BIDDEFORD — A growing Christian congregation that began with 11 members seven years ago and now averages 140 to 160 worshipers at two Sunday services has been looking for a new space in which to grow and flourish and to be a blessing on the community, as the pastor puts it.

Now, the congregation of GracePoint Church believes they have found their new bricks-and-mortar home. 

GracePoint Church, which has been renting the former St. Jean’s Hall on Adams Street, took an option on the Rochambeau Club property at 329 South St. in Biddeford earlier this year. Pending the Biddeford Planning Board scrutiny of their phased-in plan for renovations, it could close on the property very soon.

Built in the late 1960s, the interior of the 10,584-square-foot building on four acres would eventually be comprised of a large auditorium, a space for children and various offices, GracePoint Pastor Andrew Warde said.

The congregation plans to paint a new exterior facade and eventually would move the front entrance to the side. As well, there’s insulation and a new roof to install.

Warde estimated the combined purchase price and the renovations, some of which will take place over time, will cost around $900,000.

The Biddeford Planning Board will take up the application for GracePoint Church on Wednesday.

The building is in an R-3 residential zone, where churches may be located as a conditional use. 

GracePoint Church started as a result of what is known in ecclesiastical circles as a ‘church planting’ in 2011 with 11 people, Warde said. 

At that time, members met in the North Dam Mill, and as the congregation of the non-denominational church grew to around 60 or 70 people, it moved to the former St. Jean’s Hall a couple of years later. 

The atmosphere at services is a casual one, said Warde, and he often delivers his message in jeans and a flannel shirt. Some in the congregation dress casual too as a suit and tie or dress and heels is not required, though that is fine too, if the congregant is so inclined, he said. 

Warde, 34, was born near Concord, New Hampshire, and moved to Biddeford with his wife Bethany from South Carolina, where they had attended college and he attended seminary school. The couple has two daughters.

The church’s Community Outreach Director Bruce Audie attended his first service at GracePoint soon after the church began holding services in 2011.

“My wife Karen and I were deeply entrenched at a church in Portland,” Audie said. “We went there after a very painful tragedy. After several years of healing and growth, we felt the need to share what we had with our neighbors and local friends. Several months before GracePoint was planted, Karen and I began the search for a church that would serve the community where we lived. We found GracePoint right after they planted in September 2011. We attended the first Christmas Eve service three months later. We haven’t looked back since.”

 As the outreach director, Audie’s task is to do exactly that — reach out. 

“The job is pretty straightforward, connecting the church to the community, and connecting the community with Jesus, just like all Christians are called to do in the Bible,” he said. “We have neighborhood barbecues, block parties, movie nights, spaghetti suppers, and other public events in order to show the community the love of Jesus, no strings attached.”

The new digs at the former Rochambeau Club will help with that mission, Audie said.

“We are looking forward to a campus that will allow us to grow our programs, both in number and attendance,” he said.

The church has explored other possibilities, like the former St. Andre’s Church and briefly, the former St, Mary’s, but the downtown locations offer little parking. The Rochambeau Club building, on South Street, is set far back on the lot and has plenty of green space and a large parking lot.

“We’re excited to have more land,” said Warde.

Rochambeau social club members still enjoy snowshoeing, but these days, its hard to find other clubs to compete with in races. Still they manage to do a few races a year, Worthley said.

The club that once had 2,000 members, when snowshoeing, showshoe races and parades were popular winter pasttimes, has dwindled to about 300 members, and the social club just couldn’t generate enough income to support the building, Worthley said. 

So the members made a decision to sell.

“We’re very happy they’re the ones we ended up dealing with. We hate to see the club go, but  feel that is an organization that will help the community as we helped the community,” said Worthley, recalling how the Rochambeau Club provided free space for the Toys for Tots campaign, stored cases upon cases of Girl Scout cookies, and provided free space for fundraising events for sick children and the like.

Warde said the Rochambeau Club’s passion was to give back to the community.

“They had a heart for the community,” he said.

If the city gives the proposal a green light, the church hopes to close on the property shortly thereafter, and if that all comes soon, the congregation could be holding services in their new location by late summer or early fall.

“We want the building to be a blessing to the community,” said Warde. “This will be a great for for us and for the community.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.