EXPANSION IS ABOUT OUR ENTIRE CHURCH GROWING TOGETHER!
Expansion has been a part of the vision of this house for over 30 years, and was considered “Phase 3” of the original building plans of the church. We believe that now is the time to move forward with this exciting chapter of our church life, and are eager to press forward together, in God’s grace and provision.
Our vision for expansion is to add a 2-story, multi-purpose extension onto our current building, in between our sanctuary and 7th Street. The extension will be fully integrated into the current building and will be accessible on all levels. It will add 6,634 ft2 to our existing 12,536 ft2, for a total of 19,170 ft2– a functional space increase of 53%!
Our facility is multi-functional and very well-used!
• We use our facility frequently:
• Every Sunday for dual weekend services (9AM and 1030AM), plus additional functions.
• Wednesdays for our mid-week IMPACT service.
• Monday and Tuesday evenings for small groups, and Thursday evenings for worship practice.
• Fridays for Celebrate Recovery.
• Every day for functional church office business, appointments, office hours and meetings.
• Every weekday for our childcare center outreach, 6AM-6PM.
• Additional times for leadership meetings, breakout groups, training sessions, and special events.
We face real space challenges with our current facility:
• There is no Established Dining or Fellowship Area
• Our Church body prepares and serves food on a regular and frequent basis, including for Celebrate Recovery, FOCUS (50+), ministry training meals, and other events.
• Our sanctuary serves as the primary space for eating during these events, resulting in facility wear and frequent set up, rearrangement and tear-down.
• Our Childcare Center prepares food in the kitchen and carries it down to the classrooms for serving, carrying the dishes back upstairs for cleaning.
• A large, designated dining and fellowship area would mitigate all of these challenges.
• Our kitchen is Undersized and Outdated
• At just over 150 ft2, our kitchen is sized as a small, residential kitchen, well undersized and under-equipped for the needs of our established Childcare Center ministry.
• There is not adequate space for Youth or Young Adults to gather
• Our CityLight Youth currently use Classroom 4 for mid-week services (a dual-use Childcare Center classroom and Gateway Kids Ministry classroom). The Youth are growing and need more space to meet, interact, and grow during the week.
• Our classrooms are undersized for our growing Children’s Ministry
• We installed move-able walls into Classrooms 1 and 2 last summer, in order to accommodate growth and breakout of age groups, since there are no additional, available meeting spaces.
• Storage space is in short supply, yet in high demand
• Childcare needs in Mason County are high, especially in certain under-served age groups
• We have maximized our available space to reach additional children in our community
• Our Nursing Mother’s Room isn’t ideally located and is dual-purposed during the week.
WHAT WILL EXPANSION DO FOR US?
We are maximizing what God has provided us, and we want to do more! We are a church body committed to building people and expanding the Kingdom of God. Physical building expansion is all about meeting functional space needs that align with the mission and vision of our Church. With this in our hearts, expansion will serve the following purposes for us as a church body. It will provide us with:
• A new, relocated, larger commercial kitchen
• A commercial kitchen integrated into expansion plans will support all of our current and future Church and Childcare Center cooking/meal preparation needs.
• A designated Fellowship Hall/ meeting area/ eating area
• The expansion plan includes a large, dual-purpose dining/fellowship space adequate for serving meals for our Childcare Center and other ministry functions.
• The dining/fellowship space will become the primary space for all Church functions involving food, replacing the use of the sanctuary for this purpose.
• This space will also serve as an overflow room during Sunday services, and will be equipped with CCTV video and audio feeds.
• Youth Room
• One room in the expansion plan will be specifically available for Youth and Young Adult use, providing a functional space for ministering to this generation. When we minister to young people, we are ministering to entire families.
• Additional classroom space
• The plans include additional classroom space that will accommodate further growth of our Gateway Kids Ministry, with dual-use purpose to accommodate Childcare Center expansion.
• The additional classroom space will also provide room for breakout groups at various times throughout the week.
• Additional restrooms
• Expansion includes additional restroom space, and will also target remodel of existing restrooms.
• Additional office and storage space
• The expansion will include additional space for an office and for storage, both of which are in short supply.
• Accessible lift
• An additional priority in expansion is the integration of an elevator or lift, to make our sanctuary and dining hall area more readily accessible for those facing mobility challenges.
LET’S JOIN TOGETHER IN PRAYER AND UNITY,
AS WE PRESS OUT AND EXPAND!
