Hello church family.
One of the hardest parts about being in church leadership is knowing how to best care for those we shepherd. Sometimes the decisions are easy, and other times they seem impossible. We have become aware of a great challenge in our midst. We have had a couple of close calls with the access ramp in the front of the building and its poor design. Thankfully the incidents were only close calls, but we can’t ignore the problem. We have been discussing our options and how to best solve the problem. If we were to rebuild the ramp out front, it would take extensive work and restructuring of the whole front area. The demands of a ramp that passes standards today are not possible for the front layout of our building. Another option we have looked into is a chair lift in the stairwell. This is not a great option either for a couple of reasons. Due to the layout of our stairwells, we would need an additional setup because of the landing in the middle of the stairs. This creates a challenge. The second reason is that the space it takes up will almost render the stairs impassable for others not in the chair. This leaves us with the best option we have been able to find and that is an elevator-style lift. We are looking into what all it would take to accomplish this. We ask that you join us in prayer over this decision. We want our building to welcoming to all and we want everyone to have access to all of our building. We do not want to limit any group or individual from being able to participate just because access is difficult or impossible. We will continue to keep you updated as we explore the requirements of this decision. Thanks for praying with us.
Pastor Beau and the Council