Religious construction is downway downin the U.S. over the last decade or so. New religious buildings and additions to existing structures will total an estimated 10.3 million square feet this year, down 80% from 2002, according to Dodge Data & Analytics.

But that overall decline doesnt mean every denomination and faith has stopped building new houses of worship.

The Catholic Church and many mainline Protestant denominations are shrinking, according to the decennial U.S. Religion Census conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shed 22% of its adherents between 2000 and 2010, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America shrank by 18.2% over the same period and the United Church of Christ saw its ranks decline by 24.4%.

It makes sense that many shrinking congregations wouldnt be in a position to embark on ambitious construction projects. But other faiths are seeing strong growth. The estimated number of Muslims in the U.S. rose by 66.7% between 2000 and 2010, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew by 45.5%, according to the census.

Those congregations would be ramping up construction as their memberships grow. A mosque-building boom, for example, more than doubled the number of purpose-built U.S. mosques between 2000 and 2011.

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Not Everyone Has Stopped Building U.S. Houses of Worship

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Children's minister Justin Craig shows what will become the fellowship area during a tour of the expanding Windsor Road Christian Church in Champaign on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014.

CHAMPAIGN Senior Minister Randy Boltinghouse walks through a construction zone at Windsor Road Christian Church, where crews are busy adding more space for a growing congregation.

A dozen years ago, the Champaign church at 2501 Windsor Road served about 500 people on a weekly basis. These days, it's about 900.

Boltinghouse, the senior minister since 1989, doesn't claim any credit for that.

"The Lord has been behind whatever growth we've had, and we are just trying to get out of the way," he said.

The $3.8 million project, which includes an expansion and some remodeling of existing spaces, should be finished next spring, Boltinghouse said, and "God-willing" some children's spaces could be done by this Christmas.

Overall, the church is expanding from 36,000 square feet to 48,000 square feet, with the addition creating badly needed larger spaces for children and teens making up one-third of the congregation, he said.

Some of what is under construction: Larger worship areas for kids and teens, breakout rooms for more focused study, an indoor playground for kids, a larger nursery (with separate spaces for crawlers and walkers), and a new family entrance with more check-in kiosks for parents dropping off their kids.

More fellowship space is also being built for different age groups, church leaders say. That includes a cafe area for adults, an outdoor patio and a gathering space for middle school and high school students with a TV, snacks and games.

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Construction helps church keep pace with growth

Published: Saturday, 12/6/2014

BY TK BARGER BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

The Reformed Catholic Churchs (RCC) global headquarters in North Toledo is far removed from the Vatican in many ways.

A building that once was the home of Community Church of God, at the corner of Doyle Street and Ketcham Avenue, is now the Holy Cross Reformed Catholic Church, where the RCC is centered. That is also where Metropolitan Archbishop Marc Ignatius Stephen Heckman, who uses the first name Marcis, lives.

The RCC, incorporated in 2000, is a fifth pillar of Catholicism, Archbishop Heckman said. We consider ourselves different because were made up of the Old Catholic movement [centered in Utrecht, Netherlands], the independent Catholic movement, the Orthodox movement, even the Roman movement, so were separate in that aspect.

For the past eight months, Archbishop Jose Israel de la Trinidad also was there after he moved from Puerto Rico, but he recently established a new Toledo residence for his religious order, the Reformed Carmelites. Archbishop Heckman is a Reformed Jesuit; there are RCC versions of several religious orders with Roman Catholic traditions.

Archbishop Trinidad is also principal of the Academy for Educational Excellence, a public charter school on Heatherdowns Boulevard that is Christian oriented, although its not a Christian school, he said. The academy currently has students in kindergarten through grade 5. There, the principal is known as Israel Irizarry-Koppisch, or Mr. Koppisch. He took Trinidad as his religious name. Irizarry-Koppisch is his last name in Hispanic construction, with his fathers last name followed by a hyphen and his mothers last name.

Archbishop Trinidad, 61, moved to Toledo as part of the RCCs own reform. The Church recently consolidated its North American dioceses into one archdiocese, and Archbishop Heckman, 56, who had held the offices of both metropolitan (head of the Church) and U.S. presiding bishop since 2012, made Archbishop Trinidad the presiding bishop of the U.S. Archbishop Heckmans Church work is done as a volunteer, he said; I am disabled, so I dont get to do a whole lot of work, and as he considers himself semi-retired, he appointed Archbishop Trinidad to lead the U.S. Church while he focuses on the RCC around the world.

There are RCC congregations on the African continent, in the Philippines, in Europe, and in Central and South America. In the U.S., congregations are in about eight states and Puerto Rico, with parishes forming in other states.

Holy Cross, in Toledo, has 20 to 30 members, Archbishop Heckman said, but you dont get that many here. Were lucky to get 12 in the pews most of the time; I admit that. But the church is full on Christmas Eve, he said Holy Cross will have a lessons and carols service at 8 p.m. and a midnight Mass.

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Centered in Glass City

CEDARBURG -- There's controversy over a religious site in the heart of Cedarburg. A Lutheran church wants to build a place for cremated ashes, but the city says no.

Crews were only able to install cabinets before the city learned the church was going ahead with the project without a valid permit.

"You can put one in your house, on your mantle, yard, you just can't sell the niches because only a church can do that," said Rev. Janis Kinens.

Reverend Kinens is referring to where one can freely place cremated remains of their loved ones. For the past four years, the Advent Lutheran Church has been working to build acolumbariumfor its members in a prayer garden in downtown Cedarburg.

Paul Rushing is the architect.

"I poured a lot of time and effort because I think it's a good thing," said Paul Rushing.

But Thursday morning, all work came to a halt when a city inspector told them to cease construction.

The city attorney says this summer the church was told the project would not be permitted due to a state statute defining acolumbariumas a mausoleum - a place that could only be housed in a cemetery.

The pastor disagrees the two are the same.

"It is fair to say the city and the church agree to disagree on the interpretation of the state statute," says City Attorney Michael Herbrand.

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Proposed religious site faces opposition from City of Cedarburg

Faced with the burden of caring for its aging building, a shrinking downtown Episcopal church is relocating to another parish in the city, while its longtime home on Linwood Avenue will be converted into a senior housing project by the operator of Canterbury Woods.

The Church of the Ascension at 16 Linwood Ave. at the corner of North Street will move three miles north to the campus of the Church of the Good Shepherd at 96 Jewett Parkway. It also will rename itself the Church of the Ascension at Good Shepherd, according to a press release and posting on its website.

When caring for a building limits the energy a congregation has for ministry, its time for a change, the church posted on its website. The church is not a building. Any church, Ascension included, is really a group of people in close relationship with God and one another.

Officials stressed, though, that the two churches are not merging. The congregations have maintained a covenant relationship since 2011, the website continued, so sharing space made perfect sense to both churches when Ascension began looking for a new base. However, Ascension will maintain its own congregation and its 4:30 p.m. Sunday service and monthly Pet Food Pantry.

The Church of the Ascension is not closing, the website said. Rather, it is evolving, adapting to the 21st century reality of how to be the church.

Like many parishes, Ascension has been shrinking as the demographics around it changed. The parish had 338 active members in 1975, but membership plunged to just 39 in 2013, according to the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.

That created urgent financial pressures that threatened the churchs future. Over the past three years alone, the church has spent nearly $80,000 on building maintenance. If it had not taken these steps, it would have closed within six months, said Laurie Wozniak, spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.

The congregation of the Church of the Ascension is committed to mission work. When the cost of maintaining the building on North Street began to negatively affect that work, the decision to move was made prayerfully and with much deliberation, said the Rev. Cathy Dempesy-Sims, Ascensions priest.

The congregation and I believe that in doing so, we are being good stewards of both our money and the building, which will go on to serve the surrounding community in new ways.

The 164-year-old churchs historic building will now be re-purposed for senior housing by Episcopal Church Home & Affiliates, which runs the high-end continuing care community Canterbury Woods in Amherst and is constructing a similar but smaller facility at the former Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital site.

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Church of the Ascension to be converted to senior housing

Rep. Manny Pacquiao FILE PHOTO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY World boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao has set aside some P295 million from his earnings from big-time prizefights for the construction of a house of worship on a 5-hectare property here.

I owe to God everything that I have right now, said Pacquiao, a born-again Christian convert. The amount is nothing compared to what God has done to my life, he said.

The church lot alone could cost up to P95 million.

We came into this world bare and naked. In our final rendezvous with the Great Beyond, we can bring nothing, Pacquiao said. Building the church was also his way of glorifying and thanking God, he said.

Two hectares of the site would be devoted to a two-story church structure and annex, according to Rey Cortez, project engineer. Construction cost would be around P200 million, he said.

The building will serve as the main worship area, while the annex will house the Bible school, Bible study room, a pastors lounge and commercial offices.

We target to finish the project within an 18-month period. But he (Pacquiao) asked us to expedite the construction so it can be used by December 2015, Cortez said.

Pacquiao is currently renting the entire third floor of Maduramente building here for church services every Sunday.

When he retires from boxing, he said, he would turn to preaching and other jobs.

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Pacquiao sets aside P295M for new church

REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Worshippers attend Sunday prayers in Baraka Parish church on the outskirts of Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Christians say churches are being targeted in the Muslim-majority country.

An evangelical church in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, was raided by police yesterday and 37 young members of the congregation were detained.

The episode marked an escalation of attacks on the church by the authorities, which had already demolished parts of the building.

Church leaders believe that the move is part of a concerted campaignagainst churches in the country, though the authorities say that the land is owned by investors who want to build a shopping centre.

According to the minister of the evangelical church in Khartoum North, Pastor Yahya Abdelrahim Falo, the police arrived in nine vehicles at around 6am yesterday. He told Radio Dabangathat some of them started to demolish the outer walls of the building while others arrested the young Christians praying and fasting inside.

Falo said that the 37 detainees were divided into three groups. Two groups were taken to separate criminal courts and each member was fined the equivalent of $35 for "public disturbance and the obstruction of an official in the performance of his duties". The remaining 15 youngsters were tried at a different court, where the judge acquitted them.

Falo said that what had happened was "a blatant infringement of Christian sanctities, and a humiliation of all Sudanese Christians". He demanded an immediate halt to the current demolition of the church.

Yesterday's event was not the first time the church had been targeted. On November 19, the house of its senior pastor was confiscated and the 'youth house' was demolished.

In response, leaders from Khartoum churches, students and church members staged protests, and prayed in the adjacent church for a peaceful resolution.

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Sudan: Church destroyed and young people arrested, pressure increases on Christians

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From her humble beginnings in the Far East in 1914, the Iglesia ni Cristo also known as INC, has grown to be the largest entirely indigenous Christian church in the Philippines, and the largest religious organization that originated from the Philippine Islands and the largest independent Christian Church in Asia.

From the Far East to the Far West: It was in this island state of Hawaii, located in the Far West, where the Church would establish its pioneering mission for its worldwide expansion was not a matter of coincidence, but of divine providence. Biblical prophecy decrees:

"From the far east will I bring your offspring, and from the far west I will gather you" (Isa. 43:5, James Moffatt Translation)

And so, it came to pass that in this Aloha State in the Pacific, particularly in its capital and economic center, Honolulu, theChurch of Christ that emerged in the Far East made its propitious entry into the a Western hemisphere. As prophesied, thegathering of God's children started in 1968 when the Iglesia ni Cristo launched its mission overseas which resulted in the establishment of two pioneering congregations in the Far Westfirst in Honolulu, Hawaii on July 27 and then in San Francisco, California, on August 18, 1968. This laid the groundwork for the rapid establishment of many more congregations on foreign shores.

Countries and territories with official INC presence

Countries and territories with no official INC presence Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:INC_presence_2012.jpg

MANILA, Philippines -- Two Guinness World Records have been broken by the Worldwide Walk of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) over the weekend in Manila. On Sunday, an official of the Guinness World Record has announced that the INC event also set a new record for the largest charity walk in 24 hours (multiple venue). "Thirteen time zones, 54 countries, 24 hours....Iglesia Ni Cristo reached a number and that number is 519, 521 participants," said Kirsty Bennett, Guinness World Records adjudicator, Sunday afternoon at the Diamond Hotel in Manila, where the announcement was made. "On behalf of Guinness I'd like to award Iglesia Ni Cristo for the largest charity walk in 24 hours multiple venue. Congratulations you are officially amazing again ," she added. The previous record was set by Canada involving 231,635 participants who walked for a minimum of 1 kilometer (.62 miles) at 1,011 different locations around Canada on October 2, 2007.

Saturday's event also surpassed the record for the largest charity walk in a single venue with 175,000 participants beating the record set in Singapore in May 2000 with more than 77,000 individuals. The walk for a cause of INC was staged in 135 sites across the globe in the USA, in Europe, in Australia/New Zealand and in Asia including the Philippines. The event in Metro Manila started at the grounds of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) along Roxas Boulevard up to Rizal Park. Source: InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5 http://www.interaksyon.com/article/80854/iglesia-ni-cristos-worldwide-walk-breaks-2-guinness-world-records .

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IGLESIA NI CRISTO - Church of Christ - Iglesia de Cristo

LUTZ Tampa Bay area parents who want to give their children a Catholic education have another option to consider for next school year: a new K-8 school being built on the grounds of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Lutz.

Next fall, students at Tampas Mother Teresa of Calcutta Catholic School formerly Most Holy Redeemer will relocate to a larger building under construction 12 miles away at St. Timothy. It will draw from three area parishes and be big enough to serve twice as many children.

Its a relocation of an existing school that is also an attempt to address needs for Catholic education in that part of the diocese, said Michael Tkacik, secretary of ministries for the Diocese of St. Petersburg. The demand for a Catholic education remains strong and consistent.

The new school, which will draw from Most Holy Redeemer, St. Timothy and Our Lady of the Rosary parishes, is being funded by the dioceses Forward in Faith campaign, which aims to raise $50 million for schools, seminarians and individual church projects. More than $25 million has been raised.

Also underway is an expansion at St. Anthony Catholic School in San Antonio that will allow the K-8 school to take on about 50 more students, bringing total enrollment to 300. Cost of the school projects will total $11 million.

Additionally, $18 million will be set aside for tuition assistance: $10 million for individual parish projects, $3 million toward seminarian education and retired priest care, and $5 million for renovations to the St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach.

The Mother Teresa school, which opened in 1954 as Most Holy Redeemer, serves 236 students. The new building at St. Timothy will be able to accommodate nearly 600. Roughly 325 students are already registered for next fall.

Theyre going to bring a great spirit here, said the Rev. Ken Malley, pastor at St. Timothy. The dynamics are going to change. Its really going to be a breath of life. There seems to be a lot of excitement in the whole neighborhood.

Construction on the school began in February. The building was originally slated to open this fall, but issues with securing permits delayed the process, said diocese schools Superintendent Alberto Vzquez-Matos. Construction now is on schedule to wrap up next summer.

The one-story school, designed by Holmes Architects and being built by Herman Construction, will include classroom pods for each grade equipped with computers and other devices for students.

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Catholic diocese to open new K-8 school in Lutz

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