In 2023 the Church Council initiated a plan to celebrate where Bethany has been and to imagine and embrace where God is calling Bethany now. This culminated in six “Tell Me More” meetings which offered an opportunity for collaboration with the congregation.
At the Tell Me More meetings, the Church Council presented the vision of our campus, where it has been, where we are now and where, with congregational support and collaboration, we are going tomorrow.
Where have we been? We’ve been around for nearly 100 years in three different buildings, with our current building doubling in size since we first moved in.
Where are we now? For the over the past 2 years, we have collectively been working on our mission and vision. We believe our building and campus, in its current form, is not maximizing the opportunity for spiritual formation and community engagement.
Where are we going?
Replace, Relocate and Renovate. We want to strengthen our building in order to better embrace our values.
Replace current barriers and inefficiencies in our building. Namely the narrow hallways, empty spaces and empty classrooms, disconnected church lobbies, better security with less entrances, the lack of adult learning spaces, especially on Wednesday nights, space constraints for Bethany First Steps childcare and deferred maintenance to several parts of the buildings interior and exterior.
Relocate Bethany First Steps Childcare and Preschool
- Options on the campus that includes a new wing/building to the west
- Council is engaged in a feasibility study to determine how that would look architecturally and how that would work financially
- Church staff and council are working on an agreement where First Steps Childcare and Preschool will become part of Bethany Church
Renovate Preschool Journey Kids & Nursery (newborns to five year olds on Sunday morning)
- This is the most important space for young families and the space is currently inefficient and outdated.
- We want to recreate a dedicated space just for them
At the conclusion of every Tell Me More meeting, a short, 4-question survey was handed out to all those in attendance. The results of those surveys showed overwhelming support for the Replace, Relocate and Renovate projects.
Next Steps
Bethany Council plans for a follow up presentation to present to the congregation this fall/winter. Please continue to pray for Bethany and for God to align our goals with His will.
