New facility will be used for much more than worship
By Ed Nadolski
Several years ago, when members of Burlington’s Grace Church got down to the business of putting building plans to paper, they had a decision to make:
Build a new church that would serve the relatively small congregation for a few hours each Sunday or create a convertible space that could be used nearly every day for activities from basketball games to weddings.
For the Rev. Scott Carson, pastor at Grace Church since 1988, the decision was easy.
“It’s poor management of God’s resources to have a building you only use a few hours on Sunday,” Carson said. “We’re trying to be thoughtful to the needs of the community.”
Carson and the members of the congregation will celebrate the grand opening of their new convertible worship space at 30623 Plank Road (Highway A), Burlington, on Sunday at 9 a.m.
Nearly triple the size of the congregation’s cramped current facility at 257 Kendall St., the new church allows for all of their 150 members to be able to attend a single service each Sunday.
The worship space currently features 200 chairs and that number will grow to 300 in the future, Carson said.
Greater reach
The potential for growth in the new building also presents the potential for greater outreach to the community.
“The Bible talks about reaching out the disenfranchised,” Carson said, adding that he has a particular interest in creating special ministries for families dealing with autism and for the growing Hispanic community.
“It’s not a building, it’s a tool,” Carson said. “We use it to accomplish our mission.” One way to reach more people will be through athletics. With the exception of a state-of-the-art sound system, the worship space can be cleared of chairs and the pulpit area cordoned off to create a gymnasium.
“We live in a sports-driven culture,” Carson said.
Along those same lines, the new building features a large gathering space under a towering wall of windows that features the Charis Coffee Café.
“Everybody loves this,” Carson said. “It taps into another generation. We do good coffee here. We’re coffee snobs.”
He said the value of a coffeehouse culture should not be underestimated when it comes to attracting and serving teens and young families.
The church also features a nursery and a classroom area named in honor of longtime parish members Ray and Carol Ziebell.
Methodical process
With limited resources, Grace Church took a pay-as-you-go approach to the project.
The congregation raised $350,000 to begin construction and took out a loan to cover the balance of the initial $1.2 million investment.
MSI General, Nashotah, was the design-build contractor for the facility.
“We’re very happy (with it),” Carson said. “We wanted a lot of glass. Churches need to be transparent.”
When it came to the furnishings, the congregation stepped up.
“They came on like gangbusters,” Carson said “We didn’t go into any debt for any of the furnishings.”
The building also benefitted from the sweat equity of church members who did much of the painting and installed the carpet squares in the gathering area.
Carson praised the efforts of church members such as Ron Strelow, who could often be found at the facility late into the night working on some aspect of the facility.
Other furnishings and adornments will be added as the congregation settles in.
“Let’s get in here first before we decide what we want and need,” Carson said.
The plans include two more building phases – most notably an education wing – that can be added to the 10-acre site as the parish grows.
For the time being, the church will maintain offices and classroom space at the old church on Kendall Street, Carson said.
For Sunday’s grand opening, the congregation has invited local officials, representatives of the contractors and neighbors. A light lunch will be served after the service.
“We’re excited,” Carson said.
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