Craig Architects in Grand Rapids is serving as the project’s lead architect and designer.

Bethel’s congregation moved from Grand Rapids, at 834 Lake Dr. SE, into the space last year.

Renovation

The renovation project involves transforming the former grocery space into a church, with worship spaces, offices and classrooms for Sunday school and youth groups.

The renovation work will happen in two phases, said Dulane Coval, Wolverine Builiding Group project manager.

The first phase will focus on developing the sanctuary and classrooms, while the second phase will focus on the stage area and other finishing touches.

The first phase should be completed in about a month, and the second phase should be completed in early May, assuming Bethel’s $200,000 fundraising campaign is successful, Coval said.

“What they’re trying to do is take a grocery store and make it into space usable for a church,” Coval said. “Right now, we’ve got plastic all over the place, trying to control dust. But they are in there using it.

“They have a long-range vision, but no timeline has been put to that, because they don’t know where they money is coming from yet.”

Youth expansion

One of the main reasons for the expansion is to expand Bethel’s programs for children and youth groups with a new Children’s Center, said Jathan Austin, Bethel’s lead pastor.

“We decided as a congregation to impact the community of Grandville and Grand Rapids by first investing in our children,” Austin said.

Austin said, for example, that the church offers a Believe to Become program, which promotes educational and parental excellence.

“We are in the people business,” Austin said. “If we fail the people, we have failed as a church.”

Abney name

Austin is the grandson of the one of the church’s founders, the late Bishop William Abney, who the city of Grand Rapids honored by naming Abney Avenue after him in 1995, according to the church website.

Bethel has plans to honor Abney’s lifelong passion for the arts by including in their new facility a “top-notch” auditorium named in Bishop Abney’s honor.

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