HERE FOR GOOD
OVERVIEW
To be Here for Good
For ten years Church on Morgan has had the privilege of reminding our city of the beauty of God and one another. As we prepare to celebrate this milestone together and all that it represents we find ourselves in the midst of one of the most significant moments in our history.
By God’s grace our welcome and vision have outgrown our existing space, leaving us with few options for the future. However, a remarkable opportunity has emerged that would double our capacity. The property next door at 112 S. Blount St. has become available for purchase.
The timeline to acquire this space is short and securing the funds needed will require all of us to give sacrificially but we believe this is the time to move forward in faith. Will you join us in this effort?
“Here for Good” is Church on Morgan’s first ever capital campaign and imagined as Phase 1 of 2 in a longer-term vision. The three main objectives of Phase 1 are detailed below.
A WIDER WELCOME
To let our space reflect the welcome we proclaim.
We’re removing barriers to belonging - securing a future in which worship is accessible for people of all abilities and no one who takes a chance on church will be crowded out.
Our current kids’ programming takes place on a second floor without elevator access - sending an unintentional but unmistakable message: children with special needs or disabilities are not fully welcome to worship with us. With the acquisition and light upfit of this new building, we can extend true hospitality to families of all abilities.
Securing the additional 7500 sq ft next door will also give us the ability to reconfigure all of our overcrowded spaces in Phase 2 so that we might make room for those who’ve stood along the edges, sat in the windowsills, or are still finding their way to us. We’ve always welcomed all to the table, it’s time our building did too.
A PERMANENT PRESENCE
To be shaped by and for downtown Raleigh for generations to come.
We’re all-in on downtown Raleigh - even in the midst of a passing identity crisis about the state of our city. While the urban core will continue to evolve and change, the city will always be a good bet for us as it offers the environment we most need to live into our mission: proximity to inspiration and inequality.
It is here, on the corner of Morgan & Blount that we bump shoulders with the artists, entrepreneurs, and hospitality workers who are shaping our culture. It is also here that we stay present to the painful realities of the poor and through kinship experience mutual healing. These are our people, this is our place.
A SACRED SPACE
To re-enchant people through a room designed for encounter.
We are coming to see what those who came before us understood - that the architecture of a gathering space communicates what you might expect to happen there.
If we exist to serve those starved for wonder, our sanctuary should immerse you in it. Let’s feast at the same communion table, move baptisms to the center, and hold weddings and funerals in a space built to bear witness to life’s most meaningful moments.
We dream of gathering in a sanctuary shaped by the sacred priorities of our ancestors and our modern imagination in which people come to expect divine encounters. Phase 1 won’t fund the full build-out of this sacred space - but it will secure the building needed to make it possible.
PHASE 1
Kids and Admin
112 S. Blount St. will nearly double our church’s square footage and connect us directly to the parking deck that so many of our guests use. In addition, both this property and our current building are zoned for multiple stories so the possibilities for future development are limitless.
In Phase 1, funded by this campaign, the new property will receive a light upfit to accommodate elementary-aged programming as well as office space for staff. The new kids space will now be ADA accessible and twice the size of our existing room upstairs (the Canopy) with the addition of breakout rooms for small groups. The new office space will not only eliminate our current co-working expense but also bring our staff back on site. One added bonus: a full-size kitchen for events, meals, and hospitality.
In Phase 2, we imagine 112 S. Blount St. is reconfigured into a 2-story sanctuary that can seat 600 as well as a complete renovation and expansion of our existing building for all programming and administration.
"Here for Good" is Church on Morgan’s first ever capital campaign with a goal of purchasing the property next door at 112 South Blount St. so that we might secure a permanent presence downtown, expand our welcome, and one day build a sacred space for worship and prayer.
Our goal is to raise $4.5 million over the next three years above and beyond our church’s operating budget to cover the full cost of this project inclusive of purchase, renovation, furnishing, and short-term financing.
On this page you will find a roadmap that highlights the range of gifts that it will likely take for us to realize this goal together as well as a prayer you might use when discerning your participation level.
Please note that your commitment here is above and beyond your regular giving to CoM's operating budget and will be used solely for the purpose of the "Here for Good" Capital Campaign. Thank you for your prayerful consideration.
Abundant God,
All we have is a gift from you.
As we consider making a contribution, grant us courage.
Reveal what you are inviting us to do - not out of compulsion, but out of communion.
Use this gift to cultivate sacred encounters for generations to come.
And allow this sacrifice to usher in greater purpose, trust and freedom in our lives.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
FAQ
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The opportunity before us feels exciting and daunting. Any conversation about change initiates another - perhaps more meaningful - conversation about what won’t change. While growth is exciting, it’s never been our primary goal. What, then, do we make of it?
How do we grow well?
Do we see a future of endless growth?
How do we grow without losing the thing we love?
What, precisely, is the thing that we love?
What makes us us?
How do we keep this about God?
Honesty has always been one of our core values. It will be essential for this campaign, and for our flourishing on the other side. We like to say, “God can’t do a whole lot with our fake selves.” Church on Morgan will always be about a community of real people. Which means we can’t grow so large that we lose the personal. Locking in our future on this corner actually puts some healthy constraints on the size of our future worship space such that we can maintain the integrity of our life together. Communion will always be served face to face. You will always be prayed for by people who know your story. Our liturgy will always be co-created. We will continue to celebrate one individual or family’s baptism at each service. There will be an increasingly disproportionate investment in what happens in person over what happens online. Soup will still show up when you didn’t think anyone knew you were sick. We’ll chase unrepeatable moments. Real faces - of other haunted, hopeful, restless, odd, imperfect people - will remain in view during worship. Our favorite ways of being together simply don’t scale exponentially.
Yet we are curious about a bit of addition. We are curious what this moment of expansion has to teach us about an irresistible God (vs. an irresistible church). We wonder how we’ll be shaped by who isn’t here yet, how they’ll save us, and who will come next. Curiosity has been our commitment from the beginning. This has formed us into a safe place to change your mind. This must always be true. We’ll learn from anyone. Which means our experience will always have a mix of high and low, old and new, poetry and candor, tradition and creativity, chalices and good coffee. This humility will keep us a place you feel comfortable bringing friends who are unchurched, church-hurt or formed in different traditions. It will keep us a people with a heart for the poor, in part, because of how much we stand to learn from them. We’ll keep stoking wonder in our kids and teens over trying to instill beliefs. And our curiosity will keep us a place where people on both sides of the aisle find their footing inside a much bigger mystery.
But above all else, solemnity will be the sign we’ve lost our way. If we cease laughing together, stop throwing parties you never thought a church could throw, or start boring your kids to death, then it can be said that Church on Morgan has indeed lost the plot - which for us has always been, in the most ultimate sense, a grand comedy. Joy will remain the telltale sign that we’re people gathered around good news. Deeper participation in our life together should continue to feel like a great invitation and never a guilty obligation. We’ll keep taking big creative swings geared towards whimsy and delight. And we will remain a community increasingly formed by, and for, the spiritual intuition of our children. Which is to say, we’ll stay weird and wide-eyed; imaginative and on the hunt for excuses to celebrate.
Here’s to becoming more of who we’ve always been.