It’s Bigger on the Inside – Holt Christian Church

We help churches grow. Sometimes that means helping them to finance a new building or purchase property, but sometimes that means pointing out innovative ways to use the resources they already have.

When Conrad Gonzales Jr. became the pastor of Holt Christian Church in Lansing, MI, they were in need of some healing. The 26-year-old church had spent the last six years with an interim pastor and things had started to become stagnant. They were a church without direction or vision.

Through Pastor Gonzales’s leadership, they began to regroup and reestablish their identity as a church whose sole mission was to lead others to Jesus. This led them to begin questioning their building. Did they have the space they needed to bring in new people? Was their current church too small? Was it time to consider taking out a loan for a new place to meet? They brought CDF Capital in to help them work through these questions.

They Had More Space Than They Realized

After listening to Holt Christian Church’s aspirations and looking closely at their current facilities, CDF suggested an alternative plan to expanding. With some moderate remodeling, they could bring their building into adult/kid space balance and create the kind of space use they wanted in their present building.

The church took CDF’s words to heart, rolled up their sleeves, and got to work. They transformed the entrance area by removing walls to double their lobby space, allowing for more intentional areas for people to be in community. Then they reimagined their old shared classrooms by making them sacred kids’ spaces and turning very specialized areas like the library into relevant, mission-focused space.

Growth From the Inside Out

By simply creating specialized space for their kids’ ministry and more community space for people to gather comfortably, Holt Christian Church immediately felt a difference. Holt’s youth ministry—which topped out for years at about three kids—suddenly had twenty-five kids attending regularly.

It turns out that this overhaul wasn’t simply a change to their church layout; it ignited an internal transformation. It helped to cement the church’s sense of mission in their community.

A Big Loan Isn’t Always the Answer

Often, a church will think the key to growth is a big loan for a new building.

But that’s not always what a church needs.

In this case, we helped Holt discover new ways to use the resources they already had—and not by encouraging them to take on financial debt they didn’t need. Instead, they got a much smaller loan to finance the remodeling and essentials.

There are times when taking on more debt is the wrong move for a church. And we’re here to help churches grow, even if that means a smaller loan from us.

In times like these, CDF can help by coming alongside and providing Leadership Capital in the form of vision and direction. Sometimes what a church needs is an influx of Spiritual Capital in the form of other churches and teams lifting them up in prayer and encouraging them.

WE HELP CHURCHES GROW

Since 1953, CDF Capital has had one goal—helping churches grow.  And church growth is about more than attendance and building size. True growth includes discipleship and healthy leadership—churches need more than Financial Capital to reach their potential.

CDF Capital exists to help infuse churches with the resources they need to be transformed—because we believe in the church.