We Will Go
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” -Acts 1:8
We are charged to reach out to the community close to home and then to the world, sharing the love of God. Almost one-tenth of our active membership took part in a mission trip within the last year; more than twenty volunteers gather to feed hungry people each month. The campaign will give us the space and resources to strengthen ministry here in our own community and to then touch the world with God’s love.
We Will Praise
“‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise”?’” -Matthew 21:16
Simple things, bricks and mortar, will draw in the energy of childhood and the passion of youth, giving it added strength and reflecting back to the world the love of God. That is the mission of our ministry with children and youth: our Christian education ministry exists to create a passion for God’s Good News, so that the future generations will learn of God’s peace, and share God’s love.
The additional space will enable BRPC to offer a nursery for small children on Sunday mornings, something that’s tough to do in our present setup. Beyond that, the new space will give our Ensemble and musicians room for rehearsal and growth. We will enlarge our gathering space to improve our hospitality and fellowship. Finally, we will consolidate our offices and work area into one area.
Phase Three Rendering
We Will Grow!
Our current building is overfilled with people on most Sundays, and it’s virtually impossible to do more than one thing at a time. As a result, our Church School program suffers from the lack of dedicated classrooms, and our musicians have no space for rehearsal. The Church Administrator shares an office with both our nursery and youth classroom. File cabinets fill our restrooms. Our entry area is so jammed with people that it’s tough to get to the coffee pot. We need more room to gather more people into the Blue Ridge Presbyterian community. Our vision is to be a self-sustaining Presbyterian congregation, alive in witness, worship, education and compassion, and this phase is vitally important.
The 2008 BRPC VISION Capital Campaign will bolster our ministry. In the past 2 years, we have doubled our worship attendance, and the number of worshippers continues to grow with the addition of the 8:28 Worship Service. Our Worship Area is filled to more than 80% of capacity each week, and our visitors have difficulty sitting together — we are growing! Most of all, we need space for Christian education. Today, each of our church school classes are too large for the spaces they occupy, and other groups meet “catch-as-catch-can” -- wherever they can find a space. This plan will give classes a home base. We’ll add hospitality space for gathering before and after worship—something we desperately need. We will have space for a nursery during worship. This project will also allow better storage, creating a more functional work environment. Importantly, we will, working with our architect Mike Stoneking of Stoneking-von Storch, fashion a comprehensive site plan that anticipates our growth and preserves the beauty of our property on Spring Hill Road.
Final Interior floor plan