Building Updates

3/4/25
_{(Note: This is a transcript of the announcement Craig gave before his sermon on Sunday 3/2/25. It's a bit long, but contains valuable info! Read to the bottom for an interesting pic & story from our first work day...)}
 
When we bought the building at 2302 Fox Drive a couple weeks ago, the elders were convinced this building would be a great tool for proclaiming Christ and making disciples of all nations starting right here in CU. After purchasing the building, we’re even more confident of that. Seeing and envisioning what that space could be gets us excited and thankful for how the Lord has led.

As you can imagine, over the last couple weeks, I’ve had quite a few questions about giving, giving campaigns, and how we will pay for all this. When it comes to teaching about money here at Christ Community, or really any topic, our main method has been to preach straight through books of the Bible. We believe that the Bible contains all that’s needed for life and godliness. So if we teach through it, we’ll get to all the issues of life. For example, a couple months ago we talked about money in relation to Ananias and Saphira, the way they used their money. That would be an example of how we teach on money.

What I’m afraid of is that we would ever come across as money-hungry or greedy for gain. There are warnings about that all over the New Testament. I’ve been to churches where it seems like one of the main topics is the next building campaign and digging deeper into giving. None of us want to be that kind of church. And at the same time, we also don’t want to not disciple or teach about what the Bible says about money. The Bible has a lot to say about money!

So here’s the elder’s plan: I’ll continue to give periodic updates on our website; and we (staff and elders) are committing to keep you updated at least once / 6 weeks about our financial position as a church. Those updates will be not only the building project budget, but also our overall budget status. That will most likely be an info sheet every 6 weeks you can grab as you enter or exit the gym. We’ll also periodically be sending out various resources, helpful guides when thinking about money and how to give to God and His work in the world.

As this process continues, we’d love to hear what’s relevant for you related to handling money from a Biblical view. What questions you have, how we can help. Please let us know how we can serve you in this area of discipleship.

But more than anything, we want whatever you do- including your finances- to be a means of glorifying and honoring God.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 says this: The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

If you’re a member here, if Christ Community is your church home, we are asking you not so much to give toward a building and the renovation of that building as much as we’re asking you to give to the Lord and His work through our local church. That’s a way we all participate in doing good works and experience the joy of giving. So we don’t plan to have a special building fund. But as giving beyond our normal operating budget comes into the church, we will allocate it to the renovation expenses. If God leads you to give more in light of the building needs, give it like any gift to the church- scan the QR code in the bulletin; cash or check in the box; online through the website or app.

Practically speaking, here are a few important notes:

• Between our savings and the loan we have enough to buy the building, and to complete Phase 1 of renovations. Phase 1 gives us a rough, but usable, building.
• Our most urgent need is funding to complete Phase 2. We can probably move into the building after Phase 1, but the project would be incomplete. It’d be great to complete the whole thing and move in all at once. In order to complete that, we need to raise somewhere between $700,000-1 million. (That number depends on furnishings and other finishes needed to complete the project.)
• Beyond that, we’re not excited about carrying a loan for a long time; we’re trusting the Lord to pay that off as soon as possible.

We totally trust the Lord to provide! We have seen it too many times to doubt it. Plus, you all, by God’s grace, are a generous people. I’ve been blown away at the generosity of our church family already. Thank you for your faithfulness to honor the Lord with your finances.

So, I’d just ask you to continue doing what you’ve done already: prayerfully bring this financial need before the Lord. Trust Him. Ask Him to lead. Give as He leads.

Questions? Come talk to me, an elder, a staff member.

Your brother,
Craig

Wondering why we have a can of corn here? As we removed tiles from the ceiling, we found some surprises: glow stick glasses, a cob of corn, a half eaten donut, and in one case- this can of corn! Thankfully everyone was fine when it fell!