The North American Mission Board worked with MG+A in the construction of First Baptist Sutherland Springs, Texas’ new worship facility.
Loans are available to church planters who pass NAMB’s assessment as well as go through a process with NAMB’s church loans team. Those loans are available for church plants to purchase or, in some cases, build, said NAMB spokesman Mike Ebert.
“As they mature, most plants re-finance with another lender and pay off the loan with us. Most church plants utilize a local contractor and there are too many of them for us to be able to make recommendations,” he said. “We do suggest questions to ask and how best to walk through the due diligence process with a general contractor.”
A 2015 volume of The Journal of Florida Baptist Heritage pointed to trends over the last 50 years moving away from construction plans espoused in Burroughs’ book, which was updated in 1920 with minor changes.
For one, several large churches such as First Baptist Orlando constructed or remodeled modern buildings “to create mega-church stadium seating facilities with the latest in sound, lighting and audio-video technology.”
Another trend came in large churches buying out existing structures such as defunct shopping malls and essentially transforming them into churches. First Baptist in Lakeland, Fla., did this and established a new name – Church at the Mall. It has since changed its name to Lakes Church and meets among three campuses.
A third trend is churches gathering in homes until affordable meeting space can be found. The Florida journal cited it specifically among the hundreds of mission congregations in economically challenged areas.
Florida Baptist Convention Public Relations director Donald Hepburn wrote that particular article for the journal and concluded with “the ‘church’ can now be defined theologically as a ‘people,’ but also may be defined by its purpose and place.”
Healthy relationships are important for mental health. A congregation is no different, with studies showing that resilient faith in young adults is connected to strong relationships within church.
Burroughs placed a priority on worship space.
“The auditorium should be marked by reverent dignity such as will inspire worship,” he wrote. He didn’t care for “irregular and sometimes fantastic proportions of some modern (for him) auditoriums [that] must grieve and even offend worshippers.”
