The church is people, not a building. A building is only a tool.
This month we’re celebrating 4 years as a new church. Over that time we’ve changed buildings once… because we haven’t found another one. We are currently renting an elementary school gym (see photo).
So here’s our dilemma (and food for prayer):
We've since added more chairs.
The gym is packed nearly every Sunday. We’re also meeting in homes every week. There are hardly any more spaces to sit.
So what do we do? Each chose offers specific challenges:
Do we plant a daughter church?
- We would love to! This is part of our original 5-year plan… so, concrete plans should begin to take place this year to do that (we don’t yet have a qualified church planter to send out). But in the meantime… what do we do?
Do we go to multiple services?
- We already have people setting up and tearing down from 7:30am to 12:30pm. We may have to do this, but we don’t want to burn anyone out.
Do we rent a larger space?
- We can’t yet find a large enough place to rent for less than $6000/month.
- Currently we’re paying $2000/month for a few hours Sunday morning.
Do we buy?
Old Theater in St Jerome: for sale for $765,000 (they already refused a $500,000 offer, however, we aren't sure if it is worth more than that yet)
- We can’t find a large enough place, in the general vicinity of downtown for under $750,000… not including renovations.
- Most places are for sale for well over a million.
- Though it may be possible to raise the $$, do we want to invest that kind of effort to find $$ right now? Or do we want to continue investing in people?
Do we build?
- We have enough resources to build something that may not give us much time to grow. Again, do we want to invest our limited resources in something that may possibly be too small in a couple of years?
We aren’t saying “no” to any of these options. I’m simply asking you to pray for us as we pray and look.
Thanks for praying.
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January 11th, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Two services. We are in rented facilities. Have been doing set up and tear down since 2001. Been in two services since 2003. Would never go back to one service.
January 11th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Todd, I’d love to hear about your experiences. Go ahead a give me a call.
January 11th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Rob…great tension to have. Praying in MA!
January 11th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Thanks Terry! In MA? You’re no longer in NJ?
January 11th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
In MA since 2007. We’re working through some preliminary things right now but looks like we’ll be church planting in either RI or one of the cities close by here in MA.
January 11th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
I was at a church that need to do something about its growth. Either go to two services or expand. They even could have set up in their ministry activity center. They expanded the parking lot and created blue prints for an expansion. Then, they did nothing. Now they don’t need expansion.
Currently, I am attending a church that is 80% full. On Christmas Eve they set up for 300 in their activity center and had to set up more chairs. So we are looking to expand the activity center and meet there. This may be temporary, as leadership decides what the best option is for our growth. We may be starting a build in the spring.
They had a number of things they needed to decide and created some guidelines that enabled them to focus on the needs of spiritual and physical growth. I will email that to you.
We are trying to stay away from two services. We have a balcony and it is like there are two different congregations. Whatever we do, we want everyone together.
January 12th, 2012 at 9:30 am
Ô, que Dieu vous accorde la meilleure décision dans ce dilemme!
Quel est l’homme qui craint le SEIGNEUR ? Il lui enseigne la voie à choisir. Ps. 25.12
FD
Éph 6.24