Why did we build?
We have built a new sanctuary to have a tool for "Bearing Fruit." We did not build because we had an "edifice complex," but because we want to grow, and understand that our building will be a means to that end, through enhanced worship and educational facilities.
We do not have a Field of Dreams philosophy - "if you build it, they will come" - although some will come, and we welcome them! We built to fulfill our identity as a worshipping community, committed to bearing fruit, and a kind of worship, which is pleasing to our Lord.
In our "Challenge to Build" program, we began with a concentrated time of prayer. If are to move now from "Challenge to Build" to "Challenge to Grow, " that is, "Challenge to Bear Fruit," then there must be intense, continuing prayer.
Our growth or "Bearing Fruit" at Hinshaw has always been a result of focused prayer and intentional outreach through our Sunday School program. It is as simple, if we start new Sunday School Classes we grow; if not, we either remain the same or decline in our attendance.
In the same way we, as a church, were unable to expand our facility until we acquired additional property; our Sunday School has been unable to expand until we have room to start new classes. The building of a new sanctuary not only gives us a beautiful place to worship, it also frees up much needed space where new Sunday School classes can be started; but most important, many more people can be reached for Christ, our Savior.
"Bearing Fruit" is what God commands us to do; building a new sanctuary gives us a tool that will help us in following that command. The decisions we have made in the past few years will affect God's work in Wilkes County for generations to come.
Prayers, love, and sacrificial giving of previous generations are the reasons our church is standing as a lighthouse in our community today. It is my hope that thirty years from now; when the next generation is preparing for another building program, they will find us as faithful as we have found previous generations here at Hinshaw.