Believers church groundbreaking set
Published 7:59 pm Saturday, August 6, 2016
- Heather Carl, Believers Church communications and outreach director, stands at the new church site, which is located on Bridgeway Drive in North Suffolk.
Believers Church will be relocating to Suffolk from the Western Branch area next fall.
During the last few years, due to a growing congregation and limited ability to seat everyone, church officials began looking to expand elsewhere. Within the last few months, the church found a space in North Suffolk off Bridgeway Drive.
“There are definitely growing pains with staying in our current space,” said Heather Carl, communications and outreach director at the church.
The 40-year old church currently has a congregation of more than 2,200. Every Sunday, the church hosts four Sunday services, and even then the sanctuary is still overcrowded.
Carl expects the new facility to seat about 900 people, more than twice the current sanctuary’s capacity.
The 50,000 square-foot facility will also have a kitchen, café, day school, a fellowship hall and an indoor and outdoor playground. There will also be an outdoor amphitheater and rooms to serve families with special needs.
“We are building the church with the intent to meet the needs of the community,” Carl said.
Church members etched their prayer requests and names onto a cross that will hang up in the new sanctuary, church member Archie Brock stated in an email.
Building God’s Way, a Utah-based architect firm, and CW Brinkley Construction will be handling the project. Construction is expected to be complete by October 2017. The estimated cost for the project is $10.1 million.
A groundbreaking event is scheduled for Aug. 22, according to Brock. Church members will gather at the new site to dig shovelfuls of dirt, marking the beginning of the construction process.
“Everyone is really pumped,” Carl said. “We hope this can be a great center for community unity.”
The current church building, a 32,327-square-foot structure located on Peek Trail, off Portsmouth Boulevard near Chesapeake Square, is already up for sale and is listed by CBRE|Hampton Roads with an asking price of $3.3 million.
That building includes a parking area with 262 spaces and is situated on a 4.8-acre lot.
