Our Preschool has a long waiting list and our Children’s Ministry is quickly outgrowing its space. The Children’s Ministry is operating in the oldest part of our campus and is the furthest point from the worship areas, which work against our desire to offer warm hospitality to visitors. The new building will house both the Preschool and our Children’s Ministry and allow for growth to better serve families with small children, which is one of the fastest growing demographic segments in our area.

• The new building will allow Children’s Ministry to grow from three classrooms to up to six larger classrooms for ages Kindergarten through Fifth Grade – more than doubling our Sunday School capacity. The worship space will comfortably hold 115 kids, which is more than twice the current attendance numbers.

   

  The new Preschool area will allow for up to 32 more children on alternating schedules, which is up to a 20% increase.

   

  CADES will be able to double and possibly triple their current census.

The space used by the Preschool and Children’s Ministry nursery will be renovated to accommodate a significant expansion of our CADES (Concord Adult Day Enrichment Services) that provides ministry to persons dealing with issues related to dementia. CADES is currently licensed to serve 19 persons, though the CADES Executive Team feels that 15 is the maximum number to most effectively serve. It is estimated that the expansion will allow CADES to effectively serve 35-40 participants each day.

Our District Superintendent will officiate at this meeting when all church members will hear a motion to move forward with the project and will have the opportunity to vote. The project can only move forward after a majority of church members vote to approve. Anyone can attend the meeting—only church members can vote.

The latest cost estimate indicates a projected 2024 range of $7,373,630 to $8,848,356 for the new building and $647,414 to $776,897 for the CADES renovation.

Conventional wisdom indicates that a church should keep debt under 2 times the annual operating budget, which for our church would be $5 million. However, we would prefer to keep our debt at $4 million or less.

No. The Phase One East Wing (worship center and student ministries area) was paid off in 2021. W have approximately $200,000 in the building fund to cover nominal fees incurred for exploratory fundraising and architectural services rendered.

Why is the first phase of the capital campaign two years instead of three?

A two year campaign allows for an accelerated cash balance to expedite the start of construction. This type of campaign timeline has been successfully implemented at other churches in commensurate demographic contexts served by our stewardship partner. Moreover, initial conversations with church members who have supported similar projects over the years have been positive.

We will begin construction when we have $3.6 million or 40% of the total project cost in hand. It is possible that construction could begin by early 2025.

We will provide detailed information about the project including the need, the vision, the financing, and the design. Schematic drawings and architectural renderings will be shown so that everyone can see what the building will look like. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers.