Children were the first to break ground on the new sanctuary at MFUMC.

Photo: Brian Hodge

By BRIAN HODGE

The Millbrook First United Methodist Church is having a problem...too many people and not enough space. But as Pastor Dr. Nathan Attwood told the crowd at the church's groundbreaking ceremony for a new sanctuary on Sunday, that is a good problem to have.

"The current sanctuary holds around 200 people but feels full with around 150 people in it. The new sanctuary will hold 450 in the nave and 50 in the choir," Attwood said.

Attwood joined the church as Senior Pastor last year, but the desire to expand the church have been growing for the past six years, according to Jerry Keel, Chairman of the church's board of trustees. Keel told a crowd of faithful gathered for the ceremony that six years ago the church leadership took a hard look at the church's finances, needs and capabilities with eye toward expansion.

Keel said that the church leaders made a conscious decision to pay off a $400,000 construction debt in only 3 years and begin listening sessions with church members to develop a longterm capital campaign. The results of those listening sessions lead to a plan for many desired facilities including: a new sanctuary, children's area, youth center, and expanded administrative space. When the architects crunched the numbers they came back with a price tag of $8.3 million.

"That is a mighty big elephant and we had to determine how we could tackle it one bite at a time," Keel said. The new church sanctuary, Keel added, is the first step in the capital plan. The church's current sanctuary was built in the 1960's.

"I wonder if the last group of people who got together and built our current sanctuary had any idea how many lives would be changed, how many people would be saved because they provided a place for worship. We will have some inconveniences as part of this expansion. For some of us our favorite pew will no longer be there, or our desired parking spot may go away. But we can live with that, in light of the profound impact this new sanctuary will have on the lives of people that come after us," Keel said.

The actual groundbreaking ceremony was truly a churchwide event. Young children and teens shovelled the first two rounds of sand, followed by everyone in attendance who wanted to break ground themselves.