Capital city building to advance Kingdom

“The speed at which CIF was able to approve the loan
was just so smooth, and there were never any hiccups.”
Brian Silver, Lead Pastor, Hope community church lowertown (st. Paul)

Lead Pastor Brian Silver took a class in seminary that included a church planting project. He picked the Lowertown neighborhood of St. Paul, Minn.

“I had no desire to plant a church. I didn’t know what it was,” he said. Coming from a family of pastors, his thought was he would wait for an older pastor to retire, then step into the role.

“I liked it (the project), but I didn’t know how to plant a church,” he recalled. “I wrote a paper on it.”

But Pastor Brian needed much more than a class to start a ministry. His education went beyond books when he met leaders at Hope Community Church, an Evangelical Free congregation in Minneapolis.

Working together, the vision of Pastor Brian’s project would one day be fulfilled. Hope Community Church Lowertown (St. Paul), was planted in 2017 by Hope Community Church of Minneapolis. The St. Paul congregation rented space at First Baptist Church downtown.

Putting down residential roots

In a big step, a quick turnaround and less than three miles away, Hope purchased a $600,000 church building, putting $200,000 down with the remaining funds financed by Christian Investors Financial (CIF).

“We’re a smaller congregation in the city and I just never thought we’d ever be able to afford a building in St. Paul proper, let alone one that was in decent enough shape,” he said.

Church leaders, CIF come through quickly

Pastor Brian had been looking for other rental spaces when a colleague texted him the listing at 663 Como Avenue from Facebook Marketplace.

Arriving to meet the realtor and take a tour, there was already another prospective buyer on site.

The 1913 structure on a primary residential street was expanded in 1957 and looked good, but Pastor Brian had questions about what he could not see. An elder from his church met him at the building on a Friday and said it could be a great fit.

The parent church, Hope Community in Minneapolis, had an existing loan with CIF for their building. Could a second loan to buy the St. Paul facility be possible?

Monday came, and with it a conversation with Hope Community’s administrative pastor to see if the purchase was viable. But during that phone call, the realtor called and said the church that was selling the St. Paul building was taking the best and final offer. They had moved on and needed the funds.

Hope restored, restoration ahead

By the end of the week, Pastor Brian said they couldn’t do it. “I had stopped praying about it, and I was just like, ‘Yeah, there’s no chance.’”

Two days later, the tables turned. Leaders and the governance team at Hope got together with CIF, looked at the numbers and decided to move ahead. Pastor Brian said it happened fast, but it wasn’t rushed.

“The right people had the right eyes on it and the right circles, and said we could do this,” he said. This relieved a lot of pressure for him and his elders. Responsive communication with CIF is essential in these situations.

“The speed at which CIF was able to approve the loan was just so smooth, and there were never any hiccups,” Pastor Brian said. “No late-night phone calls, no ‘We’ve got to do this (or that), or we’ve got to have an emergency meeting.’ There was none of that.”

Amazingly, Hope Lowertown’s offer was not the highest, but the seller wanted the building to remain as a church, and gladly accepted it.

The congregational vote to approve the purchase, which included the larger Hope Community Church in Minneapolis, was unanimous. “It was a big moment.”

Well situated and equipped

The sanctuary in the Como Avenue church seats about 175, and there are fellowship and lobby areas next to it as well as offices.

“I like the way it kind of horseshoes. You can see each other,” he said. “It’s not all straight, just pretty cool, so there’s no hiding here.”

While the church has yet to move in, Pastor Brian is often here and is not shy. Looking out on the street from his office, he often sees neighbors and goes out to meet them. “I’ve already met more people from this immediate neighborhood than I did in nine years being downtown.”

Bathrooms are being remodeled and a kitchen will be brought up to code. The basement has a large room, new furnaces and bright new egress windows with classrooms. Six rooms will be enlarged to make three.

Some work done, more to do

The city replaced lead pipes in the basement floor and was doing major work in the street. There’s a newer flat roof and new siding was installed on the clock tower. The structure also has a separate upstairs apartment that was at one time a parsonage.

An inspector said there was asbestos in the basement, but a contractor disagreed. “So that was an answer to a prayer I didn’t pray or didn’t think to pray,” he said.

The church has had regular Saturday workdays, digging trenches, painting and doing demolition. People are taking ownership. “We’ve been seeing people use their gifts in ways they couldn’t when we were renting, and it has been really neat.”

The congregation, serving and passion for souls

Hope Lowertown has plans to serve the community, reaching out and meeting needs. The church’s demographic is generally younger and highly educated. At age 40, Pastor Brian said he is one of the older ones.

“We want to storm the gates of hell. And that’s the beauty of having a sacred space, a building and a neighborhood where we physically get to go into the kingdom of darkness and trash the joint.”

Many others Pastor Brian knows in ministry have affirmed the church’s decision and direction. “As soon as you own a building, it just changes everything. And it does.”

The church has plans to move in this fall.

Is a building purchase or expansion on the radar for your church? Connect with CIF today to start a conversation about possibilities!

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