Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington Church Of Christ Moves Into New Worship Center
FARMINGTON — Farmington Church of Christ moved into a new worship auditorium this summer and will focus on using the additional space to reach the community.
“We are thrilled to have this building and not worry about what we are going to do for space,” said Luke Dockery, associate minister. “Now, we can concentrate on filling it up.”
The church built a 9,380-squarefoot addition that includes a 400-seat auditorium, classroom space, a nursing mom’s room, stateof-the-art audio/visual system, a new room for children with special needs, foyer and restrooms.
The facility was built with the capability to allow the church to remove the semi-permanent back walls and expand the auditorium by 90 more seats.
The church’s former auditorium seated 240 people but felt “tight” with 200 people, Dockery said.
“We’ve been having 230 to 240 people in church and that’s why it was such a need to expand,” he said, adding, “” We’ve had such rapid growth the past few years that it has been hard to keep up with it.”
The new building is phase one of a plan to meet the needs of the church. Dockery said the former auditorium will be used as a new fellowship hall and the old fellowship hall will be renovated as classroom space and for the church’s community preschool program, called Thursday School. The church also plans to upgrade its kitchen.
Mark Cunningham, Farmington’s fire chief, has been a member of Farmington Church of Christ for 57 years and said the new building will help with church growth.
“It’s a proven fact a church will only grow if you have enough room to put people,” Cunningham said, noting when a church reaches a certain capacity, people do not feel
comfortable anymore. For many years, the church would have about 200 people in worship, drop off in attendance and then build back up to 200.
“We’ve needed this building for a long time. This structure is a tool to reach out to the community,” Cunningham said, pointing out it goes along with the church mission statement: “The Farmington Church of Christ exists to glorify God by making and maturing disciples to be like Christ.”
Dockery added, “This is not an end goal but a means to an end.”
Cunningham said the church membership stepped out in faith to build the new worship center. The addition cost about $1.8 million and the church did not have enough cash for such a facility. The church held a capital campaign to raise funds and believes members will step up to help pay for the building.
Already, contributions have increased significantly, Cunningham said.
“Spiritually, if we’re doing what God wants us to do, he will bless us,” Dockery said.
The church’s ministers and elders held many meetings in planning the new building. Elders who participated on a building committee included Cunningham, Bob Beeler, Marion Bailey and Bill Bequette.
Church minister Mike Raine said the new building will be an asset to the church but also the community as well.
In filling up the new space, he said his emphasis is on filling people with God.
He attributes church growth over the past few years to an attitude of looking out, instead of just looking in.
“Our focus is that this is mainly a new tool to reach the community,” Raine said.
Dockery said one of the concerns with a larger building was that it would feel too big or feel empty. He has not found that to be the case, saying, “It feels nice in here.” Along with Sunday worship services, the auditorium also is used for Wednesday night Bible study and for an adult Bible class on Sunday mornings.
Farmington Church of Christ held its first meeting in 1937 with a group of 15 people in a borrowed church building. The church later met in a tent and then in a home. Its first permanent building was constructed in 1945 and a new, larger auditorium was constructed in 1973. Over the years, the church added classrooms, offices and a fellowship annex.