The Building and Grounds Ministry is responsible for the care and maintenance of the physical facilities and the grounds of Hope Church. It oversees repair and replacement of systems and equipment, the purchase of expendable supplies, and the payment for utilities and services. This ministry takes seriously the commitment to be good stewards of our church resources, while remaining mindful of and maintaining the historical beauty of our place of worship.

Some of the things we do to support the other ministries of Hope Church:

  • Run sound equipment for worship and sound and video equipment for Adult Ed.
  • Arrange streaming of Sunday service to WHTC for broadcast, and recording of services so copies can be made available.
  • Acquire and configure computers for church office staff, arrange web hosting and e-mail services, set up church Wi-Fi, and keep the phone system working.
  • Oversee lighting (color balance and energy conservation). We have been replacing old lighting with new higher efficiency lighting as technology and cost make sense.
  • Arrange heating and cooling controls – provide energy conservation through programming to heat and cool only during times when spaces are used. We recently added the education wing to the programmable control system and replaced the old boiler.
  • Arrange sprinkling, mowing, and leaf removal. For the past several years we’ve had Hope College students helping with fall garden maintenance through Hope’s Community Day program. A special thank-you to David VanHeest and Doug Abell for all they do with the gardens.
  • Arrange snow removal and plowing.
  • Repair chimneys and vents, patch and replace roofs, tuck-point bricks, and fix leaks.
  • Replace and clean carpets, patch and paint walls, fix tables, and keep dishwasher working.
  • Get signs and markers up, parking lot striped and sealed, bats out of the belfry and raccoons out of the ceiling.
  • Arrange hangers, cables and hoists used for display of art we’ve all enjoyed in worship.

If you’ve any talents or interest in any of these areas that you’d like to share, we welcome you to join us. Contact any of the Building and Grounds Ministry members: Duane Kooyers (chair). David Hawley, Ben Sikkink, Greg Doxstader and staff support from, Megan Arevalo, Gordon Wiersma, and Ric Beltran.

~Duane Kooyers, Building and Grounds Ministry chair