In January & February, IAC is going to be embarking on our first ever Capital Campaign. It’s a big deal in the life of our church, and I wanted to write an overview (as brief as I can make it!) of what to expect.
Why are we doing this? Because we need to create more space at the table!
IAC has been growing. For example, average Sunday attendance has grown 20% per year each of the last two years, and yet over 80% of IAC is engaged in the church beyond Sunday mornings. This is incredible! But our current facility – which we rent from Central Seventh Day Adventist – is growing tighter by the day. As a result, we need more space at the table for Sunday morning worship, Monday through Saturday ministry needs, and missional partnerships within the community.
The recent shift to 3 services addresses some of these needs (like having space for people to find a seat on Sunday mornings), but leaves many other needs unaddressed. It also has side effects - like shorter services and an increased workload on certain staff and volunteer teams - that we think will be unhealthy for us long-term. After years of conversation and a full year of intensive deliberation within our Church Council and Executive Team (feel free to contact them!), we believe the best next step is to find a facility that will better facilitate all the ways we “receive and release the gospel that heals – together.”
One of the primary challenges we face is financial readiness. A project of this scope figures to be $9-10 million dollars in the current market. Although we have a good start because of prudent savings built over the last decade, we do not yet have necessary finances for a down payment or a responsible mortgage on a facility large enough to accommodate us. Therefore, in January and February we will be conducting a “capital campaign” (fundraising initiative) to invite all of us to help create more space at the table.
IAC has never undertaken a project of this magnitude, and we know that there are many things we don’t know. Therefore, we have hired experts to help us along this journey. The Church Development group, led by Denis Greene, has led over a hundred of these campaigns at churches across the country. We choose this group based on their alignment with our culture and their commitment to foster discipleship and prayer in the process: they use words like discernment, prayer, and teams almost as much as we do! Denis and his whole staff (especially our primary representative Christian Watkins) have been an absolute joy to work with so far.
The first step of this process was the Feasibility Study, which we completed in October. We were honestly overwhelmed at the expectancy bubbling up around the possibility of a new facility. Over two-thirds of the church filled out the feasibility study (the average for Church Development is 10%), a sign of tremendous interest. In that survey, we discovered that 74% of the church was ready to move forward with the process of finding a new facility now, while 23% simply needed more information to have an opinion. Incredibly, 94% expressed confidence in our leadership teams to make wise decisions in these areas. One of the signs that Jesus is leading us in a certain direction is that the discernment of the leadership and congregation come together. We certainly felt that alignment from this feasibility study!
Our next step was to develop Volunteer Teams so that this Campaign could be truly IAC-led. On Nov. 17th these teams gathered for the first time and began their work in a lively kick-off meeting that was marked by tons of joy and expectancy for what’s ahead. We are thrilled to say that almost 50 non-staff IAC’ers are now participating in these teams, and the work they’re doing has already been tremendously fruitful. In a separate blog post HERE, we’re going to be highlighting weekly updates from these teams: be watching for those updates in IAC Notes!
As you might expect, there are other processes underway at the same time we are planning the Capital Campaign. We are working with experienced local real estate brokers (Sam Cameron and the Thrive Group) to help locate facility possibilities in central Colorado Springs. A Facility Discovery Team of IAC’ers with giftings in commercial real estate, architecture, construction, and more has been formed to help us vet these possibilities, and we are encouraged by the first set of options we’ve seen. We hope to be able to share more soon about specific locations. We’ve also begun the work of selecting banks, architects, and lawyers to help guide us through the hurdles once we’ve selected a facility to pursue.
The Capital Campaign will officially begin on January 5th and run through March 2nd. We are committed to this relatively short season of focus to protect the integrity of Lent and Holy Week. It is crucial that we – as a church - keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is not a facility: it is the gospel of Jesus that is bringing healing.
Even for that short season, the Capital Campaign won’t take over everything we do as a church. Our sermon series will not be focused on giving, for example, since we have videos of teaching on financial discipleship readily available. Sunday morning worship will remain focused on the gospel, and specifically on all the ways God brings healing as we gather around the table with him as our host. We will, however, give updates weekly on all that’s happening in the campaign so everyone remains informed.
The core of the campaign will be two types of events:
On Jan. 26th and Feb. 9th, we will be having two identical Church-Wide Gatherings to share about the capital campaign, potential options for a facility, and more. We are asking every household at IAC to send a representative to one of these two meetings. Please note that the Feb. 9th meeting is on Super Bowl Sunday: please plan accordingly. To make it easier to attend, we’ll have childcare at each gathering. We’ll be starting our time with a dessert potluck, so bring the best dessert you've got!
However, we know that large-group meetings have limits. We are also going to be hosting 25-30 smaller “Table Gatherings” around the city in January & February, hosted by a member of Executive Team as well as another member of IAC’s leadership. These gatherings will be limited to 20 adults to ensure everyone gets a chance to speak. At each one, we’ll eat together, share stories of where we see God working in our lives, and talk together about the possibilities for a new facility. Be watching the Notes later this month for chances to sign up to host one of these gatherings. In early January everyone will be able to sign up to attend. Again, we are asking that every IAC household be represented at these Table Gatherings: we think they’ll be both fun and meaningful!
Throughout the campaign, we’ll be doing four things:
In order to provide money for the down payment, as well as supporting an ongoing mortgage, we will be asking IAC’ers to pray about two different types of giving to a Facility Fund: Immediate giving and 3-year pledges. Immediate giving is crucial to create an appropriate down payment, while 3-year pledges will help make a mortgage fiscally responsible.
We will be asking people to begin discernment of their gift at either 3% of their annual income (above current giving) for 3 years, OR 3% of their total assets. For some, these numbers will be larger than what’s possible. For others, smaller. But we trust that God will provide what we need as we pray and discern together!
While we are trusting God’s generosity through his people to bring us what we need, it is crucial to understand that giving to our General Fund is still vitally important! If our General Fund suffers, staffing and ministries will be at risk. We are asking for people to continue their General Fund giving (and even increase it as appropriate!) while also discerning additional giving to the Facility Fund.
The Campaign will close with a Commitment Sunday on Sunday, March 2nd (the last Sunday of Epiphany). On that day, we’ll collect the 3-year pledges and the amount of money readily available for a down payment. And in the midst of that celebration, we’ll start to make serious decisions about what’s next for a facility purchase.
For most people at IAC, the next action steps are simple: pray for us as we begin to embark on this campaign together (perhaps using the prayer below!), and please begin discerning what kind of gift might be possible for you and your household.
We have been told by some IAC’ers that they will be enabled to give more if they can give some funds in this calendar year. If you’d like to get a head-start on your giving to our Facility Fund, simply email Pastor Peter (our Treasurer) at peter@springsiac.org for details.
We are truly expectant for this upcoming season. God has been faithful to IAC so many times over the last twenty-two years: new faces have been added to the table each year, and he’s given us everything we need to welcome them well. We trust that this will be another “stone of remembrance” (Joshua 4) in that ongoing journey. Come Lord Jesus: help us create space at the table for us and others to meet with you!
In expectancy,
Pastor Ken
“Father, everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand (1 Chron. 29:14 NIV). As we prepare to make space at the table for others, we pray that the giving of our time, talents and resources towards this project will be a way of receiving and releasing your healing gospel - together. What we bring is already yours: use it for your kingdom purposes. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear your direction for your growing church. Amen.”