Covenant Member Update: March 2026

Park Church family,

In May 2025, we formally launched Park Church’s Two-Year Vision. Through a period of discerning where we are, what God has given us, and who He is calling us to be in this next season, we identified four strategic priorities to guide our efforts. (Find those again here!) A significant objective attached to these priorities has been to restructure and improve our historic building to enhance its effectiveness and our reach toward our mission. Our leadership team has been investing a tremendous amount of energy in this project. And you all, as our church family, have been wonderfully supportive of us. Thank you!

All the while, our patience muscle has undergone a rigorous training program. This whole process takes a while. At least, it does when we pursue wisdom and appropriate intentionality! Beyond that, there is the necessary permitting process, working with Xcel Energy, and the dozens of other moving parts to move this thing forward.

The waiting and discerning process for our building project has some similarities to the foundation phase of building a skyscraper: to build a towering structure requires a great deal of time to dig deep. For many months, it can seem like no progress has been made. But once that foundation has been set, the structure surges upward! For us as a church, even though we haven’t yet taken a shovel to the ground, we’ve been digging deep and building the appropriate foundation with our architect, engineers, broader design team, governing board, and staff leaders. Much of the work has been visible to only a small handful of people. But as one who sits at the nexus of this work, I can attest to the methodical movement forward. Thanks for working that patience muscle with us.

And now, it is nearing the time for this project to surge ahead.

In this newsletter, I provide some more details about our current state and how to prepare for what’s next. This is exciting, church family! We’re eager to keep leaning into the future with you all, anticipating great things from the great God that we serve.

Current State of the Project

We have moved through the Schematic Design and Design Development phases, bringing us to our Construction Documents. We’ve sent these out to a handful of general contractors, each of whom has provided a bid. After interviewing them, making revisions, and discerning the right partner for this project, we have now entered contract negotiations with one of them. We’re making good progress with the city on the permitting process, but we still have the inevitable back-and-forth to check all their boxes. Additionally, we’re working with Xcel Energy to ensure we have the necessary power to support our elevator. And then we have the whole array of design, safety, and other preparatory measures in motion to get us construction-ready.

From a funding perspective, we are healthily tracking with our goals. Here’s a snapshot of our current financials in relation to our Two-Year Vision goal:

We are in a strong position to begin construction. The insight provided by our governing board, finance team, and owner’s representative has been to secure a construction line of credit as we formally initiate the project. As invoices start coming in during the construction phase, we must ensure good cash flow and adhere to the wisdom of our cash reserves policy. Securing this line of credit provides stability through the project, giving us access to draw on it only as needed.

We’re still on track to start the project this spring, meaning we should wrap up around the end of the calendar year. That said, I’m learning to be cautious (and cautiously optimistic) when it comes to projections about the timeline. We’ll keep you informed!

What’s Next?

Prayer

Above all, please continue in prayer. We are asking God to wield this project—one that we believe He has led us into—for His purposes here in Denver and far beyond. We long for His continued provision and protection as we continue pressing forward. If “the devil’s in the details,” we’d like to get him out of there. The many variables of the project are coming into alignment, and we invite you all to pray that this alignment continues and that we have wisdom and clarity on how to lead through each step.

Continued Generosity

We also ask that you continue seeking the Lord on how He would like you to steward your finances to give toward this vision and project. This whole initiative is one we are shouldering as an entire church family, and we have routinely felt a sense of unity as we’ve progressed through these past months. On behalf of the church, we are very grateful! You can explore ways of giving here. Thank you for your continued generosity to the mission of God through Park Church.

Congregational Vote on Construction Line of Credit

Another way you can be involved is by participating in our congregational vote for the construction line of credit mentioned above. This constitutes a restructuring of the mortgage on our building and, per our bylaws, this requires a congregational vote by our covenant members. Please slot this in your calendar! We will host a virtual meeting over Zoom on Thursday, April 9 at 7:30pm. Our leadership will provide the specifics of the loan, welcome clarifying questions, and take a vote. Please see your email inbox on the day of for a link to our virtual meeting.

Expectations of the Construction Phase

As we approach our “break ground” date, let’s learn to anticipate and even embrace the inherent disruption. The general contractor we’re moving ahead with prioritizes keeping as much of the church building open during construction as possible, and they have experience at this! However, this still will disrupt aspects of our normal programming. Much like we would during a home renovation project, let’s move through this season as a family that loves each other and is looking ahead to what lies on the other side. The entirety of this project is oriented around pursuing our mission of making disciples of Jesus for the glory of God and the joy of all people. What a glorious mission we are able to live into!

Holy Week Reminders

COMPLETE HOLY WEEK & EASTER DETAILS

May 2026 Family Meeting

You can also RSVP for our next Family Meeting on Sunday, May 17! Among other things, we’ll hear about the vision for Gospel Communities from Tony Villatoro, meet our new class of Ministry Residents, and vote on the installation of our elder candidates. We look forward to seeing you there.

May the peace of Christ be with you!

Neil Long
Executive Pastor