This year Emmanuel celebrated it's 30th anniversary, which became catalytic in our review of our past and dreams of the future. The current building went up with the idea that the multipurpose room would become a gym, that the parking lot would be paved, and that one day there would be a sanctuary. While the dream was given to the families that were called together to build our current facility over 30 years ago, it was not theirs to complete.

Today's reality is the best opportunity to commplete the dream. We have the size, resources, and are confronted with the task of reaching out to the growing community of West Kelowna. It has become our dream, and now is the time to complete it. This is about our generation making a sacrifice in order to provide the next generation a better facility that could be leveraged in a greater way for God. We inherited something from the last generation and we need to ask ourselves, "are we adding to that which God has entrusted to us?"

Moses was told about the promised land, but never entered it. That became Joshua's mission.

When the original families built the first cinder block building that became our current facility, they envisioned that the sanctuary would be turned into a gym and that a new sanctuary would be built along side it. We are completing that dream and have taken the first steps by turning our former sanctuary into a multi-purpose gym. This allows us to meet the growing needs of our youth while also being able to have services there on the weekends. Building a sanctuary allows us to better meet the needs of our Jerusalem: West Kelowna. For instance, it is of note that West Kelowna does not have a community theatre. This may be an avenue of blessing that we could provide for our municipality.

In short, we are expanding our tent pegs in preparation for the harvest by providing a dedicated, contemporary worship venue that we currently do not have.

In reality Emmanuel has been thinking about building a sanctuary for 30 years. It is not a new idea. Timing becomes an issue. West Kelowna has expanded considerably over the last 30 years and the spiritual needs of our community have grown with it. Next generation ministries at Emmanuel has exploded in recent years as kids in our community look for answers that the world is not providing. We have an opportunity to meet those needs. Emmanuel church has also grown 500 percent in the last decade and has grown large enough and mature enough to take on a project of this size. We have the opportunity to leave a legacy for our children that is even better than what was given to us.

With the economic downturn, current conditions with regard to interest rates, labour costs, and the competitive trade market, all collaborate for good timing.

Emmanuel's leadership team is committed to our mission and ministry mandate. We will not mortgage today's ministry for tomorrow's sanctuary. We want to maintain our current ministry and mission partners and commitments. This is why we are asking people to make donations over and above their tithes. The tithes (general fund) help us accomplish our current ministry. They must be maintained.

No. We have pursued opportunities and will continue to investigate ideas for a permanent home for the Peachland campus. We strongly believe that a facility in Peachland is necessary in the long term and that it needs to be self-sustaining. With this approach, the sanctuary expansion in Westbank is distinct from opportunities in Peachland.

The current leadership team feels that we are more than capable of handling this kind of capital project. The question is about “will.” Do we want to make this a priority here and now? We recognize this is more than a financial decision; it's a spiritual decision. What does God want us to do?

Luke 6:38 says:

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Let's consider our purpose and pray about how we can be involved.

Yes, but rental income will not be required to pay for the sanctuary. Renting the sanctuary will encourage people from our community to come through our campus. This point of interaction is one part of our witness and it also provides a service to our community.

Rentals would have to abide by our current rental agreement. This stipulates the kind of rentals that we allow as well as the cost structure for different types of events. After consulting lawyers, we believe we have the freedom to rent when the event is in alignment with our core values and constitution. However, we can also say “no” should an event not be in concord with our fundamental mission and beliefs.

No. The sanctuary is primarily being built as a place of worship and will itself be an expression of our worship to God. It will also be available for rent to outside groups in accordance with Emmanuel policy, with the idea of drawing people through our campus. Many other churches have been successful in making their facilities available to bring in outside people.

Reducing symbolism in the sanctuary to enable more rentals would go against our principles and our purpose in renting it.

Our feasibility study showed that the maximum sized sanctuary we could fit on our property without sacrificing parking spaces is about 700 seats. Going larger would reduce parking capacity, which would impact the number of people that could come to a service.

Expanding from our current capacity of about 400 to 700 is a worthwhile improvement that is a reasonable size for us. Having a large yet largely empty sanctuary is also a problem, and one we want to avoid. Churches are like lungs: they expand and retract. We desire a balance between “too large” and “too small.” In the Canadian context, we feel 700 is that balance.

Building a smaller sanctuary would not cost significantly less than building one with 700 seats. A 700 seat sanctuary maximizes available space without sacrificing parking spaces. Not only is it prudent with resources, it is also a reasonable size for our congregation to grow into without feeling dwarfed by the building. For community events, this allows the opportunity of having small to large gatherings while providing a conducive environment.

Yes. For 4 years we have studied, talked about, and raised funds for our parking lot. This project embraces both the building of the sanctuary and the paving of the parking lot. The current dedicated parking area, when studied by our engineers provides us with 222 parking stalls. This maximizes our use of available space on the current property with a reasonable 1:3 ratio of parking to people. West Kelowna's code requires at least a 1:10 ratio, or 70 parking spots for a sanctuary this size.

We have permission from the Ministry of Highways to build a highway entrance, but not an exit. In order to do so, we would need to pay for construction of the de-accelleration lane, and the space required would eliminate up to 70 parking spaces. This would only allow for north approaching traffic, which is less than 50% of Sunday morning traffic. Consequently we are not pursuing any access outside of the existing Hebert Road entrance.

Given that our plan is to begin building in a few years, it makes sense to combine paving the parking lot with building the sanctuary in a single project. Thus, the parking lot will be paved as the sanctuary is built. Paving now could require sections to be ripped up to build the sanctuary later.

If the congregation decides not to move forward with the sanctuary, then we would consider paving the parking lot sooner.

The current architectural design was created to answer one primary question: how large can a sanctuary be if situation in our current playground. The design is a concept, not an official blueprint. If the congregation votes yes, a building committee will be struck, and over the next 3 years the real architectural design will be established.

Yes. Our current property is estimated to be worth $5 million. Our current mortgage is a relatively small $300,000, which we are paying down monthly and will be paid off in 5 years.

The current cost estimate is a rough estimate based on the initial concept to determine the feasibility of adding a sanctuary. We tried to account for all known costs in todays dollars and used the highest estimates to produce the figure of $2.9 million. If we receive approval to pursue this further, we will work on refining both the plans and the cost estimates. Our aim is to be practical and build what we need for as little as possible.

Not at the moment. This is not our priority. While other sources of funds and ideas for raising funds are welcome, we believe the 200 families that call Emmanuel their home church in Westbank are the financial backbone for the project. We need to be unified in our desire to move forward on this project and be able to manage it financially by ourselves in order to proceed.

According to our feasibility study, the estimated project cost is $2.9 million. There are 200 families that are members or adherents of Emmanuel Westbank Campus. Our plan is to raise 12.5% of the project cost each year for 5 years and carry the balance with a mortgage. This requires an average commitment of about $1,800 per family per year. That's a sacrifice of $150 per month for each of the families. We believe this is possible if the congregation is behind it.

If every family contributed $2,900 per year for 5 years ($242 per month), the entire project could be finished without requiring a mortgage.

We recognize that some families have committed much more than this amount per year based on the plebiscites that have come in, while other families have indicated a much lower monthly commitment due to current financial restraints. We understand that there will be diversity in what people are able to contribute.

We can pray. Let's make this a matter of sincere prayer. This is not a human intellectual decision but one that must be made after consulting God's Spirit.

We can indicate our support. Filling in the plebiscite and turning it in before the end of October helps the leadership team understand the level of support and address any areas of concern. Feel free to ask questions to any of the pastors or deacons.

We can plan on attending the congregation meeting on November 14th, at 7 pm, where members will be asked whether we proceed with this dream or not.

Emmanuel is one church with two campuses. We ask all of our families to pray for God's direction in this matter. If God speaks to you to assist in this project, we encourage you to participate. Peachland currently has a building program and we desire to purchase land and/or facilities there one day. As the Westbank campus may be giving towards paving and building, the Peachland campus could also give towards its own capital campaign.

On the plebiscite a yes or no vote simply indicates the level of support and/or financial ability prior to making the congregational decision.

In November when the membership is asked to vote on this project, a yes vote means moving forward with a 5 year plan to build a sanctuary. This plan has yearly objectives and benchmarks. Should those benchmarks not be achieved, it would slow the process of the project. A no vote would end the current pursuit of building a sanctuary. It would likely shelf the idea of building a sanctuary for the next 5 to 10 years.