Published November 28, 2014

The McMass Project aims to attract worshipers through the lure of McDonald's burgers.(The McMass Project)

As church attendance falls, one group believes that the lure of a burger and fries might make church more appealing.

McMass Project, which is the brainchild of Paul Di Lucca -- a creative director at the church branding agencyLux Dei Design -- is raising funds to put a McDonald's franchise inside a place of worship.

"Christianity is unable to capture modern audiences," Di Lucca told NBC News. "There's a lack of innovation and lack of design thinking in Church communities."

The multi-denominational group has launched a campaign on the crowdfunding site IndieGoGo and hopes to raise $1 million to build the first McDonald's church. As of Friday, only $104 has been raised.

The groups says that the money will go toward purchasing a franchise and construction. The group is currently looking for a church to partner with.

"It's time for churches to engage with entrepreneurship," writes the group on its IndieGoGo site. "By combining a church and a McDonald's we can create a self-sustaining, community-engaged, popular church, and an unparalleled McDonald's restaurant."

The site states that three million people leave the faith every year and that 10,000 churches closed down in 2013, while 70 million people eat McDonalds every day. To attract potential donors, the group is offering T-shirts, hats and vinyl stickers to adorn your laptop, hymn book and more!

Di Lucca believes that fast food is one way to build faith in the modern era, but concedes that not everyone will be wild about the idea.

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FAITH WITH FRIES Group hopes fast food will boost church attendance

CONSIDERING the grandness and intricacies involved in building a neo-gothic construction using the limited funds and technologies of the early 1900s, a turnaround of about 19 months from ashes to commanding structure must seem quite incredible to The Block-watching public of today.

The determination demonstrated by St Mary's Grafton Parish to get its "house" back up and running so soon after it was destroyed by fire on April 29, 1913, is testament to the importance the community placed on having a fitting venue to congregate and worship the Lord.

Opened by Bishop O'Connor, of Armidale on Sunday, November 29, 1914, in the presence of church hierarchy from as far afield as Melbourne, the "new" St Mary's Church will celebrate its 100th birthday this weekend with a special mass to be conducted by Bishop of Lismore Geoffrey Jarrett on Sunday at 9.30am.

And as the church continues to cut a towering figure over Victoria Street a century later, the state in which its 1867 predecessor was found back in 1913 on the same site seems foreign to those that pass by the St Mary's we know today.

As reported in the Examiner at the time, the blaze that destroyed the original church occurred in the early hours of the morning offering no opportunity for intervention between the first couple of witnesses sounding the alarm and its total destruction.

"The church bell was rung at once. A number of citizens were speedily on the scene, but their assistance was of no avail to save the edifice from destruction as the fire had complete mastery. A table and two chairs were all that could be got out, and the organ, vestments, altar appointments and pew were totally consumed," the report said.

After describing how the fire took hold, the article went on to say "The generally accepted theory as to the origin of the fire is that the altar lamp, which continually kept burning, must have fallen from its suspended position by the small chain becoming worn from long usage. The oil and wafers becoming scattered over the floor, would cause ignition, and account for what occurred."

Whatever its fate, this was a "serious loss to the Roman Catholic community" and apart from the destruction of the building there were also costly uninsured contents to replace.

Insurance would pay 500 pounds which only covered a small portion of the loss and in the meantime services were held in the school room while initial work began on planning a replacement. (All while Grafton was without a Catholic Church it still managed to conduct 41 baptisms, 21 weddings and some 12 burials).

Given the amount of correspondence that flowed between the clergy and the appeals that needed to be orchestrated in the Clarence and around the region to have the church resurrected, again the timeframe seems spectacularly short in these days of red tape and budget blowouts. But the people of the area were generous and felt the Grafton community's loss and within weeks the mighty cogs of the church community began to turn and turn.

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Revived church hits a century

A Cape Cod church plans a groundbreaking ceremony this weekend exactly two years to the day after an arsonist burned it to the ground.

The ceremony at the site of the Cape Cod Bible Alliance Church in Brewster is scheduled for noon on Sunday.

Pastor Myron Heckman tells the Cape Cod Times the new building will be bigger and more fire-resistant. The first phase of the project will include construction an 18,000-square-foot sanctuary, office space, classrooms, kitchen and a lobby area.

Construction should take about 18 months.

Much of the work will be done by volunteers from the congregation, many of whom have construction experience.

A 30-year-old local man was sentenced for setting fire to the church in 2012. His family said he suffered from mental illness.

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Cape Cod church burned to ground rising from ashes

Published Thursday, 27 November 2014

The Gateway project is planned for 97-acres in Ballymena, Co Antrim. (Gateway Project)

Green Pastures Church is one of five partners involved in the Gateway project, alongside the Wright Group, Gateway Social Investments, Compassion Ministries, and Connect Ministries.

The development, adjacent to the Seven Towers roundabout, will feature a new church for Green Pastures, social housing and retail outlets.

At a launch event on Thursday, the plans were described as "ground-breaking" and with the potential to have a major impact on the local economy.

Project board member Trevor Dunlop said the site would support the NI Executive in delivering key government commitments and contribute to economic development in the Ballymena borough.

He added that it would "permit the development of a new headquarters for the Wright Group".

According to those behind the project, the Gateway has been built on a sustainable public-private partnership model and will be 100% sustainable in commercial, social and economic terms.

It is understood that 250 full-time jobs will be created during the construction phase and 2.8m will be injected into the Ballymena economy.

The group says the project will have the potential to support over 1,000 jobs and annually contribute 40m to the local economy while also providing 485 care places.

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'1000 jobs' in Ballymena church scheme

11172014 on Church construction

By: Rev. Fr. Jessie G. Somosierra, Jr

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11172014 on Church construction - Video

Though the merger closed his former parish, Rob Ciavaglia said he knows the future is bright for St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church in Dearborn.

St. Kateri was formed when St. Martha and St. Joseph Catholic churches merged July 1, 2013.

Ciavaglia had been a member of St. Martha for more than 40 years and he was on the parish council prior to the merger. He said after the merger that a new parish council was formed and he was appointed as a member of the finance council.

Through Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, Ciavaglia said it was decided that the two churches would merge about two years before it went through.

Before the merger, the two parishes already shared a pastor, the Rev. Terry Kerner, and programs, Ciavaglia said.

We were already acting, essentially, as one, but by canon law, we had separate financial books, he said.

In addition to making the two churches one financial entity, Ciavaglia said, they had to address the fact that we had extra capacity in terms of worship space.

The two facilities were 1.5 miles apart, and, before construction of the Detroit Lions training facility in Allen Park, Ciavaglia said, you could stand at one church and see the other one.

That led to the closure of St. Martha and the eventual sale of the property to Oakwood Healthcare.

It made logical sense for the two parishes that were already sharing programs, parishioners and a pastor to merge, Ciavaglia said. In many ways, it was a formality, but the biggest portion was which facility to close. Continued...

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Church merger causes mixed feelings, but future looks bright for St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church in Dearborn

Hatfield Twp >> A much-discussed proposal to build a church on a 43-acre parcel off of Orvilla Road in Hatfield Township could be discussed for up to two more months.

Keystone Fellowship has asked for a time extension to revise its plans and incorporate changes based on feedback from the surrounding community.

There are certain adjustments and general considerations that are different from the original application, that not only the church is considering, but the township is considering as well, said board President Tom Zipfel.

For much of 2014, residents near and around Orvilla have expressed their concerns about traffic and flooding theyre worried could be caused by the construction of a roughly 1,200 seat church surrounded by office space, a ballfield and several hundred parking spaces.

Residents have also urged the preservation of a farm house located on the property that dates back to the 1760s, and about two dozen residents from the surrounding area attended Wednesdays commissioners meeting, and stayed for a private meeting with Zipfel afterward to discuss that project.

When asked for specifics on the changes made by Keystone to their plans, Zipfel declined to comment, and said to publicly share details could impact ongoing discussions. A Keystone official present at the meeting also declined to comment.

Residents Ryan Gober and Cindy Bourgeois, among the leaders of a group of neighbors who oppose the development plans, said Wednesday they would prefer as much notice as possible ahead of any decision being made, and would like any new plans or renderings to be made public.

A lot of people came out expecting some action, and if youre saying 60 days, why not make the notice half of that? If youre saying 30 days, why not make the notice half of that? Lets try to be as transparent as we can, Gober said.

We will do everything we can to be as transparent as we can, and to give as much time as possible ahead of any action, Zipfel replied, and commissioner Scott Brown added the window could be extended again.

I dont think [the 60 days] is arbitrary at all. It gives us flexibility. It could be extended again, that could happen, depending on where were going, but if folks want to speak out about it, they should feel free, now or at a future meeting, Brown said.

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Hatfield board's vote on Orvilla Road church plans deferred for up to 60 days

Though the merger closed his former parish, Rob Ciavaglia said he knows the future is bright for St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church in Dearborn.

St. Kateri was formed when St. Martha and St. Joseph Catholic churches merged July 1, 2013.

Ciavaglia had been a member of St. Martha for more than 40 years and he was on the parish council prior to the merger. He said after the merger that a new parish council was formed and he was appointed as a member of the finance council.

Through Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, Ciavaglia said it was decided that the two churches would merge about two years before it went through.

Before the merger, the two parishes already shared a pastor, the Rev. Terry Kerner, and programs, Ciavaglia said.

We were already acting, essentially, as one, but by canon law, we had separate financial books, he said.

In addition to making the two churches one financial entity, Ciavaglia said, they had to address the fact that we had extra capacity in terms of worship space.

The two facilities were 1.5 miles apart, and, before construction of the Detroit Lions training facility in Allen Park, Ciavaglia said, you could stand at one church and see the other one.

That led to the closure of St. Martha and the eventual sale of the property to Oakwood Healthcare.

It made logical sense for the two parishes that were already sharing programs, parishioners and a pastor to merge, Ciavaglia said. In many ways, it was a formality, but the biggest portion was which facility to close. Continued...

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Church merger causes mixed feelings, but future looks bright for new parish

But the tables had Bibles next to the beers and popcorn, and Kevin Brown, a pastor at Crossroads Church, was sitting behind a keyboard on the stage.

"We hope you didn't bring any of those non-Christian people tonight," he said to the dozen members of the audience. "Tonight is about getting all the kinks out."

The next hour would be a trial run, preparation and practice for how an evangelical congregation might do services without prayers or hymns or altar calls.

Because The Loft is on the second floor of a building on Michigan Avenue, Crossroads is calling the project The Upper Room. Because they want people to come whose relationship with church is tenuous or non-existent, the pastors have promised to buy a drink for every first-timer.

The drink is a gesture of friendship, said Noah Filipiak, the 31-year-old founder of Crossroads.

"We think it communicates something to people that are very leery of church and very leery of the church being very judgmental about things," he said.

Two summers ago, Filipiak spent a three-month sabbatical from his small downtown congregation playing safety for the Capital City Stealth, Lansing's minor league football team. He invited other players to come to Sunday morning services.

"I feel like our church is 'cool,' you know," he said. "We serve coffee and pie, and we're laid back and you don't have to dress up, and the things that Christians normally think, 'Oh people who don't go to church will come because we do these things.'"

Only the people he invited mostly didn't come and, when they did, they mostly didn't come back. It got him thinking about one of the perennial questions for pastors and church planters: What was it about church, even a casual church with pie, that kept them away?

"There are concentric circles of people," he said. "I think that your blue jeans and coffee and rock and roll band on Sunday morning church plant is reaching a certain concentric circle, and that demographic has now been pretty saturated."

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Lansing bar scene includes church service

Fairview MB Town Church Construction 1948
This 1948/49 home 8mm movie is of the building of the Fairview OK Town Church located across the street from Fairview Hospital at 10th and Beck. The south MB...

By: Garen Martens

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Fairview MB Town Church Construction 1948 - Video