There’s no avoiding the fact that this project will cost a lot of money. By the end of the project, we estimate that it will cost over $10m. But that’s not much when you consider the long-term impact this building will have under God. Our hope is that the building will serve thousands and thousands of people over the next 50 years. Can we afford it? Only with God’s help. Can we afford not to try? No. Preaching the gospel to the lost is too important. 

There are lots of things that churches have to spend money on, including buildings. Over the years we’ve made small and gradual alterations and additions to our building, but we believe the time has now come to address our facilities holistically with an eye to the future. This is a normal thing for churches to do. We’re also convinced it is a necessary step for us to take if we are going to continue to meet the needs of our growing church family and to reach those in our growing local community. 

Global mission and mercy ministries are undoubtedly important to our church. But our best chance of multiplying what we are currently giving to missions and mercy is by growing the church. We have seen wonderful growth over the last few years, which has increased our giving to global missions and mercy ministries. The fact is, growing churches are able to give more each and every year. If this project will help our church reach more people and grow hearts engaged in God’s global mission, then we will give even more over the next 20 to 30 years. Additionally, our own Care Ministry, which includes the Community Cupboard, will benefit significantly from this project, with much needed improvement to the facilities they use each week. 

As committed Christians and gifted architects, Casey and Bek Vallance (from CultivAR Architecture) understand both churches and church buildings. Throughout the entire process, they have sought to ensure the plans are functional and useful for the life of our church, welcoming and comfortable, and great value for money. Additionally, we have leaned on members of our church family with experience in the industry (both members of the Building Committee and others) to ensure that the plans are reasonable and feasible. The reality is that any building project is expensive, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good value. 

Under the terms of our Constitution, formal member approval is not required for the building project per se. However, we do not plan on including any building project expenditure in our operational budget for 2025, which will be put to the members for approval at the 2025 AGM (usually held in May). Therefore, if the building project proceeds in the second half of 2025, we propose to seek approval of formal members at that point in time for a revised budget that includes the building project expenditure. In any event, the truth of the matter is that no building project will proceed unless it is practically supported by the financial gifts and prayers of our broader church family, whether formal members or otherwise. 

The CRCA, which is the network of all Christian Reformed churches in Australia, is the denomination we belong to. To expect them to pay for this project would be like other churches expecting us to pay for their building renewals. Our denomination exists to provide administrative services to the local church. The local churches are where the action is, and the denomination gives each church a lot of freedom to pursue initiatives that they deem best to reach their part of Australia. The CRCA provides assistance in other areas, but this is our responsibility, not theirs. 

A good principle when it comes to giving to the work of the gospel is that we want equal sacrifice not equal amounts. To raise $3 million, we need on average 500 people to give $6,000. For some people a gift of $6,000 will be beyond them. For others, a gift of $50,000 would not even be a sacrifice. All of us need to set aside time to bring this to God in prayer. Ask him to lead you and give you a heart for him and a heart of generosity. If you are married or have children, do this together. Assess your financial situation and work out what would be sacrificial in your circumstances. 

Church buildings don’t connect anyone to Jesus. However, they do provide a place where people can hear the gospel, gather around God’s word, serve one another, and grow together. Investing in a building sometimes seems like it’s an alternative to investing in people, but it’s not. The building exists to serve people. Investing in the building is investing in the ministry which will happen here for the next 50 years. That’s why it’s worth doing. 

Yes. Please bear in mind that the day-to-day running of Oasis Church depends on people’s regular giving. Giving to this project should be in addition to your normal church giving. Therefore, if Oasis Church is your church and you haven’t started giving regularly yet, please start giving regularly first (oasischurch.com.au/give), and then give to the building fund second. 

We will feel a range of emotions as we give sacrificially with our finances, not dissimilar to giving our energy and time. This is not unusual. To encourage the Corinthian church to “excel in (the) grace of giving” (2 Cor. 8:7), the Apostle Paul wrote to them, “I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:8-9). Paul points their eyes, and ours, to Christ. This is why we give. Because God has given everything to us in Christ. This is the glorious reality that melts our hearts and moves us towards generosity. This is why Paul reminds the Corinthians in the next chapter, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:6-7). 

We have sufficient cash in the bank to meet our ongoing operational and ministry needs and to meet any unexpected expenditure requirements. But there is no existing building fund as we haven’t undertaken any significant works to our building in recent years or conducted any capital fundraising campaigns. 

Our collective response to the giving campaign will determine the scope and speed of the work that is undertaken. We hope to complete all of Stage One initially, but if necessary, we will modify the plans depending upon the amount we are able to raise. This might mean we have to remove certain elements from the proposed plan, e.g. not build the roof over the plaza. 

This would be wonderful! Some of the benefits would include expanding the scope of Stage One or reducing the amount we would have to borrow. 

We are committed to renewing our facilities. The amount we raise through the ‘Renew & Reach’ campaign will determine the scope of what we can do. If we don’t raise the full amount we may have to scale back on the project. The Building Committee will consider their options at the appropriate point in time and communicate with the church family in due course. 

If all goes to plan we are hopeful that construction on Stage One could begin in the second half of 2025. 

We expect we’ll need to borrow around $1 to 1.5 million to finance the completion of Stage One. If we borrow $1.5 million at 7% interest for a 15-year term, we would need additional gifts of around $162,000 per year. This is roughly $550 per household per year. We believe this is attainable. 

In fact, it is an important feature of how we are approaching this project. We want to ensure that most of the costs of the building project are paid for up front. This will minimise the amount of interest paid over the long term, avoid an excessive debt burden in future years, and help ensure the church’s ongoing financial resilience. By limiting the amount that we will borrow and committing only to build what we have the money to build today, our church family will determine the scope of this project according to the amount that we are willing to give. 

Just like normal church giving, only the Accountant and Treasurer, along with limited Administrative Staff, will manage pledges and financial gifts. 

Yes, we do anticipate there will be ways for the church family to get involved using their gifts and time to help us reduce the costs in certain areas. We will be sure to let you know about these opportunities when the time comes. 

We have certainly grown over the last few years. Our average attendance across all three services on Sunday’s (including kids) throughout 2024 has been 47% higher than 2022 and 13% higher than 2023. There is, however, still space for us to fit more people into our services. There were certain times of the year where we approached capacity in the two morning services, but generally speaking we still have some room to grow in our current auditorium. 

There are also practical considerations with the staging. To reorient the auditorium and build into the hall to expand the auditorium seating capacity, we will lose the existing foyer and kitchen. That is why Stage One is proposed to be the new foyer and plaza including the new amenities block (where the new kitchen will eventually be co-located). We believe by beginning with Stage One, a welcoming foyer and central gathering area, which is visible to our local community, we will be able to welcome more people and be in a position to address our auditorium a few years down the track. 

No, even with the proposed changes to our auditorium, we will continue with two morning services. This will give us plenty of space to grow and to reach more people into the future. We do anticipate, however, the foyer and outdoor plaza area will serve as a central gathering place for our entire church family before and between our Sunday services. 

Praise God for growth! This is a good problem to have and the ministry team is prayerfully considering how we can continue to run our ministries effectively while we wait for a larger space. We are fortunate that we are able to use some of the classrooms over at Genesis Christian College. 

As an initial step, in 2025, we are changing the age brackets for Creche, Jnr Kids and Kids Church, so that one year level is effectively moving out of the hall where there is the most capacity pressure and into The Shed where there is room to grow. This will help in the near term, however, we expect that additional creative solutions may be required if we continue to grow at the current rate, particularly at the 8am service. We are monitoring this closely and will communicate any changes to the church family. 

If you have more questions, we’d love to hear them. It’s good questions that help us ensure we have looked at everything. Please feel free to email us or come to one of the Q&A nights.