"We're building a tool," says Denny Wilson, pastor of Warsaw Community Church.

"A church is not a building, it's the people. Our new facility is simply a tool to help WCC reach the unchurched and to fulfill the mission of Christ. You won't find any stained glass or marble in it, and it may not be what some think a large church should look like. But people can be intimidated by the symbols and language of traditional churches. We wanted to take the fear out of going to church, and we didn't want anyone to encounter any barriers to finding God."

With the number of people attending WCC, and already holding four services each weekend and renting 24 classrooms at Lakeview Middle School, Wilson said, "we literally ran out of options. We were maxed out."

The new facility on Ranch Road, across from Eisenhower Elementary School, south of Warsaw, may be imposing at 65,000 square feet and five acres of parking. But when one considers what it takes to accommodate the congregation of 2,500, it doesn't seem so large. The auditorium, with a capacity of 1,300, was designed also to be a multipurpose room, with a flat floor and removable seating, so it could be used for other functions. The design also provides safety for children and a building that is fully handicapped accessible with elevators.

A design consulting firm was used to help about 300 volunteers from WCC pull together the teams and ideas to determine the design for the building based on the ministry and size of WCC and the demographics of the area. According to Wilson, "The consulting firm brought ideas from other churches, particularly one in Dallas, Texas, and one in Boise, Idaho, which the WCC team visited to get ideas.

"We were looking for maximum efficiency at the lowest cost, without being cheaply built. It's a steel structure - built to last. It's comfortable, functional and user-friendly. It has the look and feel of a community center, which 'fits' with the school across the road."

The financial support for the building project primarily came from 700 families in the church involved in a stewardship campaign, who committed a large portion of the money necessary to build a new church. Wilson said, "It wasn't about a few large monetary gifts."

When asked about the future, Wilson said, "Our mission is to 'help connect people with God in the most effective ways possible.' We will keep reaching out in relevant ways to ordinary people who have never had a church and those who are not attending another church."

The new facility is to be ready in March. For more information on WCC, call 574-268-0188 or visit warsawcommunitychurch.com [[In-content Ad]]