REGARDING THE WHY?
Why on earth are we buying a church building? Great question? Here are our top three reasons…

• Geography matters. Although many of us live and work and play in various areas all over the greater metro Portland area, as a church family, NE Portland is where God has planted us and where we feel there is a strategic opportunity for us to see the gospel flourish. In a part of the city where there has been a long history of segregation, injustice and church decline, we have an opportunity to make an incredible Kingdom impact.

• Old buildings matter. This nearly-one-hundred-year-old church building that was built with the tithes and offerings of saints long ago symbolizes something much more than just a another old run down building in Portland. It’s a symbol (or at least potentially) of what God is doing in the hearts of people! Which is why we want see this building revitalized and filled with souls once more. We want our neighbors to know that Jesus is still building His church, and seeing an old church building reclaimed and refilled can be a visible part of that story.

• Stewardship matters. If you haven’t noticed, rent ain’t cheap in Portland! Which is why in the long term, whether a home or a church building, buying can potentially be an extremely good use of resources. In the case of Grace City and this particular building, that’s exactly the situation that’s before us. If we can pull this off, we’ll be paying less on a mortgage than what we’ve been spending on rent over the last three years.

REGARDING THE MORTGAGE
After some shopping around, we were connected with a lender named Brad Martin with Cass Bank, who was able to present us with some very reasonable numbers.

The bank looks primarily for attendance trends, giving trends, cash on hand (and like 8 other things to do with our financial health). Here's the bottom line... For a three-year-old church plant, Grace City looks great on paper!

REGARDING CASH DOWN
In order to secure a mortgage with Cass, we would need to raise about $70K by the end of year. (People have already started giving!)

REGARDING RENOVATIONS
This is still a fairly big question mark. The building has a fair amount of deferred maintenance, so there's definitely work to be done. Gabe Callaway (licensed contractor) and I have done two bell tower-to-basement walk throughs. No major red-flags, but certainly much work to be done. Naturally, we'll have an inspector come in during the discovery period to give us a detailed assessment. If anything unexpectedly major shows up during that period, we'll have the option to withdraw our offer, no money lost. Otherwise, as soon as we're able, we'll begin to form a prioritized renovation plan, including a budget.

REGARDING THE UPCOMING YEAR
1. We desire to see the tiny elderly congregation (who have kept this church building open for all these years) cared for and honored, as we invite them to join our church family during the transition season.

2. We desire to maximize the opportunities that owning our own building will provide. Obviously, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but our hope is that the space would be fully utilized for Kingdom purposes.

3. We desire to leverage the excitement and energy that comes with new things (i.e., a new building), not as an excuse to simply focus on our own needs all year, but rather as a catalyst for getting more people involved and on mission, as we all serve, give, share, and work together as brothers and sisters.

4. We desire to continue raising enough money to cover all our renovation costs by the end of 2020. We don’t have a specific amount at this stage, but this will definitely feature in our giving goals for 2020.

If you have any questions or would like specific details on our financial status, please contact our church office at office@gracecityportland.org. All gifts are income tax deductible, as defined by the Internal Revenue Code for 501(c)(3) organizations.

Mailing Address: Grace City Portland, PO Box 83508, Portland, OR 97283