Today my church had a very special gathering on our new property and we celebrated our official groundbreaking this evening. It was a very exciting time. For 5 years we’ve been meeting in a local theater, which I love. There’s something really great about making any space holy ground. Actually, I’ve been a little bit disappointed that we will be leaving the theater – until tonight. Tonight we all met together on our new property as a congregation and we “toured” how our new facility would look, with the helpful visuals of spray painted lines delineating the rooms. We stood in the auditorium, got a sneak peak of what our children’s ministry area will look like, a behind-the-scenes tour of the office space, and our first look at the lobby. The lobby is very important to my church and there’s been a lot of effort put into making it a bright, open place where people can easily spend time with each other. One of the reasons I love my church so much is that we view our church building as a “sending-out place” or a base camp. Congregations I’ve been part of in the past have tended to view church as an insular place, a refuge. But my Harvest congregation believes a church building should facilitate ministry and be a place where we prepare to enter our communities with the love of God – and that makes all the difference in the life of a church. At the end of the “tour” we prayed together and expressed our wish for our church’s future to our God: Open doors, open hearts, and lives lived for You.
Here are some photos of the plans, along with a rock that I picked up from the property tonight.
Blessings to you,
Sarah
