Sanctuary Expansion Proposal: April 2026
Hi BCC Family,
At our congregational meeting on April 26, we shared an updated proposal for expanding our sanctuary to make room for growth at BCC. We wanted to summarize the highlights from this proposal for those who were unable to attend. We are planning to vote on this proposal after the service on May 31.
Since 2022, our average attendance has grown on Sunday from 186 to 275 people! After adding an additional 40 seats this past summer, our sanctuary can comfortably host approximately 285 people. Over the past 5 months, our average attendance has continued to be 275 people.
Here is the month-by-month breakdown: December - 289, January - 265, February- 258, March - 281, April - 292. We have had 8 Sundays above the 285 capacity limit over the last five months. We are grateful to see the way God is drawing people to our church community, and we want to continue to make room for what God is doing!
We are proposing adding an additional 14 rows of seating (7 rows on each side), which will allow for an additional 80 permanent seats. The sanctuary was designed to expand to the right and the left. The slant floor exists below the classrooms that are currently in this part of the church.
These bump-outs would result in the loss of classroom B and the reduction of the size of classroom C. We would retain two mid-size classrooms of about 400 square feet that could accommodate groups of 15-20 people. On the next page, you can see the new floor plan. The pink sections represent new seating.
We also explored the feasibility of framing in our back patio to add a mid-sized classroom space. We have discerned that this is not going to be a feasible and cost-effective way to add space. The proposed cost for the back patio addition grew to $300,000. A major obstacle we ran into was related to our fire detection system. Our current system is not on the market, and in order to tie the new space into the existing space, the city's permitting department was going to require us to change our entire fire system, with a cost of around $70,000.
While we believe we could raise the funds needed for this addition, we do not think this is the best way to steward our resources. We would like to begin by seeing how we can steward our existing space for groups and classes. We envision our larger mid-week groups using spaces like the multi-purpose room, dining room, foyer, or youth room. On Sunday mornings, we envision larger life together classes gathering in the sanctuary in one of these new bump-out sections. We may opt for chairs instead of the pews to allow for more flexibility in these spaces.
If we determine that we do need more classroom space in the future, we have learned that the patio extension is not our best way to proceed. We think we could get more for our investment by exploring other expansion options on our back lawn. This would also preserve the patio, which is used regularly by our youth program.
The proposed budget for the sanctuary expansion project is between $200-$250 thousand dollars. We are still awaiting some final bid numbers from a couple of subcontractors and plan to have a final budget before we vote on May 31. We are proposing using half of the covid relief funds we have recently received from the IRS, which amounts to $75,0000. We’d like to put aside the other half for future maintenance and capital improvement needs. This leaves us with a fundraising goal of $125-$175 thousand dollars. If we vote to approve this project, we will embark on a capital campaign in June and July of this year.
After reviewing multiple bids, we are proposing that we hire Dave Carlson as our general contractor. He has indicated a high likelihood that he could complete this project during the summer months. We are hoping that this will allow us to avoid disruptions when our fall programming starts up. We do not envision our regular services being disrupted during construction.
We invite you to prayerfully consider this proposal as we move towards a vote after the service on May 31. We will host a Q/A time after the service in the sanctuary on May 3 and 17 if you would like to talk with members of the Lead Team.
God Bless,
Pastor Phil