After years without a permanent campus home, the University Church of Christ plans to build a 50,000 square-foot complex on the Drescher Graduate Campus.
By Faith Lynn
Staff Writer
After 23 long years of meeting in Elkins Auditorium, the University Church of Christ can finally look forward to having a place of its own.
The church is getting a new home on the Drescher Graduate Campus within the next several years. The roughly 50,000 square-foot complex is estimated to cost up to $10 million, and will house an auditorium, daycare, classroom wing and administration offices.
The advent of a new era for the university church has brought fire from both sides, however. Although proponents of the building cite that the move is long overdue, others question if the money could be better spent or if the proposed design – which includes one indoor and one outdoor baptistery and an infinity reflecting pool – is too elaborate for the church’s needs.
Campus Minister Scott Lambert, however, said he’s heard “very little grumbling or complaining,” even though the fundraising campaign is relying heavily on donations from the congregation, mainly composed of students, faculty and staff. For the first $1.5 million, church elders needed on average $15,000 from each family unit in the congregation.
Lambert said he believes the new building will be a big step forward for the church. He said the growth and diversification of the church’s goals definitely warrants a bigger space in which to work.
“We’ve always been transient,” Lambert said. “It’s awful — we don’t have the flexibility to do things in the name of the church and the name of God.”
Currently, the University Church of Christ meets in various classrooms on campus for Sunday School classes and in homes or dorm rooms for small groups. There are no areas minus a minuscule permanent space set inside in the Tyler Campus Center for church ministers. Church officials believe that this transience especially affects the children’s ministry that would benefit from being able to set up permanent classrooms for its youth. The church also lacks a baptistery and currently uses the faculty Jacuzzi or the Pacific Ocean for baptisms.
At an all-church worship service at Firestone Fieldhouse Sept. 22, Helen Young, special assistant to the vice president of Advancement and Public Affairs and widow of past Pepperdine President Norvell Young, said that she looked forward to seeing the new church building as a “light on the hill” ministering to the Malibu community. She compared herself to Simeon in Luke 2 who finally sets eyes on the long-hoped for Messiah in an infant Jesus, that once she sets eyes on the long-awaited church that God could then dismiss “his good and faithful servant, for my eyes will have seen the glory of the lord.”
More than 150 students, faculty and staff also gathered Oct. 13 for a worship service at the proposed site to dedicate the land.
The building, however, is still a long way off, John Elliott, assistant vice president for Construction, said.
“We haven’t even specified the materials yet,” he said.
Currently, committees are meeting to finalize space allocation measurements, and are also consulting other groups such as Special Programs and those in the Cultural Arts Center to brainstorm other purposes the two buildings could be used for.
Before groundbreaking, Elliott said, Los Angeles County has to clear the plans and give any input they may have regarding siting, elevation, or location of the buildings on the construction pad.
“It’s tough to say when it will start, and hard to predict how long it will take,” he said. He said that he is with the progress of the project.
“In large part it’s a pretty good use of the site — most people are happy with the conceptual thus far.”
Lambert said he is very pleased with the way the fundraising campaign has been going. In only two months, the congregation has already pledged $1.5 million. The university is helping the church by raising funds as well.
“It’s just so expensive to build in Malibu,” Lambert said of the estimated cost of the project.
He said he believes the outlay is justified, since the planned auditorium will provide the university with another space to hold gatherings, like those currently held in one of only four places — the smaller Elkins Auditorium, Stauffer Chapel, Smothers Theatre and the very large Firestone Fieldhouse.
“There’s really nothing in between,” Lambert said.
The auditorium planned for the new building will have 1,500 seats, more than twice the attendance at the church on a regular Sunday.
Lambert said he is optimistic that the other 800 seats will fill up quickly. One avenue for new members will be the graduate campus itself, which will bring a few thousand more students onto the Malibu campus.
“We have an eye for growth,” he said.
Members have challenged that contention, however.
Fifth-year senior Brennan Bortz said he understands the need for a new building, but worries that the huge space is “just going to dwarf the congregation.”
“I’m excited about the new building, but I have my reservations, definitely,” he said.
He said he believes a church grows best when the seats are 85 percent full, and that he thinks the University church is going overboard when it really doesn’t need to be building such a mammoth facility.
“I don’t know if the church’s heart is in the right place … I’m concerned that the focus is more on numbers and not on ministering to the body that the church already has,” he said.
Bortz said he thinks there are other things the church could be spending its money on. He said that even though Elkins is not a good home for the church, the large building planned can only be used to its full ability when far more people from the community are involved.
“I think that’s a dire need of the church that we’ve lost sight of,” Bortz said.
Lambert said he is very excited at the prospect of a facility primarily dedicated to the church. He said he has also been happy to see the level of student involvement in the fundraising.
“We want student members to feel a sense of ownership,” he said.
Elizabeth Graham, a sophomore and a member of the student fundraising committee, said she is very excited about the new building and the opportunities it will bring.
She said she believes the focus is not only on the building, but also on teaching people to give.
“It’s a practice in learning to give to your community,” she said.
November 07, 2002
