NEW PALESTINE — They had heard good things about this church.
When Tom and Tammy Templeton were looking for a house of worship about 10 years ago, they paid a visit to New Palestine Bible Church — and found it as advertised.
“The people are such a genuine, warm congregation,” Tammy Templeton said. “They love Christ and want to reach out to the community and serve others.”
While she notes they visited several churches in the area, and saw love and active ministry in them, they felt God “was leading us there to worship and to serve.”
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“It’s a friendly church,” Tom Templeton said. “You can’t come into the church and not get greeted.”
The church has an eye toward making room to greet more. It anticipates expanding its ministry center in 2020.
An addition would triple the square footage of the building at 5954 W. County Road 300S, allowing the people of the congregation to worship together in one service on Sunday mornings. Currently, the church offers two Sunday services (9:15 a.m., 11 a.m.) in its building at 27 W. Main St. (U.S. 52) in downtown New Palestine.
The church recently broke ground at the site on County Road 300S. Members celebrated and marked the beginning of some site preparation but also await more activity there next year. Plans for 2020 include the arrival of a ministry that offers volunteer labor that will speed the construction and save the church money.
A building campaign has been in place at the church for several years, and associate pastor Daron Day said people have been generous. The timing of the build is influenced by the pace at which the rest of the finances for the project come into place.
The plan includes a new 300-seat auditorium to the west and a classroom wing to northeast, with new parking space and landscaping.
After expansion, the building’s existing auditorium would become a narthex, said senior pastor Brett Crump. Current classrooms would become offices.
The recent groundbreaking took place before the start of some site preparation, such as preparing a slab foundation.
That ceremony wasn’t the first groundbreaking Rick Sharpless has attended on the six-acre site. When the ministry center was built, it was the worship space for New Faith Community Church, a Southern Baptist congregation. Sharpless was part of that church, so he was at its 2008 groundbreaking too. Years later, New Faith Community joined with New Palestine Bible Church; since then, the church website and some signage have been worded “New Palestine Bible Church, a Community of Faith.”
In 2012 the building was sold to Water’s Edge Church. In late 2015 Water’s Edge also joined with New Palestine Bible Church. Day, the Water’s Edge pastor, joined the New Palestine Bible Church staff.
New Faith had invited some neighboring churches to the 2008 groundbreaking. A photo from that event was displayed at the recent New Palestine Bible Church groundbreaking.
“There are some neat things God has done in the past,” Crump said. “All three churches were represented in that photo.”
Eleven years later, they’re one united congregation.
“In the end you have what I see is a strong church … coming together,” Crump said.
Sharpless sees that, too.
“The congregation is — I would call them a family.” In highs and lows, he said, “No matter where you are in your life, they are there to share in that…
“Being able to be under one roof as one family gathered together to serve the Lord … will be great.”
