Building a Tool for Ministry

LifePoint Church’s Expansion Projects are about Advancing Good and Changing Lives

By Glenn Pfeiffer, lead past of LifePoint Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

In 2006, the Lord called me and my wife, Denise, and our four kids to move to Harrisburg to start a brand new church. There was a building. It had good bones, had been a prior Brethren in Christ Church. But it needed renovation because there was no space for fellowship.

We contacted the BIC Foundation and said, “We have a vision to reach people, but there’s no room for them to really connect – which is a big part of who we are. We’d like to create a social space, a connection space.”

Even though it was early and a bit of a risk for the Foundation because we didn’t have a big track record financially, they provided the loan for us. That made a difference. And that’s where we began to say, how can a building be a tool to accomplish our ministry?

When we talk about a building and what that means, it’s always in service to that mission. It’s never an end in itself. It’s not a monument to me. It’s not a monument to a board or a few families that give money. It’s not just about brick and mortar. No, this is mission, so it needs to accomplish something.

Over time our congregation outgrew our old sanctuary, so we went to two services and then three. People were excited to come here, and they wanted to invite their friends. But we were out of room. We recognized that there was a real cap on our ability to reach people because we needed more empty seats. So we built a brand new auditorium with funding from a local bank.

We were two weeks from our grand opening in our new auditorium and very excited – and then COVID hit. We worked our way through COVID, but attendance certainly dipped.

After COVID, people started coming back in a big way. In our new auditorium, everyone fit into one service. Then that filled up and we added a second service. We filled that one again and added a third service, which is where we stand today.

With another expansion project on the horizon, we decided to work with the Foundation again. We’ve consolidated our auditorium loan with our next building project: a west wing expansion. The impetus behind this west wing project was really to make space for family ministries, but also rooms where multiple groups could meet simultaneously.

Another theme that we use a lot when we talk about building is that we’re here to “advance good and change lives.” A building is never an end in itself, but it can be immensely helpful to advance God’s Kingdom in this world if we use it the right way.

The Foundation has been amazing, and we’re very thankful for their vision. I’m thankful for how they’re missional and how they have helped us immensely at various stages of our church growth and development over the years.