Why? Because DCBC’s mission needs a strong and visible base- and Lookout Point will give us one.

In 1996 when we sold our Hanover Street church building. Since then, we have been hiring premises for our church services, events, children’s and other ministries, community service and outreach activities. Without a building of our own we have lost visibility and an identity in the community. Although we work hard to make our rented facilities work for us they are not a custom fit and are only affordable and available to us one half day per week. Additionally we have a fixed-term lease that we must negotiate for renewal every two years and so we have no security about our long term location or rental costs. Loss of spaces we were using and increasing rental costs eventually forced us out of our previous facilities.

Building at Lookout Point will provide a long term home base for us and future generations where we can develop our own identity and which will become a focal point for community life and service. The premises will allow us to operate seven days a week in an environment that assists worship and with the programs we would like to provide. They will give us space to expand so we can continue to grow and reach outward, and mean the many resources, which currently go into setup and pack down, can be channelled into our work. The Lookout Point site will be a highly accessible and visible location where we can have a significant presence and impact in Dunedin. We believe it will make us far more effective at fulfilling our mission.

 Building for the future: our mission

The mission that God has impressed on us is to make disciples so that we might fulfil the ancient call of God to his people:

Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.  For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will settle the desolate towns.
 Isaiah 54:2-3

A visible, well set-up operational base is an important part of responding to this, both in drawing people in and building the community that makes disciples - the key to answering this call of God. We are asked to be bold in establishing this base for both the present and future generations.

As we embark on the building of a church centre we can call home we will leave a legacy for future generations. Those who have gone before us offered their time, abilities, money and passion to build church buildings on the Hanover Street site. This base provided the stability for the church to endure through the 145 years of our history, thriving in good times and enduring through tough times to emerge once again to grow the Kingdom of God. We want to honour that tradition and be as faithful to the next generations as those who have preceded us.