PROJECT // VISION Dear Friends, The vision of The Vine Christian Fellowship has always been, and will always be, ‘Building the family of God’. The vision of the church has not suddenly become to move to Wan Chai and renovate the Imperial Cinema. As plans have progressed for Vine Centre 2 (VC2), we have sensed that God has been encouraging us that this is not just about a physical building but that, in establishing a place of extravagant and intimate worship in a strategic location in the city, a ‘Gate’ linking heaven to earth and the King to the people would be created. We also believe that The Vine will have a significant impact and influence, achieved by building community - in the neighbourhood of Wan Chai, and the wider city of Hong Kong. God has asked us to minister in Wan Chai, and to transform Hong Kong's ‘Red Light District’ into a 'White Light District’. Therefore we envision VC2 as a base to reach the neighbourhood and build a community. We will be investing in children, youth and adults of all nationalities. We are also planning to incorporate our work with refugees as part of a community centre providing meals and services for marginalized people groups. We envision an 'inside out' church with the community coming in and the church going out, where the community are welcomed with open arms to feel at home. We want the neighbourhood to feel that the VC2 is their home. Of course this is not just about Wan Chai, and we will continue to see ourselves as a ‘church of the city’ that invests in people, events, and projects all over Hong Kong. Indeed we believe that VC2 will become a base to send people out to Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China and beyond. There is a long way to go. But we know that God will be with us as we step into the destiny for this church and for this city. We would like for all of you to be blessed by this project, and therefore ask for you all to pray for God’s guidance on how you should be involved, and to continue to pray for the project. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for being on this exciting, if not slightly daunting, journey with us.
Ps Tony Read & Ps John Snelgrove
The Vine Christian Fellowship
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PROJECT // MANAGER Name: Yan Lau
Tell us a little about your background: Having spent most of my life in the UK, I moved back to HK four and a half years ago so that I could get to know my extended family and my origins. I’ve been coming to The Vine three and a half years now.
What is your role on the Vine Centre 2 (VC2) building project? As the project manager of the entire VC2 project, my role is to coordinate and manage all the relevant parties so that VC2 will be completed on time and on budget. In practical terms, I liaise closely with the Senior pastors, the Elder board and the finance committee. I am part of the steering group, and work with the seven working groups. How are you qualified or experienced to take on this role? My professional background is actually in events management. Managing the building of VC2 is not quite an event, but it requires the same coordination, people management, timeline & budget forecasting skills used in the project management side of managing events. How are you enjoying it so far? This job is pretty challenging. There are so many people involved, many of them volunteers, and the challenge is to bring in the right people at the right time so that the building project is not delayed. However, I have been humbled by everyone’s eagerness and their hearts. God is doing something wonderful in the lives of everyone involved.
PROJECT // OVERVIEW A REAL NEED // •
Our Sunday services currently serve a combined total of 700+ adults in three services, in a space which accommodates 180 people.
•
Our current building does not allow a fully-equipped kitchen and this prevents the feeding of our refugees and asylum seekers and the expansion of this service. This also stops any similar ministry feeding and ministering to the less fortunate.
•
The children’s ministry and the crèche serve more children than space allow because we do not want to turn children away and their activities are limited due to crowding and space limitation.
•
Our facilities can only accommodate 12 mothers and their babies but we have a list of 20+ who have registered to attend this support group.
•
Only one ministry can be held on any one given day/evening, limiting the growth of the impact of our work.
•
There is currently no room for the development of new ministries.
•
The Vine hosts a number of educational and evangelistic concerts and conferences and these currently are a financial strain due to the need of renting external large venues.
•
With the growth of the church, we need to employ more staff to keep up with the administration to ensure the smooth running of our work. However this is not possible due to limited office space, so currently our workload is increasing with the same number of staff
The Imperial Cinema was built in 1965, and had an original capacity of over 1000 seats. It ceased operating in 2004. It is located on Burrows Street in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong island. It is about a 6 minute walk from Wan Chai MTR station.
THE IMPERIAL CINEMA // We have been looking for a new venue for over two years and have had agents show us many possible locations. The majority of these failed to fulfill even the basic requirements of providing a column-free auditorium space for 500+ people in a reasonably accessible location. We have considered using a hotel ballroom or convention facility but the logistics and price make it very difficult, and we would lose the 24/7 style of church which has become so much part of The Vine. In Hong Kong, land and facilities to do this are just not available at affordable prices. The Imperial Cinema came onto our radar quite early on in the search but we seemed to be greeted with some indifference and an outrageous purchase price. We reluctantly left the situation thinking ’If only…’ However in late 2008, after fruitlessly looking at alternatives we became aware that circumstances had changed and that the building had been leased to a business which could not get the necessary permits to operate. After a long series of negotiations, first with the prospective tenant and then with the owner himself, we were able to secure a reasonable long-term lease (15 years), at a rental price only slightly more than what we are currently paying at Chinachem Plaza. We believe that we have seen God’s leading through this whole process as we have seen one ‘giant’ after another looming into view and then being defeated by God.
ARCHITECTS // PROFILE Synthesis Design Limited was established in 2003 providing high quality, award-winning professional architectural design services.
PORTFOLIO Past Synthesis projects include:
The two founding directors have collectively over 40 years of extensive international work experience in the USA, HK and China. Their impressive combined portfolio include commercial and private sector projects of factories, hospitals, and schools, worth approximately HK$40 Million to HK$16 Billion.
• Agape International HK Ltd. • The Praise Assembly HK • Alpha Course Centre, HK • Love + Hope Prototype Community Factory, HK • ESF Discovery College • Polar Electronics Manufacturing Facility, China • Xiamen Changtai Pedestrian Bridge, China • Children’s Hospital Oakland, California, USA • St. Joseph’s Hospital Heart Centre, USA
The process of designing VC2 has been a close collaboration between the church and the architects. The designs are based on the visions and aspirations given by the Church’s elders and ministries heads through many workshops, user meetings and presentations.
DRAFT
DAY TIME EXTERIOR VIEW
The leadership desired the external architecture to reflect who we are as a church. Therefore, we have chosen a ‘vine’ design where the vines grow and interweave from the foundational pillars of the structure, making their way upwards and outwards. We hope that this unique design will help The Vine Centre become a landmark in the revitalization of the local area.
DESIGN // OVERVIEW
The design process for Vine Centre 2 involved three stages: Stage 1 - Leadership Input and Ministry Needs // The leadership brainstormed about the facilities that they would like for the new church and then streamlined the list to those they felt God put on their hearts. The design needed to be able to accommodate and serve all of our present 15 ministries and each ministry were asked to outline their facility needs. Each of these ministries requires a range of facilities to function and operate, which combined, presented a challenge to design a facility that houses and facilitates the growth of every ministry. Stage 2 - Churchwide Survey // The leadership list of facilities was then presented to the congregation for feedback. It was a valuable tool in assessing the needs of our church and providing a platform to shape the church. 71% of respondents were 18-35 yrs of age, with 60% of all respondents were single and there was an even number of females and males submitting the survey. Stage 3 - Senior Pastors Direction // The combination of the leadership list of facilities, each ministries needs, and the survey results were then discussed by the senior pastors, who analysed this wealth of information to design a building that would facilitate the work that we are already doing, and a church that they felt God is leading us to be. Below are the results of the survey. Most facilities rated 2 or above have been included in the plans.
What facilites should we have in the Auditorium? Video screens (for powerpoint to accompany) Intercessors’ room Prayer room for ministry time after each service Translation facilities Overflow area Trolley park for strollers Green room (waiting room for speakers) Dressing rooms and behind-the-stage rooms Baptistry
1 = Not necessary 2 = Nice to have 3 = Valuable 4 = Vital
Speaker rest room
0
1
2
3
4
What kind of kitchen would best serve our ministries?
Coffee Bar able to serve drinks and snacks
Fully equipped kitchen able to serve food
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
How important are these facilities to carry out our ministry work? Children’s Area (for K4C) Youth Area (for Flight 852) Prayer & counselling area (Oasis style) Pastoral room (for pastors’ use) Teaching/Seminar room Media room (video editing, filming) Refugee center Healing room Soup kitchen
1 = Not necessary 2 = Nice to have 3 = Valuable 4 = Vital
Recording studio
0
1
2
3
Prefered choice of mother & baby room:
mother + baby room without audio/visial feed
mother + baby room with audio/visial feed from the auditorium
don’t know
Other facilites you would like to see included: Multi-function Rooms Storage areas Large + Small meeting Rooms Creche Greeting area Resource aea/shop Music Practice Rooms Plus Rooms Computer facilites First Aid Area Art/Creative Room Dance Studio
1 = Not necessary 2 = Nice to have 3 = Valuable 4 = Vital
Cloakroom
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
TEAMS // GROUPS STEERING GROUP
STATUS The SG has had its inaugural meeting and decided upon its composition, function and meeting frequency. A simple weekly status report will be distributed to WG heads for completion - this will form the basis of our analysis.
MEMBERS Mr. Nigel Raymont - Head Ms. Yan Lau Mr. Michael Laurenson Mr. Fernando Marchitelli Mr. Aaron Rogers Ps. Tony Read Ps. John Snelgrove Mr. Ping-Chung Wong
VISION & DESIGN
STATUS The leadership of the Vine has met several times to pray together for God’s vision of the new Vine.
MEMBERS Ms. Yan Lau - Head Ms. Meiling Beck Ms. Lavinia Funnell Ms. Leila Nachtigall Mr. Tom Read Mr. Felix Szeto Mr. Chris Thomas Ms. Annie Zhuang All pastors, elders, and ministry leaders
The VC2 Steering Group can best be described as a Project Control Office, providing support to the Project Manager in tracking the progress of the various Working Groups (WG).
To seek God for His direction and vision for the Vine and to design the building to allow us to grow as a congregation and to facilitate our ministry work.
Multiple meetings were set up between various leaders and the architects to understand facilities’ needs and to transform the vision into reality. The resulting plans are in this booklet.
FUNDRAISING
STATUS The team is divided into a number of sub-groups, targeting different areas e.g. Vine church events, overseas churches, individuals, government grants etc. We are working on a short “prospectus” for potential donors.
MEMBERS Mr. Hudson Tsui - Head Ms. Shirley Chow Ms. Rose Fung Ms. Hazel Gan Mr. Alan Kwan Ms. Yan Lau Ms. Kayi Nam Mr. Ed Olivo Mr. Chris Simmons Mr. Trevor Smith Ps. John Snelgrove Ms. Mimi Supardi
COMMUNICATIONS
STATUS The congregation has been informed about the project through extensive exposure of the Sunday services, a VC2 video, the first fruit Sunday event and this update
MEMBERS Mr. Tom Read - Head Mr. Joe Chow Ms. Yan Lau Mrs. Monique Franz Mr. Tom Franz Mr. Hillman Lam Mr. Paul Lim Mr. Felix Szeto
This group leads the fundraising strategy for the project, involving the whole church.
To communicate effectively to the congregation of the progress of the project in all aspects.
TEAMS // GROUPS RESTRUCTURING
STATUS As soon as the design process is complete in October, we will be ready to plan for the right amount of staffing for the whole of The Vine church.
MEMBERS Ms. Woudene Myburgh - Head Mr. Gerry Denbok
LOGISTICS
STATUS We will meet in late 2009 to plan for the logistics and operations of running VC2.
MEMBERS Ms. Woudene Myburgh - Head Ms. Meiling Beck Mr. Gerry Denbok Mr. Chris Simmons Mr. Anthony Suresh
CONSTRUCTION
STATUS We have submitted the building dept submission and our application has been granted to change the use from a cinema to a religious institution. A couple of major technical issues have also been solved.
MEMBERS Ps. Tony Read - Head Synthesis Design Ltd. Daniel Chan & Associates Ltd. Rider Levett Bucknall Ltd. Shen Milsom & Wilke Ltd. Wong & Cheng Ltd.
To restructure the current staff/human resources to facilitate the new needs of VC2, in line with the church vision & ministries current & future needs.
To research and plan the stages of the following: • Facilities management • Health and safety • IT and telecommunications • Sourcing & Purchasing of the above • Liaising with Volunteers & Ministries to ensure that staff/volunteers in their divisions have appropriate information & communications
To renovate an existing cinema into a church with an auditorium and facilities to carry out ministry and community work.
General building plans are our next submission.
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
The elders of the church, with Jesus as our head, have undertaken the responsibilty of getting the church to spiritually prepare for a new era of building the family of God in Wan Chai.
STATUS Pastor John and Tony kicked off this spiritual preparation by focusing on our Champions using Joshua 1, and setting the scene for the next twelve months. These teachings on Sundays are very important for us as a church as we look at "Crossing Over" together. We have also been running monthly prayer and worship nighta to encourage the church to go ‘higher, deeper, and wider’
MEMBERS Mr. Aaron Rogers - Head Mr. Cliff Ma Mr. John Macpherson Mr. Stephen Negus Mr. Sean Seah Mr. Rod Sewell Ps. John Snelgrove Ps. Tony Read
HONG KONG // WAN CHAI
Hong Kong has often been described as a country where ‘East meets West,’ a heady mix of local and international influences and cultures. This busy city of long hours and heightened emphasis on competitiveness and success, contain a people who are hard-working and focused on increasing their material wealth. Approx. 95% of Hong Kong people are Chinese by ethnicity, the majority of which are Cantonese or other Chinese dialects. 90% of Hong Kong's population practices a mix of local religions, most prominently Buddhism, Taoism and idol worship. Chinese superstitution also plays a big part in the culture of Hong Kong. Wan Chai is becoming less of the typical old inner city residential area and more of a revitalized business and leisure district. The local area around the Imperial Cinema and Morrison Hill is also changing. It is becoming modernized, upgraded and revitalized. Opposite the Cinema there will be 'luxury' residential development with commercial and shopping areas on the lower floors. In the rich culture of Hong Kong, the new Vine Centre will offer many platforms to engage with society and opportunities to glorify God in its new setting; from encouraging ethnic minorities to blessing businesses; from reaching out to prostitutes to providing a venue for local arts; from encouraging the disadvantaged and marginalized to hosting business seminars. It is a privilege to have this opportunity to be an influence of God's grace in this exciting, changing, vibrant area, extending to all of Hong Kong, China and beyond.
CHURCH // HISTORY 1997 _______ __ __ __ __ __ __ 1998 _______ 1999 __ 2000 __ 2001 __ 2002 __ 2003 __ __ __ __ __ __ 2004 _______ __ 2005 2006 __ 2007 __ 2008 __ 2009 __ __ __ __ __ 2010 _______
1997 // THE VINE ESTABLISHED
Growing out of Repulse Bay Baptist Church (neither in Repulse Bay, nor a Baptist church!))we became The Vine Christian Fellowship in January 1997, in response to God speaking to us from John ch: 15 ('I am the Vine') We were meeting in South Island School at that time, about 80 faithful worshippers, including children - Our youth group 'Saturday Nite Alive' was meeting in the Wanchai International Methodist Church and attracting youth from all parts of the city. AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE: 80-100
1998 - 2003 // THE REGAL HOTEL
After a brief spell in a business centre in Times Square, Causeway Bay, we found a longer-term home in the Regal Hotel ballroom, also in Causeway Bay. This was a significant move for us, as we attempted to become more of a church in the city. The church was elder-led, and In 2001, the elders and wives met in a hotel in TST to seek God, and this significant meeting resulted in what we now know as the 'Vine Vision'. The vision was shared with the church in Summer 2002, and introduced the idea of a full-time senior pastor and the concept of a 'Vine Centre' where ministry would take place 7 days a week. At that time we had only a small office in Lan Kwai Fong. A search for a senior pastor ended up with not one, but two - and our Senior Pastors were elected in May 2003. We went for homegrown pastors; Tony and John had been in Hong Kong since the 80's and had established their families and a home-base here. AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE: 100-150
2004 - PRESENT // THE VINE CENTRE 1
2004 was a significant year. The congregation had grown to around 150 and in September 2004 the church moved from doing church on a Sunday morning to having a dedicated facility in Central, 7 days a week. Chinachem Plaza became 'Vine Centre 1'. It coincided with the introduction of a Community ministry for refugees and asylum seekers. At the same time, our children's work began to grow and families started to come to the church on an increasing basis. Due to fast growth, a second service was shortly added, and eventually a third. On any given Sunday you would expect to see over 700 adults attending one of our three dynamic services. In addition, we hold a bi-weekly Friday morning women's service, a Friday night youth service (Flight 852) and a Saturday night young adults' service (180). Around 200 children attend our Kids4Christ program held during our Sunday services. Over 300 refugees are ministered to and supported on a weekly basis. AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE: 600-800
2010 // THE VINE CENTRE 2: IMPERIAL CINEMA
MINISTRIES // OVERVIEW The Vine has a culturally diverse congregation and regardless of background or race every person who walks through our doors is equally welcomed and encouraged to be part of the family. In God’s eyes each person is special to Him and we focus on ministering to the whole person - the teaching of life skills, development of positive personality qualities, the encouragement of family support and social interaction. We love to see the transforming work of God’s hand on people’s lives and use counseling, skills development, creativity, community outreach and volunteering opportunities to help us to be ‘whole’ people. This means that we are a busy church and have many ministries which cater to all of the different groups – because God loves us as we are, but also loves us too much to leave us as we are. We do all of this with the ultimate goal of building community and the family of God. We believe that through love, forgiveness, kindness and mercy every person can be encouraged to trust, help and engage with others. We believe that helping others and contributing to society is important because we were created to make a difference and love each other. As we have continued to grow so our needs have increased. We believe that God has given us the opportunity to use the former Imperial Cinema to expand our vision into the Wan Chai area.
Cell Groups
Mid-size PLUSster groups meet on the first week of every month all across the city. Small-size PLUS groups meet weekly. For info email: plus@thevine.org.hk
B2C
Business Ministry
Champions
Volunteers
Our Champions help make church happen every week. This is a great way to get involved in the life of the church, and there are so many different ways that you can serve. To find out more email: champions@thevine.org.hk
4-D men
Men’s Ministry
Business 2 Christ is the Vine's marketplace ministry. If you feel that God is calling you to be the difference in the marketplace, then join us. For more information visit: www.whatisb2c.com
Our men’s ministry at the Vine meets every forth Tuesday of the month. Join us for food, speakers and man stuff. For info - contact Daughin Chan through the office
Children’s Ministry
Prayer & Counseling
at The Vine WHOLENESS AND RESTORATION
Kids church every Sunday during all services. We also have a creche for babies 0-3. Email: tamilla.palmer@thevine.org.hk 13-18 Youth Ministry
Youth Group - 6:30pm, every Friday @ Vine Centre Despatch Teen Church - every Sunday during AM services. Email: matt.snelgrove@thevine.org.hk www.flight852.com Young Adults Ministry
6:30pm every Saturday Night @ Vine Centre www.oneighty.hk Email: oneighty@thevine.org.hk
Soul Sisters
Our prayer and counseling centre, situated on the 10/F. Open from Tues-Fri. Call: 2541-2712 or email: oasis@thevine.org.hk
Community Outreach
Reaching out to support the refugee and asylum seeker community. We also run weekly bible studies, with worship & lunch, in the Vine Centre. Email: john.macpherson@thevine.org.hk
Worship and creative arts
Worship Ministry
More than just music, the WACA team includes dance, drama, art, media, production and more. Email: worship@thevine.org.hk The Alpha Course
Women’s Ministry
Expression Evenings - monthly nights just for women 7:15pm in the Vine Centre
Social Action
Imagine Women’s Service: Every Friday morning in the Vine Centre. Email: soulsisters@thevine.org.hk
An introduction to Christianity - The Alpha Course runs three times a year at The Vine. Email: alpha@thevine.org.hk
Filipino Ministry
Cleansing Stream
Our Filipino ministry at The Vine. Meets every Sunday afternoon at 3pm in the Vine Centre.
Manna
Bible School
Theology and bible classes run regularly throughout the year. Email: bibleschool@thevine.org.hk
Healing, Freedom, Discipleship - The Cleansing Stream Seminar runs twice a year at The Vine. Email: csm@thevine.org.hk
Sunday Services
Sunday Services
Three dynamic services each Sunday catering to all ages, races, and backgrounds.
FUNDRAISING // UPDATE A MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF THE FUNDRAISING GROUP Together as the church family, we have the exciting faith challenge of raising the funds required to build our church brick by brick. Will you join us in walking the walk? We are reaching out to external donors, organisations, foundations and grants for other sources of funding, but The Vine is our church and I wholeheartedly believe that it is not only everyone’s responsibility, but everyone’s privilege to play a part. To date, we have raised $5m and need another $45m. Building work has started and our $5m runs out in October. Furthermore, the construction forecast is HKD 40m over a ten month period from Dec 2009. The fundraising team has started and we will be split into seven sub-groups. Each sub-group has a leader and focuses on a particular area such as Vine events, overseas connections, HK connections, government grants, and potential donors / companies. If you are interested in joining the team, we welcome your involvement! Please drop us an email (address below). A few years ago, I heard a powerful talk on our three Ts: Time, Talent and Treasure. God has given each one of us the three Ts to invest wisely. This has had a profound impact in my life since. I urge you to invest your own three Ts in VC2 and leave a legacy behind. Here are seven practical ways for you to help with your three Ts:
Commit with your TIME • •
Pray for the building project Commit to using the fundraising tools made available to you by The Vine
Commit with your TREASURE • •
Join the VC2 tithing scheme Give a one-off donation today or at other times
Commit with your TALENT • • •
Email us your fundraising ideas Email us your potential donor / loan contacts Join the fundraising team
We are encouraging every member of the Vine to join the VC2 tithing scheme. Commit to giving an amount sacrificially and consistently. For example, you may find it hard to give $12K today as you read this, but probably easier to commit to tithing $1K a month for twelve months. The amount that you decide to tithe is of course, up to you, our God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9v7) and the remaining $45m is a faith stretching amount. We believe VC2 will not be built by a few individuals but by the entire church family; by everyone contributing with their own three Ts to VC2. I look forward to sharing this journey ahead with the church family and experiencing the miracles that God has in store for us.
Hudson Tsui
Head of VC2 Fundraisinf Group Sept 2009
If you have any questions, or would like more information about fundraising, email: VC2@thevine.org.hk
BUDGET // UPDATE We have been granted a 15-year lease on the building, but it is in a run-down state and requires a lot of renovation work to restore it. The renovation of the Imperial Cinema includes major structural alterations and refurbishment to convert the cinema into a suitable church venue. Our project cost is $50M. These include the major works of: • • • • • •
Demolition of the lower part of the balcony Removal of the projection room Provision of a disabled/fireman list Conversion of the ground floor ‘noodle shop’ into an entrance lobby Construction of a new auditorium floor Renovation of the existing two smaller cinemas into ministry rooms
Below is the breakdown of the project budget (fig.1) and the project spending from beginning to end (fig.2)
FIGURE 1
Project Spending between May 2009 to Sept 2011
FIGURE 2
Sept 11
Jan 11
Dec 10
Nov 10
Sept 10
Aug 10
Jul 10
Jun 10
May 10
Apr 10
Mar 10
Feb 10
Jan 10
Dec 09
Nov 09
Oct 10
6.5M from Oct 10
39.5M in 10 months
Oct 09
Sept 09
Aug 09
Jul 09
May 09
6.0M to Nov 09