Earthdate: 7/25/07 Captains Log:
DAY 1 Rosemount, MN – Community of Hope Lutheran (CoH)
Today the team made our first leg of the tour. We drove down County Road 42 into Rosemount, made a couple turns and got close to what we thought was the general area. Someone said, “That building over there doesn’t look much like a church, but I bet that might be it.” Sure enough, what looked like a warehouse from the side, had tastefuly designed front entrance. We stepped inside, we found a very welcoming front atrium with lots of space, banners on the wall, TV screen saying welcome to CoH and a very nice Christian bookstore on the right.
After taking a looking into a worship space that would hold about 500 people completely full, we were greeted by Pastor Per (pronounced “pear”) Nilsen. Per gave us a tour of the building. (classrooms, gym, prayer room, offices, media room, etc.)
Per shared how CoH how worshipped in a school for three years. Bought property in the fourth year, paid down the debt and then built a very low cost building that minimized churchy architecture and maximized technology and functionality. Where CoH put up a 30,000 square foot building for 2.7 million dollars after 5 years…to compare a neighboring church built a 9,000 square foot building for 1.8 million after 10 years. CoH plans to use this space for 10 years, sell it as a warehouse and then move onto a bigger campus.
CoH has given a great example of faithfulness, kingdom expansion and growing disciples. There is much to be learned from CoH.
One of the last things Per said continues to germinate in my brain (Per was responding to “big church” vs. “small church”) Per said, “It is not a matter of whether a small churches should stay small…it is just great small churches become big churches.” Church growth expert Christian Schwartz says it this way, “If a church is a healthy, it is not a matter if they will grow…a healthy church will surely grow…the only question is how much will it grow?”
You can find pictures from Day 1 at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtW7lw3aMXFg
Peace Out!
T-Rob
DAY 1 Rosemount, MN – Community of Hope Lutheran (CoH)
Today the team made our first leg of the tour. We drove down County Road 42 into Rosemount, made a couple turns and got close to what we thought was the general area. Someone said, “That building over there doesn’t look much like a church, but I bet that might be it.” Sure enough, what looked like a warehouse from the side, had tastefuly designed front entrance. We stepped inside, we found a very welcoming front atrium with lots of space, banners on the wall, TV screen saying welcome to CoH and a very nice Christian bookstore on the right.
After taking a looking into a worship space that would hold about 500 people completely full, we were greeted by Pastor Per (pronounced “pear”) Nilsen. Per gave us a tour of the building. (classrooms, gym, prayer room, offices, media room, etc.)
Per shared how CoH how worshipped in a school for three years. Bought property in the fourth year, paid down the debt and then built a very low cost building that minimized churchy architecture and maximized technology and functionality. Where CoH put up a 30,000 square foot building for 2.7 million dollars after 5 years…to compare a neighboring church built a 9,000 square foot building for 1.8 million after 10 years. CoH plans to use this space for 10 years, sell it as a warehouse and then move onto a bigger campus.
CoH has given a great example of faithfulness, kingdom expansion and growing disciples. There is much to be learned from CoH.
One of the last things Per said continues to germinate in my brain (Per was responding to “big church” vs. “small church”) Per said, “It is not a matter of whether a small churches should stay small…it is just great small churches become big churches.” Church growth expert Christian Schwartz says it this way, “If a church is a healthy, it is not a matter if they will grow…a healthy church will surely grow…the only question is how much will it grow?”
You can find pictures from Day 1 at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtW7lw3aMXFg
Peace Out!
T-Rob
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