Do you have questions about Building for Ministry Phase II? You may talk to Pastor Fred Greco or anyone on the BFM Team, and you may start with these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
What is the long-term objective (i.e. 10 year plan) for Christ Church, and how does BFM Phase II fit into that long-term objective?
The long term objective for Christ Church is to continue on with the ministry that the Lord has blessed us with already in Katy and to bring that ministry to new people and places as Katy grows. That ministry includes: equipping the congregation for the faithful sharing of the gospel with friends, co-workers, neighbors; building up individuals and families through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word; and developing strong and vital relationships among the people of Christ Church. BFM Phase II is the means providing resources to make that vision a concrete reality, so that Christ Church is able to wisely and actively pursue those ministry goals.
What will be accomplished with the financial giving through BFM Phase II – that is, what is the building scope for BFM Phase II and how will the funds be spent? What will BFM Phase II not accomplish?
The financial giving through BFM Phase II will be used to expand our current facilities to meet the needs of our growing congregation, and provide needed space for new visitors and members. Specifically, it will be used to expand our fellowship space in the narthex, construct additional rooms for Sunday school classes and storage, establish more than 90 new parking spaces, provide a covered drop off area for bad weather days, and expand our office facilities. BFM Phase II will not be used to construct an additional worship facility – that is the goal and plan for Phase III of our construction.
What is the ministry objective once we complete BFM Phase II – where do we hope BFM Phase II will take Christ Church?
We hope that BFM Phase II will allow us to have an open and welcoming facility that will enable us to expand our Christian Education, to provide space for growing outreach efforts like ESL, VBS, and Wednesday evening activities, and to provide much needed parking for our growing worship service.
What is the vision for eventual church planting and how does BFM Phase II fit into that plan?
Our vision for church planting is to establish Christ Church as a church planting “hub,” which can plant not just one, but rather multiple churches in the greater Katy-Houston area. With the fourth-largest (and rapidly growing) population in America, Houston is a city ripe for church planting. We envision planting churches through a “mother-daughter” effort – that is, finding a core group of families within Christ Church who live in a geographic area suitable for a church plant, and sending them out from Christ Church with a minister to start a new work. Once that is accomplished, the process can repeat itself. BFM Phase II will allow Christ Church to grow (by God’s grace) to a point where a strong daughter church can be planted, and a strong mother church will remain to plant more churches.
What is the financial target for the BFM Phase II campaign?
Through BFM Phase II, we hope to raise sufficient funds to pay for the cost of our building and parking expansion (Phase II) within the next three years. If the Lord wills, we would also hope to substantially reduce (or pay off) the existing mortgage debt we have.
I wasn’t here for the original Building For Ministry campaign. What did Christ Church accomplish through that campaign? Did it reach its objectives? What did Christ Church learn from that?
The congregation of Christ Church gave funds through the original BFM campaign sufficient to pay for approximately one-half of the cost of our original (current) building. BFM Phase I exceeded its objectives, as the congregation gave money beyond the amounts pledged during the campaign. From that, we learned that if the Lord is in our efforts, He will make it clear to us and will accomplish His will.
I see some construction already taking place, so why are we raising additional funds - do we have enough funds already - why have we started building?
As the Session and Diaconate have been assessing the needs of Christ Church for physical space in the past year, they decided to move ahead with building expansion to meet those needs. Additionally, the Fiscal Year 2014 budget was approved with additional funds necessary to make principle and interest payments on any loan necessary to pay for the building expansion. We hope through BFM Phase II to greatly reduce (or eliminate altogether) the need for borrowing, and therefore free up those budgeted funds for ministry – expanding missionary support, outreach programs, and other needs.
I thought that we were going to build a new worship building – what happened to that plan?
It has always been our plan to proceed with expansion of our facilities in three phases: first, the initial building; second, expansion of Sunday school space and parking; and finally, the construction of a 500-seat worship facility on our “front lawn.” As the Lord provides, and as He sees fit to grow our congregation, we pray that plan will come to fruition in the future.
I heard we were going to need to go two worship services – how does BFM Phase II fit into a two-worship service scenario?
The Session and Diaconate are currently evaluating the need of Christ Church to go to two worship services. As the Lord blesses us with new visitors and members, we believe that we will come to a point in our growth where two services will become a necessity. When we do so, the two services will be the same in format, liturgy, and music. The amount of people attending two worship services will increase the number of people attending Sunday school and “between-service” fellowship, and so the increased narthex and Sunday school space provided by BFM Phase II will allow us to accommodate those increased numbers, while providing vital opportunities for fellowship for the congregation as a whole.
What is the purpose of trying to pay down our debt - why not build more building space rather than pay down debt?
We hope to pay down our debt for two reasons: first, the less debt that Christ Church has, the more flexible we can be with our budget, and the more money we can direct toward our ministries; and second, by paying down the debt on our existing facilities, we have more equity, and are better able to obtain future financing for Phase III of our building.
How confidential will my commitment card be?
Your commitment card for BFM will be held in strict confidence. The only people to see it will be the BFM director and the BFM Leadership director.