 |
Are we trying to grow real big or become a "mega-church?"
We have articulated our desire to reach a larger critical mass of people and resources to more effectively develop and resource a growing church planting movement. It is important to state again that our goal is not to just grow large. If our main desire was to grow the size of the church body, our ministry philosophy would be much different than it is now. We believe our calling is to glorify God, be faithful to His word, and reach out to the lost with the Gospel. It is God's responsibility to grow the church. Mountain View has continually been growing since it was birthed 13 years ago. A healthy church is a growing church. There is an understandable concern that arises in people's hearts as a church grows. Growth typically means change, and we don't necessarily want things to change in our church. Mountain View has had several phases of growth since its inception over a decade ago. Some of the people in our church family were around back at the beginning, when there were 50 people meeting in the gym at Weber Junior High School, and have seen MVC go through many stages of growth. Growth, in and of itself, is a good thing. A healthy church is a growing church, but this is not simply measured by the number of people sitting in the weekend services.
At MVC, we welcome two kinds of growth. The most exciting kind of growth is due to people becoming followers of Jesus and coming into the family of God. The other kind of growth is when Christians come to MVC because their hearts resonate with what makes us distinct as a church. We have always tried to limit growth from the shuffle of Christians from one church to the next by being up-front about who we are. Mountain View is not a church for everyone. We have a certain DNA and hold to certain biblical distinctives. In the past, as we have moved from one stage to the next, we have fought hard to make sure we don't change who we are. In fact, those seasons of transition have presented great opportunities to clearly define and reiterate who we are.
We are not seeking to be a mega-church. With an increase in size and resources we feel we will be able to be more effective in carrying out the vision the Lord has given us. With this in mind, a valid concern may be expressed in the form of the following question; "How big is big enough?" It is important to recognize Jesus is the head of MVC. We will always be in the process of seeking God for His direction. We will constantly be asking the question, "Lord, what are You doing and how do You want us to respond?" There is not a desire on the hearts of the Leaders to be a mega-church. We have even taken steps in the design of the new church facility to not just keep growing and growing. The building was designed with a sanctuary that seats 550 people and enough classrooms to support the sanctuary. This is not phase 1 of a multi-phased project. As we have sought the Lord, we believe at this time if we were to outgrow our new facility we would take that as an opportunity to plant other churches in Fort Collins (or hopefully before we outgrow the new building).
What does this mean for me? Is MVC going to change dramatically? Will we lose the family feel of MVC?
Is MVC going to change? Yes. This is unavoidable and is a natural byproduct of God's working in our midst. If you have been a part of the church for more than a year, you can look back even in the last 12 months and see tremendous changes the Lord has taken us through. Is MVC going to change dramatically? No. As articulated in the previous answer, we are going to fight hard to keep our DNA and distinctives at the forefront. Our small groups, or flocks, will continue to be key for ensuring that each person is engaged in intimate, life-changing biblical community.
For some in our church family, they enjoy a "smaller" church where they can know most of the people. We will continue to fight for this feel, as we have been over the last five years. At the same time, we will continue to focus on planting churches in nearby communities as well as in Fort Collins itself, which will provide opportunities for people to be a part of smaller, more intimate churches.
Is this new facility going to be our "final" home?
As articulated in the previous answer, this new facility was not designed with a "phased" approach. We believe the facility provides for growth and a critical mass for MVC to function as a resource hub for this network of churches. The building was designed so that MVC would not need to move again in the future. As articulated below, we also feel the priority of planting more churches in Fort Collins out of this new facility. With these things in mind, we anticipate this to be the "final" facility for our church family. At the same time, we want to recognize that the Lord may have different plans years into the future that we don't know about at this point.
I love our building! Am I going to like the new one?
The design for the new facility was centered, in large part, on our existing facility. Many of the components (such as the family center and the sanctuary) were designed to mimic the feel of our existing facility. At the same time, the facility was designed to be more efficient and to function more effectively for its various uses. It is important to note that because cost is a major consideration, not all aspects of the aesthetics of our current building will be able to be replicated in the new facility.
We talk a lot about planting churches - why not plant another church in Fort Collins?
This is a great question. Planting a church in Fort Collins would definitely help with the space crunch at our current facility. As we have been praying over the last few years, we sense strongly that the Lord will lead us to plant another church in Fort Collins, most likely toward the south end of town. It is an issue of timing. As described above, God is positioning us to be at a place of greater strength for planting churches as we continue to grow. At this phase of the life of MVC, we do not think it would be beneficial to divide up our resources and body into two bodies.
So why do we believe this is not the right time? One practical reason is the unique place we are at in the history of MVC. We have gone through a lot of changes over this last year as Pastor Tom Harcus, the founding pastor of MVC, has been sent to Wilmington, NC to replicate what God has done here in Fort Collins up and down the East Coast. One question we have asked is "Would this be the best time to subject our body to more change by dramatically changing the makeup of our body by multiplying it in half and splitting up the current leadership core and people?" As we have sought the Lord, we believe this would not be the best timing for that change.
Planting a church in Fort Collins right now would provide only a temporary solution for the space crunch at our current facility. When we planted Windsor Community Church in 2001, we sent nearly 100 people (1/3 of our church family at the time) to be a part of that endeavor. Within a year, we had not only grown back but were exceeding the size we were before the plant. Our current facility has limitations that will continually be felt by the church staying there.
Another consideration comes from the idea of having a certain critical mass to support not only our church but a movement of church plants. If we were to multiply our church of 600 into two churches of 300, there would be a certain amount of duplication of resources. For example, there would be two sets of overhead expenses (mortgages, rent, utilities, etc). Staff resources would also be duplicated as you now have two people who are getting freed up primarily to teach on the weekends, etc. The focus of those two churches would primarily be focused on providing for the current needs of each church body. As a church of 300, most of the available financial resources go toward trying to keep up with the current needs of the body. As our church grows, there is some benefit (economies of scale) that enables us to direct resources more effectively to not only support the current needs of the body, but also to outreach and church planting. Right now, based on the vision God has given us, we are not only thinking about how to take care of the needs of our own body, but how to multiply those things to be leveraged by daughter churches. An example of this is our worship ministry. By bringing Wladimir on staff as our worship leader, we are freeing him up to not only focusing on the needs of MVC but to also develop worship teams and training forums for our daughter churches. The same is true in the arena of administration as we try to develop transferable processes that can be leveraged by other church plants. In this way, each daughter church does not have to "reinvent the wheel." As we grow we will be able to more effectively support a movement of churches. This is the vision the Lord has given us of being a "hub" church. Picture an old wagon wheel, where the hub is a necessary piece in connecting each of the spokes. The hub provides an anchor for the outward-reaching spokes (church planting, missions, reaching our community, etc.) and those spokes support the wheel whereby we more effectively advance God's kingdom than we could ever do on our own!
Why not just trust / pray for the Lord to bring the money needed for the new facility? Why do a campaign?
If we are going to be able to move forward with a new facility, God is going to have to provide the resources. This is such a God-sized task that we have to be dependant on Him to see it happen. At the same time, as we look to pray for God's provision, His answer will be "I have given it to you…it's in your midst." Someone has wisely said that God uses money not to raise up new buildings / ministries, but rather to raise His people. As we look at the scripture, financial stewardship is important to God. How we handle our money is a great indicator as to the health of our love for Him (Matthew 6:21, 24). By doing a "campaign" we are able to focus for a season on an issue that is important to the heart of God. His desire is that His people would provide the resources needed for the ministries He has called them to.
This campaign will stretch over a three month period. This will allow plenty of time to share the vision with everyone in the church family, answer their questions, and to challenge people to participate. Our desire and hope is that God would use this process to take each one of us deeper in our love for Him and in our stewardship of all that He has entrusted to us.
We have learned through past experiences that people need time to process change, to hear the vision, and consider their part to play. A building campaign allows for each of these components to happen, alleviating stress and pressure.
Why have we brought in an outside consultant to help us and who is this person?
In November of 2005, the Pastors, Pastors-In-Training and some other leaders of MVC who have been around for several years met with Tom Murphy to hear about how he could help us through this campaign and to evaluate the Lord's leading in this area. We walked away from that time in agreement that this process is way beyond anything we have ever undertaken before and that we could use some assistance and guidance. Tom Murphy works with the denominational office of the Missionary Church. He is a free resource to us (except for his expenses) and has years of experience helping churches through this process. He has worked with churches of all shapes and sizes. His role is to advise and encourage us while understanding and accommodating our unique DNA as a church. His role will be primarily behind the scenes as he works with our campaign leaders and team members.
Why are we spending so much on a new facility? Can't we minimize that by being less extravagant?
The design for the new facility was a process that involved many people (roughly 20 people). This group consisted of ministry leaders and those who have input on the practical as well as aesthetic functions of our facility. The building was designed with the following needs / principles in mind:
- Desire to seat roughly 550 people for worship (this is a little more than twice our current capacity which will allow us to experience quite a bit of growth at the new facility)
- Provide enough "support" space (children's classrooms, nurseries, other classrooms and spaces) in the building to support that many people in worship
- Add office and administrative space which we don't currently have
- Balance cost with function and carefully evaluate what we perceive as "needs" in a new facility
Cost, functionality and aesthetics were all taken into consideration during the design process. A slightly cheaper facility could possibly be built but it would lack functionality and aesthetics with only minimal savings in return. A more expensive building could be built to further enhance the aesthetics but it would be hard to justify the extra money in light of our desire to invest in other needs like church planting. We believe the current design is a good balance between the two.
Who will know what I am giving to the building campaign?
One of the teams that will be working on this campaign is called the "Commitment" team. They will be responsible for collecting and administering the pledge cards that are submitted by each of us in the church body.
What happens if I am unable to fulfill the obligations of my financial pledge to the campaign?
The pledge card is not a legal or binding document, but rather a declaration of your intent to participate financially to the campaign. Pledges will be based upon what you can contribute over a three year period of time. We understand that a number of issues could prevent a person from being able to fulfill the financial pledge that they made at the start of this process. At the same time, during the course of the three year period people will be encouraged to continue faithfully in the fulfillment of their pledge as they are able.
What if I already made a commitment back when we purchased the land in 2005?
The commitments or pledges made when we purchased the land were based upon an 18 month period ending this July (2006). The pledges made for this campaign will replace those made for the land. Consider your commitment on the land to be over when you submit your pledge card for this campaign.
Why are we spending so much money on the actual cost of the campaign?
As in all other arenas of life, there are some administrative costs associated with conducting this campaign. These costs are focused on facilitating two important components of the campaign; communication and celebration. We will spend money to communicate the vision of the campaign in order to ensure that each person in our church family has ownership of all that is taking place. We will also spend money to celebrate together in different forums as the Lord leads us through this process. These are good investments. The overall administrative cost of this campaign will be less than 1% of the total amount of money we are trying to raise.
What is the estimated cost for this new facility?
With the preliminary plans that have been developed we are able to estimate the cost of the facility being $3 million. Several people have worked on the design and development phase to make sure we have done our due diligence in this process. As a result, we don't anticipate significant changes to this estimate. Our current debt is roughly $600,000, which consists of the mortgage on our existing facility and the mortgage on the land. The current value of our existing facility is roughly this same amount or a little more. In other words, our debts and our main asset cancel each other out. This means that the $3 million dollars needed to construct the new facility is our total anticipated cost. When we look at our current budget and financial capacity as a church family, we feel we could mortgage $1 million without impacting our ability to continue to minister as we are. This means that in order to move forward with construction of the new facility, we have a need of $2 million from this campaign.
What happens if we do not raise the 2 million dollars needed to move forward with the new facility?
We will praise the Lord! Whatever the Lord accomplishes through this campaign will be exciting and we will thank and worship Him for His working in our church family. We will also continue to seek Him for direction! We would first evaluate the amount of money and determine if there could be a phased approach to building the new facility (i.e. not building out the offices and youth area). We would also look into possibilities of paying off current debt and aggressively putting money aside for the building in the future. This would require us dealing with how to handle the continued space crunch and not hinder growth until the Lord enabled us to move forward, which may include one of the following: stay where we are and add another service, be prepared to look for a temporary alternate location, or temporarily go to a multi-site venue. Each of these options has challenges / drawbacks. We trust the Lord has led us in this campaign to raise the money for a new facility and we will continue to trust Him for the results!
When will we start building this new facility?
As described in the previous question, our ability to move forward with construction will be based upon the amount of money the Lord provides. If He provides for us to move forward immediately, we would begin by finalizing the designs, initiating the engineering for the project, and starting the final approval process with the city. Construction could begin as soon as 4 to 6 months later. As described earlier, the pledges will be based upon a time period stretching over the next three years. Some people will be able to contribute large one-time gifts. For many others, their contributions will be given in smaller amounts at regular intervals over the three year period. It is not necessary for us to have all the cash in the bank in order to begin construction. Banks will loan money based upon the pledges that are made and some indicator (a couple months) that people are following up on their pledges.
Who's going to clean this new facility? How are we going to care for it?
You may be saying to yourself - "Our flock can barely clean the building we have now, are we going to have to clean the new facility which is 3 to 4 times larger?!" This is a good question. We recognize that there are increased expenses that go along with simply managing a new facility. We are taking the increase in utilities and maintenance costs into consideration as we plan. As far as cleaning, we don't know exactly how that will be handled. By having our flocks involved in cleaning our current facility, it saves us money and creates a sense of ownership for many people in our church body. This would be a positive thing to carry-on in the new facility in some way, although they wouldn't be able to handle the entire load.
What about building outside sports facilities and a children's play area?
These would be great items for future expansion. Right now as we are balancing money and functionality, we believe it would be wise to focus on getting a sanctuary and needed support classrooms. In the future, as the Lord leads and provides these would be great things to expand our reach into the community. We will have plenty of land to expand to do these kinds of things in the future.
|
