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Capital Campaign
Two years ago, the elders thought the old Sears building at Keystone & 62nd Street was our next step.  We came to you with that idea and asked you to consider how to participate financially in that direction.  Many of you responded.

As you all know, that door was clearly closed by God and through much patience and prayer, God has opened our eyes to a different direction that we would not have seen had He not clearly shut the first door and reminded us to continue to pray and listen and wait for his response.
  1. We believe God is clearly leading us to a multi-site model of ministry.  We talk a lot about “being the church” where you are.  One way we can do that is through gathering for corporate worship closer to where we live.  As you know, our first new site is going to be on the west side of town, near 46th and High School Road at Eagle Creek Elementary School.  A group gathered there for prayer on July 1 and had 155 people participate in that gathering.
  2. God provided a facility close to here at 46th & Illinois that will become our new midtown site, replacing the one that currently meets in Broad Ripple.  Some of you have been there and have seen the larger capacity that we can utilize —primarily in children’s space & in office space.  In addition, the main gathering area is bigger as well.  In short, there are a lot of possibilities.
Because so many of you responded during our previous financial discussions, (both through one-time gifts and through increasing your weekly giving) we have been able to move forward on both of these fronts.  We were able to pay cash for the new building and begin to work on it.  We have also been able to lease the school where we will meet on the west side, hire a full time pastor to focus on that site, and outfit that site with all of the things it takes to do church corporately on Sunday as we know it (chairs, children’s ministry tools, sound system, etc.)

Now, we’re coming to you with additional ways to participate.  The first is likely obvious—particularly for those that have seen the new midtown building.  In the Welcome Center you’ll find architectural drawings of the building as well as some before & after photos of the property.  More information will be available in the coming days and weeks on the website.  As you will see, it needs work; a lot of work.  It is clearly a fixer-upper!  That will take additional money to make that happen.
  • The building was built in the 50’s – most of the mechanical components are original, and all are in need of replacement – heating & air conditioning, electrical, plumbing fixtures, etc.
  • We will also be replacing all of the windows – most of which are single pane and many of which are in disrepair.
  • Building cost $500K, renovations, architecture, and other professional services totaling approximately $1.7M (total cost $2.2M, approx. $80/s.f.)
In the meantime, We’re not going to stop any of the other ministry or giving we do—so this is above and beyond our normal operations budget.

The second way is probably less obvious, but just as important.  We now have two locations to be involved with—setting up, greeting, working with kids, preparing communion, running sound and projection, and all the little things that really aren’t little that it takes to make our Sunday gatherings go.  The multi-site model will allow more of us to be involved, perhaps in multiple ways, to make this happen.
 
So, how do you respond to these needs?  We are asking that each person who is part of our church community to prayerfully consider 2 things:
  1. Support this “next step” by a 1-time cash gift above and beyond your weekly commitment.  For those who are not currently committed to the financial support of what God is doing in and through this church, we are asking you to prayerfully consider regular giving (again, for those who are part of our church community)
  2. Investing your time and talents by meeting some of the volunteer needs of the church.  Feel free to download our volunteer brochure to learn how you can serve and who to contact.  
Today and next week we are handing out “pledge cards” for you to have as a reminder to pray.  As you will notice there is no space to put your name – this is between you and the Lord.  If God leads you to participate in this way we ask that you drop your card in the offering basket (located on the sound booth) over the coming weeks.  We have targeted 2 dates for the collection of one-time gifts: September 30 and December 9.  We recognize some people are not in a position to offer a special gift in this timeframe, but many will.

Ask God to be very specific with you in how you should participate—He certainly provided that direction on what was next for Common Ground as a whole, and I’m confident He will do the same for you.  This is a great opportunity for all of us to prayerfully consider our participation in the continued ministry of our community.
 
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Church Office - 4550 N. Illinois Street | Indianapolis, IN 46208
P 317.251.1494 | F 317.251.1498
Sunday Services -      Midtown 9 am | 11 am | 7 pm       CGCC-West | 10 am