Expanding is becoming old hat for New Life

By Pam Mansell
Herald Writer

Seven years ago, New Life Baptist Church began with a handful of members. Four years later, the congregation had grown so much that it built a brand-new church, with a sanctuary that could seat around 300 people.

Now they’re building again, because the membership has grown so much that even holding two Sunday worship services doesn’t allow room for everyone who attends the church.

The Rev. John Bailey said about 120 people attended the church before they moved to their current site on Route 208, about a mile west of New Wilmington in Lawrence County. Now there are 500 to 600 people each Sunday, he said.

“We went to two services two years ago at Easter,” Rev. Bailey said. Even two services have not been enough on holidays, he added; on Christmas Eve, the church had three services to accommodate the crowd estimated at 700 to 800.

Construction began late last year on the new building, which is right beside the current one. It’s scheduled to be completed in late spring. Rev. Bailey said it will be twice the size of the present facility, and will give the growing congregation additional classroom space and a new sanctuary that will seat around 550 people.

The current sanctuary will be used for children’s church, he said. Children’s church is held at the same time as the regular Sunday worship services, and is for children in grades one through six. New Life has about 70 to 100 children in that program.

Construction of the new building marks phase two of the church’s building program, Rev. Bailey said. He estimated the cost at about $1 million; two-thirds of that has already been raised by church members, and the other one-third will be mortgaged.

Phase three will see more space opened in each of the church’s two buildings. The second floor will be opened in the current building, which will have a lift to accommodate people with physical disabilities. The current sanctuary will continue to hold children’s church, but will also become a multi-purpose room to handle smaller weddings, funerals and other church events, Rev. Bailey said.

In the new building, phase three will include the opening of a large balcony area. With that expansion, and the use of some additional space on the first floor, Rev. Bailey said the new sanctuary will eventually be able to seat around 1,000 people.

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