The first question...

Okay, so it's probably one of the first questions that came to your mind when you thought about a Central Christian Church in Janesville.  It's almost always the first question I'm asked.  Where?


So I thought we'd spend our post today letting you all know about the "where" of it all. But first I'd like to remind us that the "where" isn't nearly as important as the "who."  Who will God call to make the move with us?  Who will sacrifice their time and energy to be a part of something new?  Who is God calling us to help reconcile to Him?  Who will we all become in the process?

I know it should go without saying, but the church is not a place, it's a people.  The place is just that... a place.  So, when we talk about the "where," we're just looking for the best possible atmosphere to grow into the community of Christ followers that God wants us to be.

Having said all of that, the place does matter.  And right now, we honestly don't know where we're going to end up.  It's the first thing that we'd like to ask you to pray about.  Pray that God would open the right door for just the right place at just the right time at just the right cost.

Where we stand right now...

There are three options for acquiring a place to meet.  First is buying or building a property.  We have all but ruled this out, because we honestly don't know what this effort is going to look like a year or two down the road, let alone 5 or 10 years.  Buying or building would force us to make long term decisions before we even know what our needs might be... not to mention the enormous initial cost.

The second option is leasing retail, business, office, or warehouse space.  We're looking at all of these options in Janesville with the help of a real estate firm.  The plus about leasing a place is that we would have access to it all week long, wouldn't need to set up and tear down each weekend, and would have a defined place in the community.  Unfortunately, most of this space is rather pricey ($75,000-$100,000 per year), and would require a large infusion of money up front to do what they call the "build out" -  turning the space into a church.

The third option is renting a school or movie theater.  It would mean that we have to keep all of our sound/lighting/video equipment, signage, and children's ministry supplies in a trailer which we would unload, set up, tear down, and reload each weekend.  Many church plants start this way, however, because the cost is significantly lower ($20,000-$25,000 per year with no build out.)

I have already been in contact with the School District of Janesville, and they have been amazing.  I have toured 3 of the 4 schools with auditoriums, and have really been impressed with both Parker High School and Edison Middle School for different reasons (more on that in another post.)  Craig High School's facilities won't really fit our needs, and I am scheduled to tour Franklin Middle School next week, but I feel cautiously optimistic that renting a school is a doable option for us. 

I want to keep all of our options open, because God might just have something better in mind than we could have ever imagined.  I just wanted to help answer some of the questions that I know are on your mind.  Keep your eyes peeled for the next post where I tackle the question, "What will services look like?" Video sermons?  Live worship?  Kid's ministry?  Stay tuned...