Building
The Problem
Growth brings plenty of new opportunities, but it also comes with unique challenges. The most obvious challenge is space on Sundays. Though we’ve been able to use a wonderful facility in the past, we’ve still had to deal with space limitations. Space is why we before Covid we had two worship services instead of one. We’ve also struggled with renting the right number of classrooms, and in the past year, storage space has become a real challenge.
But the space concerns don’t just affect us on Sundays and during Covid. If anything, they’re worse throughout the week. We’ve been able to build healthy relationships with many local churches, but every time we have to ask for another night, another date, another location, we worry about straining those relationships. We also are concerned about the strain it puts on our ministry leaders, not knowing for sure where events will be and not being able to prepare the space in advance. Not certain if all the supplies will be there. Or the doors will be unlocked.
But our concern is greater than not finding space or even losing our space. We’re concerned about lost opportunity. Fuquay-Varina has grown 267% in the past twenty years, with a population increase of 15,000 since Redeemer began. How many of them have looked for a church in our community? How many of them long for what we experience at Redeemer? How many of them know Redeemer exists? The opportunity will only increase in the coming years, and we don’t want to lose more opportunities to introduce our new neighbors to Christ and allow them to experience true, transformational community.
The Solution
For several years, we’ve wrestled with what to do about the challenges we face. But we never sensed God moving us in a specific direction. That has changed in the past two years. Through much prayer, planning, and discussion, the elders at Redeemer are convinced it’s time for us to take an important step forward.
It’s time to build: On our land, we will build a multipurpose space that can be used for weekly worship. Our new facility will allow for weekday ministry, Bible study, and special events. Reborn and Refresh, men’s and women’s studies, Christmas Eve and Good Friday services—all of these will now have a consistent home.
It’s time to partner: We will continue to support our church plants in Wisconsin and Sanford, and new church plants through the Pillar Network. God has been expanding our influence in this network of more than 100 like-minded churches. In the coming years, we anticipate new opportunities to invest in church planting and revitalization, as well as equipping young pastors and church leaders. We want to further develop our church partnerships in Brooklyn, Dublin, and Moldova, and we plan to continue to lead the ministry of South Wake Bible Institute to develop more local church partners.
It’s time to go: We want to prepare and send a long-term team to the Balkans for church planting and mobilization—the Balkans have little gospel witness, the church there is small and without resources. They need more than a single church plant; they need a church-planting movement. We want to continue to send short-term teams and long-term workers to assist partner churches in Brooklyn, Ireland, and Moldova. And we believe a permanent building in Fuquay will help us develop new ways to serve and bless our local community.
