We have been in conversation recently with a company who provide mentoring and training for students in the built environment (ie: engineers, land surveyors, contract managers etc). These students are required to do periods of in-service training as part of their academic qualifications. Most of that training happens on construction sites but there are also blocks of classroom time and we have been approached to be a site for that classroom training.
The proposal which the WMC leadership have accepted in principle (and will formally confirm at our leaders meeting this week) involves leasing out the four upstairs rooms on the corridor to your left when you come up the stairs. These rooms essentially stand empty during the week (although our junior Sunday School children will now need to move to the downstairs hall on Sundays). We know that there is always an inconvenience cost to sharing buildings with others :) but we think there are a number of exciting benefits that come out of this proposed partnership:
1. We plan to use the rental income to fund a part-time youth pastor to work with our teenagers and support our children's ministry.
2. We value connecting with the wider community and especially having the community on our property. This partnership will allow us to form relationships with 15-20 young people at a time who will be based here during weekdays (you will no doubt meet them in the coffee shop!)
3. A number of improvements will be made to our property over the course of this agreement (initially for a year, but likely to last for up to three years).
So watch this space for more news - we'll keep you up to date with progress.