Building Project
Building Program
On Sunday, November 26, our church leadership shared about a plan to expand our church facilities. This page is designed to inform those who couldn't attend the meeting about some of what we shared. We also want to provide some foundational principles that are shaping our plans. We desire to approach our building project with the distinctives listed below.
If you are actively involved at Faith Community Church and excited about our ministry, we encourage you to prayerfully consider financially supporting our building project. By filling out the form below you will provide our elder board with the information to make the best decision about how and when to move forward with construction. Thank you!
Giving
If you are excited about this project and would like to help us move forward, please consider donating to our building fund. If you would like to give in person, please write "Building Fund" on your giving envelope or on the memo line of your check. If you would like to give online, please click the button below to go to our online giving page. You can choose to give once or set up a recurring gift.
Our Foundational Principles
Prayer
The purpose of prayer isn't to tell God about our plans and ask Him to fulfill our selfish desires (James 4:3). Instead, we should pray for wisdom from God (James 1:5) to make decisions that bring Him glory (1 Corinthians 10:31) and bless our church body, the local community, and the global church (Matthew 28:19–20). We pray that this project will fail if it's foolish for us to build. However, if it's wise to move forward, we pray that God will provide the resources, time, and workforce needed to complete the project.
Humility
We have no aspirations to become a flashy church in a state-of-the-art building; we have been comfortably worshiping in a converted warehouse for the last 24 years. The purpose of our church is to praise and glorify God, and we know we don't need a sleek new building to do that. However, more and more people are calling Faith Community their home church, and we are humbly praying that God would provide space for those who attend each week. We are not looking to build with the hope that we will grow; we are looking to build because we have already grown.
Hospitality
We gather as a family of believers throughout the week to worship and fellowship together. Faith Community feels like a "small church" in many ways, and we would love for that feeling to continue. We believe that by strategically planning and developing, Faith Community can be closer-knit than ever. Our new worship center and courtyard are intentionally designed with more places for fellowship and gathering together.
Joy
We aren't launching an all-consuming fundraising campaign to finance this construction. We won't be begging you for any money. Our prayer is that no one would give to this project because of obligation or guilt. Our prayer is simply that God will move in the hearts of the people who attend Faith Community to give joyfully toward our building project (2 Corinthians 9:7). If the people of Faith don't desire to give generously to this project, then we will know it would be unwise to build.
Construction Highlights
There are many advantages of new construction such as increased parking, more bathrooms, an expanded nursery, and additional space for Sunday school classes. Here are a few of the more signficant highlights:
500-Seat Worship Center
The centerpiece of our building project is a new worship center that would be able to seat up to 500 people. Our current worship center can only seat about 250 people, so we need three services to accommodate our current number of attendees. Even then our 9:30 am service is usually full, and sometimes family members can't sit together as a result. In addition, the people who attend our 8:00 am service don't normally get to interact with the people who attend our 11:00 am service. And we don't have much time between these three services for fellowship.
With a new worship center, we would be able to comfortably seat all our current attendees in just two services, and we would still have room to grow! Instead of having only one ideal service time (our 9:30 am service), we would have two appealing service times. All our people would be able to interact with each other between these two services, and we could have more time between the services for them to do so!
Another benefit of a new worship center is to have a larger and more attractive building that would be more suitable for weddings. It breaks our heart when people who have grown up at our church don't get married here because we don't have much space at our facility. A new worship center would also allow us to accommodate more people at memorial services and other special events.
Areas for Fellowship
In expanding our facilities, we want to be careful to maintain our small church feel. We love it when people greet one another with a smile while passing through our cramped hallway, and we enjoy seeing people take time to gather for fellowship on our undersized patio. We also have a fenced-in lawn along the street for children's activities. We believe we have taken full advantage of every square foot of our current facility.
While adding a new worship center has the potential to change our culture, we are confident that we can stimulate even more fellowship by providing new spaces for gathering. Our plans include building a new lobby with ample space for a welcome center and a coffee shop, and plenty of space to mingle between services. We also aim to create more outdoor seating options and shaded areas for fellowship in the future. Moreover, we are excited to install a playground to provide a safe and fun place for children to play.
Dedicated Children’s Area
Plans to create a new worship center are accompanied by plans to convert the current worship center into a dedicated children’s area with a central check-in location. Parents are well aware of the hassle of checking in their kids to their various classes while standing in a crowded hallway with other people trying to move about the building.
Another significant benefit of having a central children’s area is increased security for our kids. With a central entry/exit point, we can provide a safer place for our children to learn. It allows us to monitor who enters and exits the area. This would also help us in case of an emergency, as we can quickly account for each child in the designated area.
Estimated Cost
The total cost for the project is estimated to be $2.5 million.
Giving
If you are excited about this project and would like to help us move forward, please consider donating to our building fund. If you would like to give in person, please write "Building Fund" on your giving envelope or on the memo line of your check. If you would like to give online, please click the button below to go to our online giving page. Type the amount you would like to give and select "Building Fund" from the dropdown menu. You can choose to give once or set up a recurring gift.