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Posted on 12/03/2005 11:29:56 AM PST by sionnsar
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By Elise Marrion
Assistant Lifestyle Editor
Every Sunday, the members of Christ Church Midland gather for worship. But some parishioners gather long before the rest are able to meet and greet and take their seats. It takes a lot of work to set up church services in a school gymnasium.
Six months after forming a new congregation, Christ Church is making plans to move out of the Midland Classical Academy gym and move on to the next phase of development. They have purchased 16 acres of land on which to build new church facilities at the southwest corner of Midkiff Drive and Mockingbird Lane. They will hold a dedication ceremony 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the building site. The dedication follows a special 10 a.m. service at the Midland Classical Academy gym.
Christ Church was founded in June after nearly 90 percent of the members of St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church left the church and broke away from the national Episcopal Church denomination (ECUSA). Those who left objected to decisions made by the 2003 ECUSA General Convention which elected Gene Robinson, a practicing homosexual man, as bishop of New Hampshire. They also cited "the denomination's increasingly liberal theology and departure from historic Biblical Christian beliefs" as reasons for leaving. Christ Church Midland is now a part of the Anglican Communion, a denomination of 75 million members worldwide.
"It's been a time of challenge and a time of great blessing," said the Rev. Jonathan Hartzer, associate rector of Christ Church. "God has called our folks to stand for their faith in an unprecedented way. They did and God has blessed us mightily. This project is an effort to continue our mission to know Christ and make him known, but also to meet our structural needs through building a new facility and church home. There has been the will and blessing to accomplish this."
Many church members working on construction committees are familiar with the process of building a church, said the Rev. Jon Stasney, rector or senior pastor of Christ Church Midland. Members such as Stan Jacobs, chairman of the building committee, and Charlie Tighe, organizer of fundraising, were involved when St. Nicholas was built five years ago.
"Most people don't have the opportunity to build more than one church in their lifetime," Stasney said. "This is deja vu for a lot of us because we've been through it pretty recently. It's a real credit to the congregation that they have the energy and drive to do it again."
Christ Church has hired Johnson-Seefeldt architects to draw up plans for a $2.6 million initial facilities including a worship space seating 350 people, a meeting hall, classrooms and offices. They are still in the design phases and currently have not settled on a contractor, Jacobs said. Later phases include building a larger sanctuary and other educational and family facilities. They hope to begin building in March or April and finish construction this time next year, he said.
"We're using many of the lessons we learned from the last structure. Our goals and objectives are different. This time we are more interested in an interim structure that will fit our needs for the first one to three years. We want something that is simple, welcoming and flexible that will allow us to grow," Jacobs said.
Christ Church is grateful to Midland Classical Academy for allowing them to worship at the school. The set up and tear down every Sunday in the gym is hard work, he said, and everyone is looking forward to space we can call their own.
"Our mission is not about a building, but to share the love of God by creating a beautiful new space where we can build relationships and grow together," Jacobs said.
Financially, the project is on solid ground, said Tighe. The church bought the land for $270,000 and have all but $20,000 already paid for, he said. Contributions have come from the congregation and members of other churches in Midland, especially some of the Baptist churches in town. They will continue their fundraising campaign asking for pledges over a three-year period, Tighe said.
"The excitement and generosity of our congregation, of the people of Midland and of Christians all over the world has given us a great start," Tighe said. "Now we're trusting God to carry us through a new year of building for the future."
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Thanks to all who prayed for us here in Midland!
It's a better location than our old one!
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