overarching goals of becoming: 

  • Twenty-first century church
  • Easy to navigate
  • Fit our space to our mission

 

Established Priorities

Master Plan Data Sheet (view as PDF)

Plan

Of the three different design options presented by the architects and evaluated by the Trinity leadership teams, the plan previewed in December and presented here for the annual meeting represents the best balance of fit, affordability and impact. 

Proposed Site Plan and Improvements Diagram

Proposed Phases Diagram

The architects have created simulated views with their 3-D model so one can get a rough idea of how the proposed changes would look.

View from outside the proposed new main foyer

View from inside the new main foyer looking into the Sanctuary

View from the far side of the new main foyer looking back toward the entrance (right) and the Sanctuary (left)

View from entrance to the Sanctuary looking back at the new main foyer

View from the Sanctuary back toward the proposed new foyer

View from the center aisle of the Sanctuary looking back toward the proposed new main foyer and multi-purpose room

View of Luther Room with sound absorption panels on the ceiling

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