What progress have we made?

Over the summer of 2010-2011 the excavation was completed. This involved cutting out the builidng platform and car parking area above the road the disects our land. More than 30,000 cubic meters of fill was shifted. In the process the land above the creek that runs along the southern and western edge of the property was resculptured and excess fill was used to form a good sized playing field at the south east corner.

All this area has now been grassed and approximately 150 of our larger trees planted along the perimter which will soon start screening of the site for local residents. During Spring this year we will complete the first stage of planting which has the goal of beautifying the area around the creek and the banks above.

Below the road a smaller area has been excavated for additional car parks and a future care-taker's residence. Fences and gates have all been reinstated and the contractors are finished. We were thrilled with the job Collis Murdoch Excavation have done. They were very professional and friendly making them easily to work with and throughout the process went out of their way to achieve an outstanding job. Thanks guys!

Now that excavation is done we are preparing for the first stage of building. At a recent church members meeting we unanimously voted to pass the motion to: “give authority to the building team to submit plans to the council for the first stage of the buildings – the staff ministry centre, chapel, toilets and associated rooms – and approve beginning construction as funds become available up to the maximum of $2.5 million.” Once complete this section of the building will enable us to start using the site 7 days a week.  It will house our church offices, include a small cafe with adjacent lounge area making it a comfortable place to drop in for coffee and to meet with people. Several meeting rooms of varying sizes and one large meeting space- the eventual chapel area will also be constructed. These will be great spaces for all sorts of ministries and groups (two or more at a time). 

It is conceived that future stages could be- the children’s classrooms adjacent the chapel (stage 2), building the Auditorium and main foyer (stage 3), building the cafe area adjacent the auditorium (stage 4) and finally stage 5- the pre-school. Once stage 2 is completed we envisage making use of the premises for our Sunday church services while we pause to raise funds to build the main Auditorium.

We need to continue to earnestly seek the Lord for his financial provisions. We will be seeking outside funding grants and to use our own voluntary labour to make this building stage affordable. It is hoped that we can complete our new premises by Easter 2013- when we are planning a significant multi-day event to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of our church. 

In spring we are planning a working bee to plant more than 1000 plants. This will be an excellent occasion to walk around the site and get a feel for where the building will sit. 

This is an exciting time. At last, after so many years of investigation and planning including 15 years in hired premises, we are about to begin to build! There is so much evidence that God has been directing us, so many indications of his hand upon this whole project, and we are indeed deeply grateful to him.