Narara Valley Baptist Church

Each week we will add more reasons why our Vision will be served by our facilities. Below these reasons you'll find content from previous weeks, until all the reasons are shared.

Week 13 (Monday June 27th)

Increased Our Equipping

In addition to the Sunday Service multiple learning spaces, we will provide a range of training opportunities throughout the week.

Our approach to training addresses three levels: general leadership training; ministry specific training; and skill specific training. Having quality spaces of various sizes to conduct this training will be incredibly valuable as each training program will vary significantly in the number of participants.

We want to invest into those who serve because we are Passionate For People.

Increased Our Capacity

NVBC has a rich history of ministries which meet the needs of those in our community, because we are Passionate For People. Presently these ministries include: Narara Night Crafts; Craft Cells; OOSH; and Playgroups.

Our capacity to provide more of these ministries effectively to our community is enhanced through the provision of a range (small through to large sized) of spaces. We are already planning for:

From previous weeks:

Week 1 (Monday April 4th)

Increased Our Capacity

Presently our youth ministry (current attendance 110+), sees young people gather from High School Years 7-12 in the one program. Our young people use one mid-sized space and our outdoor area. This arrangement limits their ability to grow (we can’t fit many more young people into the lower hall), and their ability to effectively manage that number of young people.

Use of one larger and one mid-sized space enables the program to be split into Junior and Senior High (thus enabling more aged-appropriate programming), and increases their capacity to reach more young people and help them become Desperate For God.

Increased Our Equipping

CoastHope is desiring to provide Life Skills courses to our local community which will serve our community in ways that demonstrate that we are Passionate For People. Our previous facilities had few quality spaces to run such programs. We look forward to empowering our community and visibly showing the love of Christ.

Increased Our Connectedness

Our previous facility saw little provision for meeting spaces after services. People tended to gravitate to three areas: the playground; the rear balcony; or remain inside.

This approach tended to decrease relational connectedness.

The proposed facilities see the provision of a large foyer area connected to an undercover alfresco area which will result in a greater ability to connect with one another as we are Passionate For People.

Increased Our Confidence To Invite Others

The recent Accreditation report for our OOSH again demonstrated that this ministry is continually pursuing excellence.

The provision of office space and quality facilities for this ministry can only help our on-going desire to offer our best to the children and families of our community and make it an increasingly attractive option for potential families. Equally, the facilities inclusions of safer vehicle access/egress and appropriate parking will assist OOSH to increase the safety afforded to children and their families. We want the families of OOSH to know that we are Passionate For People.

Week 2 (Monday April 11th)

Increased Our Capacity

Whilst presently our Childre's Ministry is primarily focused on Kids Church, we are wanting to provide a regular Holiday Program or 'Pupil Free Day' program for our community.

A program of this nature would require a large space and a number of smaller rooms to operate effectively. The provision of a larger multifunctional room and quality child-friendly spaces would greatly increase our capacity to run such a program. We are Passionate For People in our community to see and hear the love of Jesus through these programs.

Increased Our Equipping

One of the primary discipleship strategies in our adult ministry, is the use of Growth Groups. These discipleship groups see between 6-12 people meeting weekly for study of God’s Word, prayer and fellowship. We are Desperate For God to grow us during these times of discipleship.

Our previous facility had few spaces appropriate for use by Growth Groups. However it is envisaged that the smaller rooms in the new facility could increase our capacity to provide helpful spaces for Growth Groups.

Increased Our Connectedness

Our previous facility had one adjacent room to which we could take people who had come forward to receive prayer and/or pastoral support.

We're excited that the proposed facility sees us providing at least 5 smaller spaces in very close proximity to the main auditorium which provide a seamless transition from the main auditorium and can be used for prayer and pastoral counselling. We are Desperate For God to meet us in these times of reflection and prayer.

Increased Our Confidence To Invite Others

The acoustic quality in the previous facility was of a very low standard. The proposed facility ensures a high level of acoustic quality, thus ensuring that attendees are able to hear and participate in services, thus making it a far more inviting space. We are Passionate For People to be able to engage in services.

Week 3 (Monday April 18th)

Increased Our Capacity

Whilst presently our Children's Ministry is primarily focused on Kids Church, we are keen to provide a regular Holiday Program or 'Pupil Free Day' program for our community because we are Passionate For People.

A program of this nature would require a large meeting space and a large number of smaller rooms to function effectively. The provision of a larger multifunctional centre and quality child-friendly spaces would greatly increase our capacity to run such a program.

Increased Our Equipping

In late 2011 we are wanting to experiment with the provision of multiple learning spaces during the sermon time in the AM service. We are Passionate For People to grow in confidence and skills in such areas as: Growth Group leadership, parenting, ministry leadership, etc.

Our previous facility had few options for this to take place, as the former library was converted into office space in 2002. The proposed facility provides an amazing array of learning environments (small, mid and large sizes) which would accommodate such an equipping strategy well.

Increased Our Connectedness

The office space provided by our previous facilities was inadequate as it did not provide: confidentiality; places to meet with people; and Board Room. Those who led the charge in NVBC being a church that is Desperate For God & Passionate For People, were encumbered and frustrated on a daily basis.

Our proposed facilities see the provision of 5 offices, reception and Board Room which addresses the inadequacies of the past and empower our Pastor/Staff team into the future.

Increased Our Confidence To Invite Others

Our 'International Friendship' ministry amongst international students at the Ourimbah Campus will require welcoming spaces where we can invite students for both social activities and times of equipping.

We are Passionate For People to be welcomed into a quality space which conveys excellence that honours God and inspires people.

Week 4 (Monday April 25th)

Increased Our Capacity

We have become quite aware over the past 3 years of the distinct lack of community spaces in our area – particularly at the 'large sized' end of the spectrum. Laycock St. Theatre (390 capacity) is difficult to obtain and is quite expensive. School halls, whilst comparatively less expensive and easier to obtain, have limited numbers of ‘break-out’ rooms and have poor ambience.

Because we are Passionate For People, we are keen to provide quality spaces in our community and be a great blessing to the valley.

Increased Our Equipping

At present at 127, our youth ministry is unable to access the primary facility until 6:00pm on Friday evening. This results in rushed leaders meetings and few opportunities for regular training. Access to a primary facility prior to 6:00pm will provide more opportunities to train current and emerging leaders effectively and in doing so reflects to these leaders that we are Passionate For People.

Increased Our Connectedness

The design of the multifunctional auditorium with a large foyer and in close proximity to the undercover alfresco area sees that this facility is ready for when we need to adopt multiple services. These spaces will allow for greater relational connection between services which we value because we are Passionate For People.

Equally, the provision of a straight dual lane driveway sees a massive improvement in our ability to get people into and out of the block.

Increased Our Confidence To Invite Others

In our previous facilities, while people were Desperate For God, our inability to control temperature and humidity saw people either 'switch off' during services, or simply not attend – hardly an inviting environment!

We look forward to offering an inviting space to worship and grow in God where people look forward to coming to church rather than avoiding it.

Week 5 (Monday May 2nd)

Increased Our Capacity

The provision of more child-focused spaces will increase the capacity of Outside Of School Hours Care to provide quality child care to community families. Inclusions such as 'wet areas', child-focused spaces with retractable walls, office space, and fenced play areas increases OOSH's capacity to bless the lives of those children in their care because we are Passionate For People.

Whilst at present OOSH does not have plans to increase their authorised number of places, should they desire to, the provision of larger spaces would aid this.

Increased Our Equipping

Due to the lack of community spaces in our area, there are opportunities to provide spaces to organisations other than NVBC to conduct training for their members. Already we have had initial discussion with local schools who are delighted at the prospect of quality equipping spaces so close to their facility.

By looking beyond ourselves and seeking to serve our community in this way we practically demonstrate that we are Passionate For People.

Increased Our Connectedness

Our previous facility had one adjacent room to which we could take people who had come forward to receive Christ or seek prayer.

The proposed facility sees us providing at least 6 smaller spaces in very close proximity to the main auditorium which can be used for prayer as people receive Jesus and become Desperate For God.

Increased Our Confidence To Invite Others

Our youth ministry has built a reputation of being a genuine place of hope and restoration. Our physical facilities provide a visible connection point for youth and families in our area to access our youth leaders. With over 90% of young people in our youth community from non-church backgrounds, in excess of 300 families, it is important that our facility is: inviting; able to easily manage the needs of this target group; and demonstrates that we are Passionate For People.

Week 6 (Monday May 9th)

Increased Our Capacity

Our Sunday services provide one of our primary times for discipleship. Our previous main auditorium (with a seating capacity of approximately 250), has been recognised over many years as being a limiting factor in the church growing beyond this number.

An increased seating capacity raises our ability to connect with more people on a regular Sunday. In addition, as we’ve seen again recently, special services such as Easter and Christmas see attendance swell significantly. We look forward to being able to welcome greater numbers to our new facility because we are Passionate For People.

Increased Our Equipping

One of the primary discipleship strategies in youth ministry, is the use of ‘Connect Groups’. These groups see between 6-10 young people meeting fortnightly with a youth leader. As many of our young people come from non-Christian families (which are not necessarily welcoming of a Connect Group meeting in their home), we will increasingly require on-site smaller spaces to run these groups on Friday nights and mid-week.

The provision of an increased number of these smaller spaces in the proposed facilities, increases our ability to disciple larger numbers of young people to grow to be Desperate For God.

Week 7 (Monday May 15th)

Increased Our Capacity

NVBC has a long history of providing ministries which effectively share the Gospel. Some of these have been ministries requiring larger spaces (eg. Alpha), whilst others are run in smaller settings (eg. Journeys).

The provision of a range of spaces at 127 gives us significant capacity to run a range of these ministries. In particular, the provision of smaller spaces ('breakout rooms') off the multifunctional area increases our capacity greatly in terms of flexibility of delivery of these programs. We look forward to sharing the Gospel in this way because we are Desperate For God.

Increased Our Connection

The close proximity of the multifunctional area, lower hall and multiple breakout rooms means that youth ministry will be able to: stagger the starts of Junior and Senior High ministries; run uninterrupted Connect Groups prior to the commencement of the larger ministry; have nearby meeting spaces for young people to receive support and prayer.

In addition, this will also mean that the present situation where both OOSH and youth would love access to the same space at the same time, is eliminated. We are Passionate For People.

Week 8 (Monday May 22nd)

Increased Our Confidence To Invite Others

In Nehemiah 2:17, Nehemiah says "Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace". The wall around Jerusalem was the ‘public face’ of God’s people.

In a very similar way our facilities provide a ‘public face’ to our community. Facilities that are broken down, dysfunctional, unwelcoming and worn out communicate ‘disgrace’ to our community, and make it difficult to invite people.

We look forward to the provision of facilities, that whilst not the 'Taj Mahal', communicate to our community that we are: Desperate For God; desire to offer Him the best we have; and want to provide functional & welcoming spaces for our community to use and be blessed by

Increased Our Capacity

Present facilities place significant constraints on the capacity of our worship team in terms of: storage of equipment; frustrations regarding audio feedback; and length of set up times. Our proposed facility enables the worship team to serve with significantly less angst, and increases their capacity to lead us in worship which expresses that we are Desperate For God.

Week 9 (Monday May 29th)

Increased Our Capacity

Historically NVBC has run conferences on-site which have exceeded our capacity (eg. Destiny Woman Conferences). In addition, NVBC has historically been approached about hosting even larger events (eg. Global Leadership Summit venue). Sadly, our previous facilities limited us in being able to provide these conferences, or step up and faciliate even larger ones. We were limited in our ability to practically express that we are Passionate For People.

There are few quality community spaces available on the Central Coast which provide both a larger meeting space and also smaller 'breakout' rooms.

The proposed facilities provide us with a facility to run quality conferences which will be aesthetically attractive and incredibly functional.

Increased Our Connectedness

The recent Accreditation report for our OOSH again demonstrated that this ministry is continually pursuing excellence.

The provision of connected office space to the main facility OOSH uses, helps provide effective supervision and reduces the need for over-staffing. Similarly, the facilities inclusions of safer vehicle access/egress and appropriate parking will assist OOSH to increase the safety afforded to children and their families, and demonstrate in a very practical way that we are Passionate For People.

Week 10 (Monday June 6th)

Increased Our Capacity

Our previous main auditorium had very poor acoustics resulting in some people having to leave the church due to their inability to cope with the reverb. Our proposed facility will provide superior acoustics and increase our capacity for attendees to hear and participate in services because we are Passionate For People.

Increased Our Equipping

Because we are Passionate For People and want to ensure that they thrive in life and ministry, in addition to the Sunday Service multiple learning spaces, we will provide a range of training opportunities throughout the week.

Our approach to training addresses three levels: general leadership training; ministry specific training; and skill specific training. Having quality spaces of various sizes to conduct this training will be incredibly valuable as they will vary significantly in the number of participants.

Provision of these spaces will mean that rather than looking for 'off-site options', trainers can use our facilities with confidence, thus reinforcing that this is a 'great church to belong to' and saving on hiring expenses.

Week 11 (Monday June 13th)

Increased Our Confidence To Invite Others

Whilst the majority of those in Kids Church are children of church attenders, it is encouraging to note that a growing number are coming from non-Christian homes at the invitation of friends.

Non-Christian parents in particular have an expectation of quality/welcoming spaces to be provided for their children as they use this 'grid' to assess which preschool, sporting club, school, etc to send their children to.

Our proposed facilities will provide inviting spaces for children which will exceed the expectations of parents and overcome this psychological barrier because we are Passionate For People.

Increased Our Equipping

Part of our strategy in constructing a larger multifunctional centre is to move to multi-services when there are over 300 attending regularly because we are Passionate For People.

The provision of a straight dual lane driveway sees a massive improvement in our ability to get people into and out of the block.

Equally the provision of a large foyer and an undercover alfresco area means that those exiting the first service will have an opportunity to relationally connect with those entering the second service.

Week 12 (Monday June 19th)

Increased Our Capacity

Whilst our youth ministry is already recognised as highly evangelistic, the use of 'youth concerts' as a large-event evangelistic tool is incredibly helpful. Up until recently, the only venue of the Central Coast holding this sort of event was CoastLife, which has sadly now burned down.

In previous days NVBC has attempted concerts like this, however the inadequate size of the auditorium, the lack of climate control, and the inability to provide smaller spaces for follow-up has seen these events at best be less than effective, and at worst provide an unsafe environment.

Because we are Passionate For People, we look forward to the building of the proposed multifunctional centre. This space will increase our capacity to hold large numbers of young people in a quality environment as they encounter the Gospel.

Increased Our Connectedness

For many years, our Playgroup ministry has identified the dangers of having children and vehicles sharing spaces. The provision of a driveway used only for vehicles and play areas used only for people creates safer Playgroups.