Good morning, church. I’m writing to share a brief update regarding future building plans and to give you a heads-up regarding your role in those plans. I’d also like to provide some context and reminders as we think, plan and pray together.

For the last five months or so since planting Redemption Hill, we’ve been working on several property-related questions.In September, we began working on the purchase of Red Mountain Plaza and the hillside, which we finalized in early December. With the remaining weeks in December, we began the master planning process, now incorporating the new properties. We have made some progress already, and we’re excited about what we sense the Lord doing. 

But it’s not the building stuff that is most exciting or important. I sense that God is stirring among us. He is continually bringing new people our way. He is opening doors in distant lands for gospel work. He is flooding our church with babies, with young kids, with teenagers, with college students, and with young adults. He is working among men and women to know and study His Word better and to follow Him more closely. He is leading brothers and sisters to read the Bible with unbelieving friends and family members. He is continually providing for our needs financially in ways that astound and humble us. He is leading people to step up into roles vacated through the church plant. He is bringing young men who want to train or be better equipped for future ministry. He is using our church to bless our city through church partnerships like Philadelphia Baptist and church plants like Redemption Hill. He is making and shaping a genuine body of bodies who love and care for one another, especially during the most difficult and trying times. And all of this is to say nothing of what God does every Sunday through the ordinary means of grace and throughout the week in Growth Groups and Christian community. 

I could go on. Truly, I want all this and more to go on. We will never build because it’s simply the next thing to do or because we want to be bigger as a church for numbers’ sake. No, thanks. Whatever we do must be Spirit-driven, Christ-exalting, God-glorifying. 

And all of that brings me to the heads-up. We want to hear from you. The elders have been thinking about these issues for months (years, in some ways), but we want to make sure that the congregation is included, engaged, and informed along the way. The architects helping us agree that congregational feedback is critical, and they, too, have suggested that we get proactive feedback, not just reactive feedback. To that end, you should receive a survey next week that is fairly comprehensive regarding perceived building needs, difficulties, opportunities, and more. We would really appreciate every member of our church completing this form, and we certainly believe this information will be helpful for us as we progress further in planning. 

As a church and as elders, we know that any building is secondary, not primary. The church is the people, and the mission is the gospel spreading into every corner of our lives and every corner of the world. So, any building project needs to serve the ends of glorifying God, equipping His people, and spreading His gospel. 

Let’s be praying now (and please, pretty-please, fill out the survey when you see it next week).

Love you, church,

Bart