Building Hope

The existing church building will remain and be repurposed as a multi-use space. We will need it for our growing Youth and Kids ministries, and also other services such as weddings, funerals, and other occasional uses. It will still get plenty of use.

As with all giving at Hope Church, only the wardens and treasurers see the accounts. The Pastors do not know what the members of church give.

Currently, we have three services on a Sunday. This already makes Sunday very busy. It would be very difficult to add any other service times on Sunday given our first service already begins at 9am (leaving no room for early start times).

Our afternoons are also full of events, training, music practice, and team meetings. If we were to have an afternoon service time it would compromise many other church events on Sundays. If needed we could consider service times on other days, but this won’t alleviate the constraints we have on Sunday mornings. The majority of people have church on Sunday mornings.

This is a great question we have considered multiple times. At one level, yes, we want to keep church planting on the agenda as a church. However, there are some issues in planting any time soon.

Firstly, there are very few building options in Leppington to plant into at the moment. Secondly, purchasing more land or another building is more expensive than building on our current lot of land. Thirdly, given Leppington and surrounds has a current population of 20,000 and will grow to 60,000 by 2041, we would be wise to maximise our current site for maximum gospel impact for the future of the church of God in Leppington.

At this stage we are still acquiring estimates for the final build. The price of the building will become clearer as we submit a development application and have clarity on the final design. The Parish Council will not begin to construct a building that we cannot afford. Neither would the Sydney Anglican Diocese let us commence a build that we could not afford.

This is in the hand of God. At the moment, He continues to grow us. We are seeking to be faithful with what God is doing at this moment and we can only make decisions in light of what we know.

However, humanly speaking, we are unlikely to stop growing. Our suburb and surrounds has a current population of 20,000 that is forecast to grow to 60,000 in the next 15 years. Furthermore, there is unlikely to be many (if any more) churches in Leppington, given the price of land and buildings. 

As a church we want to see the hope of Jesus in as many homes as we can. God is doing a “thing” amongst us, and our job is to be faithful and continue to share the hope of Jesus with as many people as we can. God is worthy of such glory, and people are perishing without the Hope of Jesus.

In that sense, no church will ever be “big enough” if we want as many people as possible to know and glorify God. Of course, we will need to work hard as the church of God in Leppington to make sure we are a loving and welcoming church. There is no “right” size when it comes to church, and big and small churches all have their own challenges.

We want to see the hope of Jesus in as many homes as possible. Currently, that will take more space and more Ministry Staff members. As the church of God in Leppington, together we will need to keep giving generously to both these needs. As our church family grows, our shared capacity to give and make an impact grows with it. God willing, this will enable us to keep doing great ministry in Leppington.

We are very thankful to God for the generosity of those outside our church that helped to build our current buildings. However, it is now our turn to fund the new build for ourselves. This is normal and good. We are to steward the church of God in Leppington and its resources for the glory of God and the salvation of people. The majority if not all of the costs associated with the new auditorium will need to be raised from our church members.