Restoring Church Building for Worship

Campaign Created by: J. Charles Humphrey

The funds from this campaign will be received by Communion Fellowship Church.

Goal: USD $30,000
Raised: USD $ 11,215

Communion Fellowship Church had been gathering in a meeting room or gym at the YWCA since it first started in 2017. During October (their five-year anniversary) they decided to do a three-month season of prayer and consideration to seek the Lord's wisdom and direction for ministry and possibly a more permanent place where they could worship. Before the three months were up, they were given this old country church building in Mendota, Virginia by another church that was no longer using it! Built in 1954, and used by four other churches in the past, this building has been sitting empty for a few years while it has accumulated some serious floor support damage. The crawlspace needed to be remediated, half of the floor joists needed replaced, and to replace the joists the subfloor & flooring needed to be replaced. The floor also needs to be insulated, and an ADA approved ramp needs to be built.  And this is what is needed just to get where they can get in and worship in the building. 

The roof and walls are in decent shape, but the windows seem to be original and are in desperate need of replacing. The building has no HVAC or air conditioner, and only has one in-floor electric heater, so they also could use a mini-split ductless unit for heating and cooling.  Since there is no nursery, they are also hoping to close in a bump-out in the back of the sanctuary to make for a comfortable soundproof cry room with two-way glass and a speaker quietly bringing in sound from inside sanctuary. Long-term they would like refurbish an unused storage room to make into a kitchenette, and they would like to replace the pews with chairs since there is no fellowship hall or area where they can have meals together. 

To save money they started worshiping as a home church in a member family's home in January.  The goal was to be in the church building in the spring of 2023, with a cautiously optimistic goal of early April. The pastor and many of the families of this church already live near this church building, and have already ministered in this community for some time. Neighbors remember years ago when the church building would be so packed that they would open the widows so that the overflow of people outside could participate in the singing. It is their hope to bring the joyful praises and proclamation of Jesus Christ back into this old church building.  Your support and help are greatly appreciated!!

Note: If you would rather mail a check, write it to Communion Fellowship Church, and write “building fund” in the memo.  Mail to: 5535 Mendota Road, Mendota, Virginia 24270 (make sure to leave us a note of who and where to send the receipt to) Thank you!

You can also check us out on www.communionfellowship.com 

UPDATES

Phase 1 of Demo Nearly Complete
March 17, 2023
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As you can see from the first picture the floor was sagging significantly (5” at its worst dip) due to multiple failed joists that had rotted and cracked from moisture damage.  The floor and all the joists on the left side of the sanctuary have been removed, and the whole crawlspace has been remediated for mold.  We are calling this the “repent stage” - (get all the bad out!).  We have found where the runoff water was coming in, and we have started a French drain outside of the building.  We still need to replace a section of the floor band and sill plate that was also rotted (that will be challenging - thankfully the wall is in good shape).  We have a work day scheduled for Saturday 3/18!   God has provided just about enough money to finish the floor structure and French drain, but after that we will have to wait on the Lord to provide more assistance and donations (the “continue in faith stage”).  Please keep praying and helping wherever you can!  Thanks to everyone who has helped support us and pray for us!  

WE ARE SO GRATEFUL!!

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