FROM THE RECTOR-Rev Mike Paget

It may sound like a strange thing or a sudden illness, but I've taken a sudden delight in plans. Not plans as in 'plans for the future' (though I love those, too!) but floor plans, room plans, plans with scales and doors and the funny little numbers that must mean so much to builders but mean very little to me.

Of course, it's not just any plans that interest me, but the plans for the lower ground floor, or Mountain St level, of the new St Barnabas.

I think I've 'got' the Broadway St, or ground floor, level.  A 14m cross shining into the heart of the city.  An aerial courtyard elevated above and yet open and connected to the Broadway and Mountain St corridors.  A 600-seat space with soaring foyer/bridge, parents room, kitchenette and so on.

But it is only recently that I have come to truly appreciate what is downstairs and what we will hope to do with them.  How many conversation classes, tutoring sessions, playgroups, courses, fellowships and bible studies will meet in the 200 seat multipurpose hall over dinner served out of the commercial kitchen?  How many coffees will be drunk and lives changed over conversation in the foyer or bookshop?  How many children will learn about Jesus and the promises of God in the 80-seat space?  How many people will find in the accessibility of church - with a full size lift and bathrooms designed not only for men and women, but also specifically for children and for the less mobile - the welcoming heart of Jesus?  How many small groups and counselling sessions and band rehearsals will flourish in the other 8 meeting rooms?  How many staff will labour to teach and train in the new offices?

I find myself staring at the plans and my imagination is captured by the possibilities of real people engaged in real work changing a real world for a real future.  It's amazing how plans can get you planning.

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(updated1st Feb 2012)