Faith is taking God at His word. But what about when God has not specifically spoken on a matter – like expanding a building? Obviously, our expansion project is not addressed in God’s self-disclosure, so how do we take Him at His word? In what way do we approach this as a matter of faith? Are there particular precepts of Scripture that we must follow? I see at least three:
The call to be faithful
The call to good stewardship
The call to confess and exercise dependence upon God
We are called to be imitators of God. So, because He is faithful, we are to be faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24; Revelation 2:10). Faithfulness is part of God’s holiness – so it is for us. It is hard to imagine someone who claims to be holy, but is not faithful. It is our ambition to be faithful to His word – rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) with humility and submission.
That faithfulness is demonstrated, secondly, in good stewardship (1 Corinthians 4:2). Paul asked the Corinthian church, “what do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Everything that we enjoy is entrusted to us by our Creator. This includes not only the gospel of truth and grace, but the fellowship of our church family and all that we share in common.
Third, it makes clear sense that we, the created, should confess and exercise our dependence upon the Creator. We are limited; He is infinite. He is the Sustainer; we are part of the created order that He sustains (Colossians 1:16). We were brought into this created order for His purpose, not vice versa. The Lord Jesus instructed His followers, “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7) and “whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified” (John 14:13). Asking in His name means asking for what is according to His character and purpose. James makes it clear, you don’t have for two reasons: you don’t ask, or you ask to spend on your passions (James 4:2-3).
Here is how our expansion project lines up with taking God at His word: first, the faithful ministry of the Word at Grace has yielded a consistent growth pattern. We can confidently say, the Lord Jesus is growing His church – not only spiritually – but numerically to the degree that space has become an issue. Second, our stewardship of the trellis (the structures of ministry) and the vine (the lives of ministry) is reflected in our endeavor to meet the needs of the congregation. There is nothing extravagant about this expansion plan and it is not by the philosophy “if you build it, they will come.” The Lord has entrusted us with growing numbers (an expanding vine), it is good stewardship to provide an adequate trellis for the vine.
Lastly, since this is God’s work it only makes sense to trust God to provide. If we are being faithful stewards, that is all we can and must do. But God can do beyond what we can ask or imagine. So let’s ask confidently and earnestly because He calls us to depend upon Him. When we do, it is God who gets the glory, not us.
Our approach to this expansion project has been a bit like the Israelite priests stepping into the Jordan before the Lord parted the water. We can begin and complete Phase One – the new build with offices and the kitchen – during which time we must engage a capital campaign (in-house) with a goal of $1,000,000 in order to complete Phase Two and Phase Three – the Fellowship Hall and the spacious new auditorium. If in God’s providence we come up just a bit short of the capital campaign goal, then that small percentage would be funded by securing a mortgage so that the project can be fully completed. We would not want an unfinished, unusable building.
In summary, here is the substance of the vote for the members of Grace on September 7th:
Contract with Fourth Elm for the three-phase expansion & renovation plan including:
i. New build on the north side for offices and a kitchen
ii. Renovation of the downstairs to expand the Fellowship Hall
iii. Renovation of the upstairs to expand the Auditorium
The contractual cost of $2.146 million, while pursuing cost reductions (to approximately $1.8 million) through in-house labor
Use of the Building Fund & Ministry Expansion Fund (approximately $900K) toward the first phase starting immediately
Launching an in-house capital campaign with the goal of $1 million to complete the expansion project
Obtain a mortgage ONLY if the capital campaign goal is not fully reached
Here is the link to the Building Expansion Video if you were not able to be present when the Building Expansion Project was presented in person.
This is a big ask and it is where we must be before the Father’s throne of grace to find help in time of need! Let’s not limit God by what we think we can do. Pray earnestly, pray continually, and pray as family.
Copyright © 2025 Grace Bible Church, All rights reserved.