A Home with Purpose
Invest in a building to grow the gospel
A Home with Purpose
Invest in a building to grow the gospel
“Seeking the good of many, so that they may be saved”
We’ve always had a simple prayer at Hunter Bible Church; that Jesus would use weak people like us to save thousands of lost souls in Newcastle.
By God's grace over the years we've seen people learn about Jesus and grow in him. We’ve seen Jesus save people and transform their lives. And we’re blown away that now about 1000 people call HBC their church.
But there are still over 250,000 people in Newcastle facing hell without Jesus. So while our prayer as a church hasn’t changed, we believe now is the time to get a building that HBC people can call home.
A home to welcome the lost,
a home to grow the saved,
a home for generations,
a home with purpose.
Listen to the Sermon Series...
if you haven't heard about HBC...
The Plan
Pray - Give - Search - Buy - Rejoice
The Plan
Pray - Give - Search - Buy - Rejoice
It would be amazing if we were given land and a purpose-built facility ready to move into on Sunday… and God could do that! But that would also mean we’d miss out on learning to be more generous and more dependant on Him. We expect it will take a few phases over a few years to get a building...
Phase 1. Raising a deposit
Before we can start real negotiations for a property we need some money in the bank as a deposit. We have already started talking to lenders who are keen to help us once we have a deposit. Most lenders require at least a third of the total cost as a deposit. In the most basic terms, that means to buy a $3m property, we will need to raise $1m and get a $2m loan.
Phase 2. Buying (when we find the right place)
The Building Acquisition Committee has also already started looking for suitable properties in and around Newcastle that are visible, have loads of parking, and are within 20 mins drive of as many people as possible. Commercial property doesn’t come up very often in Newcastle so it could be months or years before we find the right place. So please pray about this.
Phase 3. Developing (Finances & Plans)
Once we’ve bought a building, there is a good chance we won’t be able to move in straight away. There might be existing tenants or construction work needed. We might still need to raise more money for renovations and furnishings. We hope we will also be able to earn rental income while the Building Acquisition Committee is working hard at developing any construction plans.
Phase 4. Renovating and Moving
When the time and finances are right, we will commence any building and renovations needed on the property. We really want a place that people feel is welcoming, clean, and a pleasure to be in. We will set a date when our public meetings will move there. Then by God’s grace we’ll have a Big Sunday to celebrate God’s kindness and pray that he’d use us (and the building) to reach the lost.
Allow more people to hear the gospel
Provide purpose-built facilities for teaching & loving people
Be visible, easy to find & easy to invite people along
Establish a platform for generations of gospel work
Grow our own faith & generosity toward God
The HBC Building Acquisition Committee
The Elders of the HBC Association have appointed a team of people to oversee and manage this plan for our church. This team operates for and under the direction of the Elders, with the support of the Finance Committee and other knowledgeable people and specialists as required to complete its work.
The HBC Pastoral Staff on the Committee are Greg Lee and Dave Moore who are responsible for setting and communicating the vision and purpose of the building.
Steve Elliott
Steve is married to Liza and they have three kids. They've been part of HBC for over 10 years and are part of our HBC:Newy am congregation. Steve has loads of experience in Project Management and currently works as the General Manager of Wire and Tube Manufacturing at OneSteel.
Shaun Hassall
Shaun is married to Lil and they have three kids and they are part of the HBC:LakeMac congregation. Shaun is the Chief Financial Officer at the Newcastle Permanent Building Society. Shaun's role on the Committee is to assess and project our financial requirements and risks.
Andrew Barnard
Andrew has been part of HBC for nearly 20 years and is part of our HBC:Newy am congregation. Andrew has over 10 years experience in the architectural industry and has been involved in a wide variety of building projects including corporate, educational and residential. Andrew is overseeing our site search and development plans.
Kirsty Tepper
Kirsty is part of HBC:LakeMac and has many years experience in town planning and advising corporate organisations regarding zoning and building requirements.
Kirsty will be advising the Committee around council and planning issues.
Other Consultants
Neil Foster
Neil is part of HBC:Newy am and has helped with various legal issues, including finding other independent legal advice.
Hopes and Dreams
These are some of the hopes that our Pastors have for our church as they dream about having a building of our own.
Hopes and Dreams
These are some of the hopes that our Pastors have for our church as they dream about having a building of our own.
Sam Hilton
A Building we can invite people into
Dave Allen
A Building we can be together in
Richard sweatman
A building we can learn & grow in
Andrew H & Jenny J
A Building where families grow
Pete Witt
A building we can gather in
Big Questions
If your question isn't here, please ask it!
Big Questions
If your question isn't here, please ask it!
We believe in being transparent and open as we approach this endeavour. As we progress we'll add common questions and answers here. But please don't let this be the only place you go with questions, we'd much prefer you came and asked one of the Building Team or Pastoral Staff.
Q: Will a new building really help us make disciples?
Buildings themselves don’t make disciples. But buildings help us make disciples because they provide a place to gather people, love them, and teach them God’s word.
Over the years we’ve been able to get by in classrooms, community centres, schools and the Hub. But we’re convinced a home for HBC will help us love, reach out and teach people more effectively.Anecdotally, other churches (like ours) have found having a home helps build relationships with more people and they’ve seen the gospel grow through it.
Q: Couldn’t the money be spent on other things?
Over the years we’ve invested heavily in staff who teach the bible & grow teams to love more people. That’s allowed us to reach lots of people and grow to over 1000. But since there’s still 300,000 lost souls in Newcastle and Lake Mac, we believe that investing in a purpose built facility will help us take the gospel to more people. At one level, we’re not excited about buildings, but at another level, we’re really excited about what God might do through one.
Q: Who will see the donation commitment cards?
Just like normal church giving, only the Finance Committee will have access to manage donations and donation commitments.
Our Finance Committee are a team of godly Christians who have a particular gift of 'unemotional objectiveness'. We've selected people who don't get anxious dealing with money. They have been challenged about their personal giving and financial temptations. And they really don't care about the names and figures; they just want it all to balance at the end of the day.
These are the type of people who can play monopoly and still be friends afterwards.
Q: Can we really afford a building?
There’s no hiding the fact that a HBC building will cost a lot of money. By the end of the project it will probably cost more than $6m-$9m. But that’s not much when you consider the long-term impact this building will have under God.
Our hope is that the building will serve tens of thousands of people over the next 50 years. Can we afford it? Only with God’s help. Can we afford not to try? No. Preaching the gospel to the lost is too important.
Q: When are we likely to buy / move in?
This is a question that's hard to answer. The commercial property market in small and the type of sites we're looking at don't come up often. Over the past 8 years there have been only a few sites that would have been suitable.
So we're really at the mercy of the market, but also can trust the God is sovereign over all things and the right property will come up when he wants it to.
The other factor will be how much we've raised and how much we can borrow. Those figure will always affect what sites we can consider.
Q: What will it look like? Do we have any blueprints or designs?
We would love to be able to take everyone on a tour of the site and create a 3D virtual walk-through of our plans... but until we find the right property we simply can't be certain what it will look like.
However there are a few things we are certain about. We want it to be in a central, visible location. We want it to feel welcoming, safe and nice place to be in. We are looking for a place that will allow us to have ample parking, great kids' facilities, lots of break-out space, flexible areas for groups, lectures, seminars and fellowship. We imagine a venue with great acoustics, comfortable seating, and where people are constantly coming and going and growing.
Q: Why can donations be Tax Deductible?
The Australian Tax Office has endorsed our building fund as a Tax Deductible Gift Recipient because most of the activities to be held in the building falls into their definition of religious education; Sunday Kids programs, the Life Series, the Connect Series, Women’s Growth Group, Big Idea nights, AllNations, etc. They all provide what the ATO considers regular systematic instruction.
However, there are some aspects of the building that we can’t use tax-deductible gifts to pay for; furniture, landscaping, and things that are only used for church services. So, we do need some non-deductible donations to help cover the cost of these things. You can elect whether you want your donation to be tax-deductible on the Commitment Card.
Q: Can we afford the on-going costs of a building/loan?
We expect we'll need to borrow money to buy a property and fit it out. However, we won't borrow more than we can reasonably afford the repayments for. How? Well it really depends on the property we find.
The ideal situation is that we buy a large property and move the Hub into it and lease out a large part of it. That will mean we can use the money we currently spend on Hub rent and the property income to pay down our loan.
When the time is right, we'll move our Lambton church services into the property and save the money we're currently spending to rent there.
Q: What happens if we don't get enough money?
We really don't know how much money will be "enough" until we find a property that suits. But if we don't raise enough to buy a property in the next two years we might have to try and raise more money or reassess our project phases. But any money raised can only be used for gospel centred building projects.
More questions?
If you have more questions, we’d love to hear them. It’s good questions that help the Building Acquisition Committee ensure they have looked at everything. Please feel free to email us or come to one of the Q&A nights in August.