Churches by far are traditionally the best client a  stone mason  could hope
for;

I say this as they are very concerned for the well being of their community;
 If by the grace of god you can use some of their local community to assist in
the restoration as laborers  and or security your efforts will be appreciated
ten fold;

 Money is allways an issue in church restoration; however once it is raised ;
the church believes that honest labor should be justly rewarded;
Out of 11 churches I have directly been responsible for; only one paid late( 1
yr) and that was because of poltics;
 they're greatest weakness is awarding work to the cousin or the uncle of  one
of the church members who happens to be a contractor;
 whose work is usually "disasterous" if well meaning. They're second great
weakness; is not having a competant preservationist
or architect to inspect the work. I once replaced several tons of  bell tower
with ornamentaion  at 150 ft with no inspection; the church father said "all
done? here is your cheque."
.after that I began to wonder how many other jobs out there  had no
inspection..
..Contributing labor and materials to your church is wonderfull; what comes
around goes around;
 the exception here  is some of Americas most beautiful and historic churches
are in  urban  neighborhoods
where the residents are poor; I know many many of these  in the bronx ;
Harlem; Brooklyn; Phila. Chicago; and all through the deep south
 that are all marvels in 19 cent craftsmenship . Church and State is not a
healthy mix; community and jobs are;
 there should be an SSI  for some of our poorer churches that we are in danger
of loosing. Oh yea it might be a  booddoggle; handled right with responsible
community partnership an "active " church  could regain its position as a
spritual  haven; and guardian.
 Has it been done? yea ..I once saw the State of New York give 3 million  to a
'politically correct" job training program within the church..did it look good
on paper yea it did...
.had they looked a little closer; the eye patches of the pirates running it
might have become a little more clear to them.....regards Michael