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New England's Warehouse Churches
Harbor of Hope Christian Church
North Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Harbor of Hope Christian Church, 51 Middlesex Street, North Chelmsford, MA, launched public worship in November of 1999 at the Doubletree Hotel, Lowell, MA, and moved to Lowell Middle School for four-and-a-half years before signing a lease in August of 2003 and moving into their present location on January 1, 2004. The lead minister is Matt Bortmess and their present average worship attendance is 228.
Matt, why would a new church meet in a warehouse?
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After having met in a hotel and a school building for more than four years, we learned that in New England, we were not recognized in our community as being an established and lasting church. Once we moved into a facility that we could call our own 24/7, even our regularly attending people began to see that this was a legitimate church and began inviting others. For instance, our Christmas Eve Services at the school were attended by only our own people -- no visitors, but once we moved, there was standing room only. When we decided to look for our own place, we discovered we could not afford to buy land or a building, so we started looking at industrial spaces that were available. We would call about a space that was available, and people would not return our calls because no one wanted to rent to a church. One day when looking for a place that our realtor told us about, we noticed a big sign on a building stating "Space for Lease." We looked at it and signed a lease a couple of weeks later because it was available space, priced reasonably, and the owners were willing to talk to us. We were also intrigued by the mill building because Lowell is famous for its mill buildings along the river. We are surrounded by many venues including restaurants, professional offices, a dance studio, a Montessori school, apartments, condos, and so forth. To meet for worship in a mill building is taking the church to where the people are already coming.
What type of relationship do you have with management and other businesses here at the mill building?
The owner and management like the church, and we have had a very good working relationship with them. The owner told me that when he first heard that a church was coming in, he said, "Oh man, what am I getting into?" Then once he met with us, he instantly changed his mind. We always pay our rent on time, abide by our lease, and for the most part are quiet during business hours. There has been some talk of converting the building to condos, and one of the larger spaces has already become a condo. The one drawback for the church purchasing this space is that we are located in the basement of a mill building, which makes it less than ideal for outreach. So far, the church has had little impact on individuals using the building during the work week, but a few have inquired about the church.
What have been the advantages and disadvantages of meeting in this mill building?
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It has given us a sense of establishment by being in a permanent space. Another advantage is the uniqueness of our space in a mill building among all the other businesses, and there is not another church in this area of the community. When people come in they will say, "Wow this is really cool!" People are pleasantly surprised by how inviting and warm our space is due to the granite stone and brick outer walls with wood pillars and open high wood plank ceilings with carpeted floors. It offers a modern worship setting, blending the old with a new feel. We were able lay out the design and build our space as we wanted, which allowed us to create spaces for fellowship, something that we didn't have in the school building. Prior to moving into our space, our attendance had grown at a 10-12% rate per year. Once we moved into our space, we saw attendance increase 41% from 135 to 190, and this was without any publicity, only word of mouth from our church family. We provided our people with invitation cards and other things to assist them in inviting others to join them at Harbor of Hope. We also have community outreach events such as our Fall Festival. However, most of our first-time visitors come by someone inviting them or via our internet webpage.
Some of the disadvantages really just come with the territory of meeting in a mill building. For instance, parking on weekends has been no problem, but during the weekdays, between businesses and the dance studio, parking can be hard to find. Visibility is also a problem in that we have no outside permanent sign, and the address for the building is on the backside of the facility. On Sundays we put out movable signs along the road so people can find us. During the week the owner allows us to put a banner on the fence by the Princeton Street entrance, but during the winter, the banner is not very visible due to high snow banks. Another disadvantage is that we are in shared space and thus it is noisy at times. Due to the open ceilings of the mill buildings, we hear everything that is going on above us. Also, we cannot use our worship space during the mid-week business hours due to our sound going up into their space. Both the surrounding businesses and our church have to be sensitive to the fact that this is shared space. We do not have many services in our space during business hours, but when we do, such as a funeral service, we go around to all the neighbors and let them know ahead of time.
Matt, what is the next step for the church?
We are in the process of renewing our lease and looking at another five-year lease. We still have space to grow at our present location, so there is no pressing need to move. There is room for growth in our two services and we can easily go to three worship services before our space restricts our growth. In our new lease we will be acquiring additional space and will be reconfiguring some of our present layout. Once we are larger, we could more easily buy land and build. We are also exploring the possibility of staying where we are and starting a second campus across town. More than likely, if the church should build its own building in the future, it will be influenced by mill building architecture.
For more information, go to Harbor of Hope's website at www.harborofhope.org.
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