“Reaching everyone, everyday, everywhere” is the motivation behind a new addition at Grace Community Church in Goshen, Ind. With that goal in mind, the congregation broke ground on a new 27,890 square foot addition to its current facility at the intersection of CRs 36 and 21, just south of the Goshen Middle School.
“We have a dream at Grace Community to reach everyone, everyday, everywhere,” states Pastor Jim Brown, lead pastor at Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren church in the Elkhart County community. “We are on mission to reach our peers…students, business owners, coworkers, managers and bosses everywhere. We want to see them all surrendering their lives to Jesus. We want to continue reaching people right here in Goshen,” says Brown.
“Our dream is simple,” says Pastor Jim. “We want to build this building as a tool to reach people. We love Jesus and we love people. We are passionate about meeting people where they are at and helping them to get to where Jesus wants them to be.” Brown also states, “We have seen marriages restored and people freed of addictions. We’ve seen the population of heaven increased as hundreds of people have given their lives to Jesus. As this has happened, our facility is bulging at the seams. We knew we needed to do something and needed to do it soon.”
Grace Community Church broke ground on Sunday, September 30 for a new worship facility and teen gathering area, a large children’s addition, and a larger foyer to meet the needs of this growing church. This addition will also include a bookstore and a café where people can hang out and build relationships between services and throughout the week.
Grace Community Church is working with DJ Construction on this new facility and plans on it being completed by mid summer of 2008.
“Once this building is completed, we will be able to move forward to two services with a capacity of 2,800 adults and children,” states Pastor Jim.
“Our new children’s area will help us to meet our ever-growing children’s ministry,” he adds. “We want to provide an area where kids can continue to learn about and fall more in love with Jesus. Kids are important here at Grace and we want them to grow and develop into fully devoted followers of Jesus. We also plan to have classrooms for children with special needs and a handicap-accessible elevator and family bathroom for those who need special assistance.”
“Instead of building a larger worship facility to accommodate the growth, we decided to add a new venue with a live satellite feed in addition to the already existing worship service,” states Brown. “We want to give people options in how they worship.”
This new area, which will also serve as a state-of-the art teen center, will have small round tables and chairs, where people can sit and enjoy a coffee or latte and enjoy a worship service. They can see and hear Pastor Jim deliver the message on a large screen and plasma screens scattered throughout the room. This worship area will also have its own live worship, which will be geared toward 18 to 25 year-olds and serve as a gathering place for young adults, ages 18 to 25 throughout the week.
“Ninety percent of people who graduate from high school don’t come back to church until they are married and have kids. We want to reach that lost generation,” says Brown. “Statistics show us that 76 percent of the people in our county are not in church. That means there are 150,000 unchurched people in Elkhart County. That truth makes us want to press forward and reach our lost world with the great news of Jesus. These statistics are mind-boggling and we want to be part of the solution in reaching our county for Jesus.”
Grace Community Church meets on Sundays at 8:00, 9:45 and 11:30 a.m. and also offers a midweek prayer encounter for adults, Axis for middle school and high school teens, and a Phase 2 Children’s program.
For more information about Grace Community Church, contact the church at (574) 533-7546 or check out their website at www.gracecommunity-church.com.