LATIMER CHURCH BUILD

The building project is progressing well, with both the concept design and current status of the Rosebank property making significant progress over the last few weeks.

On the 2nd April we held a large working bee at Rosebank, the hope was to get 50 people helping out, but we ended up with 70! It was a very fun and proactive day with people split into four different teams; gardening, building cleanup, kitchen cleanup, and shed/grounds organization, each with team leaders managing the tasks needing to be done. The aim of this working bee was to clean up the property (especially the gardens) for the current tenants, and to gather and organize the long list of chattels that came with the property. Thanks to the hard work of the volunteers who showed up, we are now in a position to make decisions about items left over in the purchase of the property, and we have very few things needing to be done before demolition/construction work needs to start. Thank you to everyone who gave up their Saturdays to help!

For the current design status of the project, our Architect Harvey Duncan and the rest of the design team have been working hard on the concept design of the new building. At the recent Latimer Annual General Meeting, Geoff Banks the project director presented some early concept designs/drawings of what the building might look like, this was quite an exciting milestone as the Latimer community saw concept images for the first time! Shortly after that, a meeting was held with some of the staff and stakeholders to discuss the concept design and to get some feedback on some “big picture” ideas. Our architect and design team is faced with a challenging task of putting words into drawings, ensuring that the new building serves each ministry of Latimer as best as possible. This was a very helpful and positive meeting, showing that we are on the right track! The next step in the process will be to finalize a concept design, then move on to the more detailed design.

On Sunday 21st November, we were finally able to host our church community at a Rosebank picnic! This was a fun time of socializing with live music, barista coffee, a scavenger hunt for the kids, and the opportunity to explore the vast grounds of the future site of Latimer Church. Check out the video below to see how it went!

These last few months have seen our ministry leaders engage their volunteers with the aim of gathering information about our needs in a new building. This first pass of what is called the “user brief” is almost ready and in the hands of our Architect.

We have also seen an explosion of ideas posted on our collaborative whiteboard which can be found here. On Tuesday the 8th, our Growth Groups (bible studies) spent the evening discussing ideas about the new building and posting them on the whiteboard. It is a “live” resource, so at any given point, you could see ten different mice moving around and writing new ideas.

Over the next few months, this information will be interpreted into a design brief by the design team, then during the first quarter of 2022 turned into a “concept design”. We will post more information here as the weeks go on and we make more progress.

Last Friday the purchase of Rosebank went unconditional—with 50 minutes to spare and, as we were told, a number of interested parties circling if our offer fell through! Praise be to God for bringing us this far. The final figure of money given/pledged from within Latimer by the Nov 8th settlement date is $2,072,179. If one includes money pledged after this date through to the end of 2023 this rises to $2,954,610. This is a wonderful amount that puts us well on the way to reaching our goal of $4m for the church. The Trustees of the Latimer Church Trust are very thankful to God for all who have given to this.

Over the coming term up to Christmas we will be seeking engagement with staff and congregations on the design of a new church building; this feedback will then be incorporated into concept design development through to March for review and approval, before we undertake the final stages of more detailed design. Once we have an agreed concept design we will have more refined cost estimates, and until that time we will continue to fundraise from outside Latimer. With rising costs in the building industry we will need to maximise every opportunity for external fundraising to complement our own giving, and indeed are already being greatly blessed by brothers and sisters from outside who are committed to making this happen.

How fantastic to see progress!  Geoff and Barnaby have been working hard during the due diligence period to undertake assessment of the site.  We have had meetings of both the Project Board and the Latimer Church Trustees in the last week, and all are encouraged by the progress achieved so far.  Geoff has commented that there have been some delightful surprises, with a number of ‘positive bonuses’ about the property that a quick visit does not yield.  

The architect, Harvey Duncan, has also been working hard – this is not to design a building, but to ensure that what we want can fit on the site.  The Project Board was shown some concept drawings yesterday – these will definitely change over time, but it was so exciting to see what will be able to be achieved.  It will be a wonderful base to reach out to others and invite them in to hear about the Lord Jesus.  I look forward to showing you these on Sunday at the online services, and I think you will be excited too.

We are now in the serious business of fundraising.  The great need is $2m by November 8th so we can purchase the site.  This is all the more important because the amount that has been promised from overseas after that to build the buildings is extremely generous (nearly $3m), and money has been coming in for the end stage of the project – in other words, all we need to do is raise this first part and we really are most of the way there towards the end!   We have so far had $477,649 pledged from 67 different donors.  This is wonderful and I thank every one of you.  We now have a little over $1.5m to go. 

For us to achieve this goal, in the grace of God, we will need to give widely (ie as many people contributing as possible – hopefully every person at Latimer can give something), and give deeply (ie we will need those who can to put in larger amounts).  

So I do ask you – what can you give?  what can you reasonably stretch yourself to?  Noone needs to go hungry, but it will need us to give sacrificially, motivated by a passion for people’s salvation in eternity.  For myself, I see this as a ‘once in a lifetime’ project – and at a cost of an initial $2m, it is absolutely cheap at the price.  

September 6th is the last day when we are asking for pledges to be made by – you can do this by filling out our online form here.  I encourage you to give as much as you are reasonably able, and to do so with your eyes fixed on eternity as you do so.  I am convinced that what feels a lot now, will seem much less when we look back on it from heaven.

Finally, thank you to all 187 of you who filled out the survey.  The factual results can be found below, ​and we have carefully read and taken note of all the comments, many of which contain really helpful and specific suggestions – thank you very much for these.

It is with great joy that we can announce we have an accepted conditional offer on the Rosebank Estate. This was signed by both parties on 6/08/2021 and officially starts our period of due diligence. We would appreciate your prayers as our teams start this work.

This past Sunday at some of the services we launched our fundraising campaign for the project, setting a number of giving goals for the Latimer community. Please visit our Fundraising page for more information. If you are considering giving to the project, we would ask that you fill out a pledge form which can be found here by 6th of September.

We would also like to invite you to attend our open day at Rosebank Estate on 22nd August at 1pm. This will be an opportunity to see the site, and participate in a Q&A at 1:30pm in the hall. Please continue to check the updates page for any further information.

(31/07/2021) We are thrilled to have made a conditional offer on the former Rosebank Estate events venue. The site provides us with more space than we had expected (and a number of aged buildings and services). We anticipate needing to construct new buildings to meet our needs but are open to the potential re-use of existing structures.

Our next task is to check out the issues that we need more certainty of to allow the board confidence to confirm an unconditional offer within 6 weeks. During this next period, known as “due diligence” we have arranged a day (22nd August) for those wishing to check out the property and for us to update progress and answer any questions. We look forward to seeing you there if you are able.

We also need to reach out to the congregation at this time, and with a deadline of confirmation looming, to help fund this once-in-a-lifetime project. We have been enormously blessed by support from several early and substantial donations and pledges, such that the funding needed from each of us now to secure the site can be matched at least 2-fold by those donations, to allow much of the construction work to proceed forthwith. Where else can your dollar buy at least 3 times its value! Please visit the fundraising page for more information on the campaign to purchase Rosebank.