It’s a fascinating story. One church has faded into history, while another is growing more than 25 % a year, and planning its ‘Grand Opening’ services and celebration at the huge church building on Napier Avenue that will forever tie the two congregations together in spirit.
Fairplain Presbyterian Church closed last year, having shrunk to about 35 members.
Overflow Church is attracting 350 people to services every Sunday, with almost as many tuning in via video streaming and YouTube. Overflow will welcome the membership and the community at large to the new location, 210 West Napier Avenue, on Sunday, September 21, with three services, 8:30, 10:00, and 11:45 a.m.
MoodyOnTheMarket.com had the opportunity to discuss the move and expansion with the leadership team of Overflow Church, headed by Pastor Elijah Shamenda, Director of Ministries Rachel Schultz, and Director of Operations Noah Zelvis.
Pastor Shamenda explained that the secret to Overflow’s recent growth and success seems to come from a commitment to two fundamental characteristics of its membership: it is multi-ethnic and multi-generational, something that isn’t apparent in some area churches.
“This church has been really focused on a couple of things. That we were serious about being a multi -ethnic church, that we’re serious about engaging our community, and that we have young families here.”
“We just continue to lean into those values of ours. It definitely helped catch momentum and create a vision. Really, our mission is to generate hope in every nook and cranny of our region. Every Sunday. We believe it. We believe that’s what God’s called us to do as a community.”
Shemanda took over as Head Pastor at Overflow almost four years ago. He feels the role has been a fantastic fit. The proof seems to be in the numbers:
“It started snowballing. We went from a little bit under 100 to about 150 to about 250 to then over 350 now. Our building is about 8 ,000 square feet at 300 East Napier. And we just ran out of space. Last Easter we had about 571 people. So, we knew it was time. And then this building opened up as we were praying for guidance.”
Overflow Church will occupy almost 22,000 square feet on two floors in the new space. There will be ample space for Sunday School classes, group gatherings of various sizes, and office and support space. Rachel Schultz is the Director of Ministries at Overflow and believes that prayers are being answered in the move.
“We are living in revival. We’re seeing so many people coming to know Jesus and lives being transformed. And we have just a wonderful opportunity to reach the next generation here just because we have bigger spaces to reach them. it’s just super exciting to see what God is doing here.”
Rachel and her family began as members at Overflow, prior to her joining the staff. She says it’s a very special place—and members feel it. “We are still so intentional about creating a space where everyone feels welcome and seen and loved. Even while we’re growing, we’re not losing that sense of community being our foundation and this being a place for people to call home.”
Schultz shared the story of a a new member family, welcomed into Overflow Church:
“Just last Christmas, a young family came in who had been through some stuff, and they were like, ‘This just feels like home. It feels like this is family. It feels like we’ve been here forever, because you’ve just accepted us and taken us in, and our kids are already connected.’ I think that’s something that’s just really special and unique here…, something different about how people care about each other here at Overflow.”
The Overflow team found they could utilize the physical layout of the old First Presbyterian building with only minor chanes. However, they invested in a new carpeting and paint throughout and gave the main sanctuary an updated look and new seating. The pews are gone and stackable chairs are ‘in’, allowing the space to be used more flexibly in the future.
Jake Hopkins is a Volunteer; a member of Overflow who helped lead the move and the physical update of the building. His enthusiasm is apparent:
“We took a four -month journey, which was incredible… the success of the project was moving an entire building and congregation and having people feel like this is a new home and get excited about growth!
People don’t like change, but people are excited about this change. I got to help lead the project, but I give a lot of credit to this building. It’s a beautiful building with good bones and good structure. We came in and just gave it a little ‘freshen up’ with some carpet and some paint. And we really thought through as a staff how we are going to use the building to further the mission that we have.”
Pastor Shemanda believes Overflow Church is uniquely positioned, both philosophically and geographically to play a key unifying role in the Twin Cities community.
“Overflow was planted with the notion of being intentionally a multi -ethnic church. There’s no secret that there is this bridge that sits between these two communities and the years of tensions, or whatever. And my predecessor, who was the founding pastor, Brian Bennett, just really was passionate about seeing diversity and community and unity! That was his passion. And so when I came along, that’s what God had put in my heart– to pastor a multi -ethnic congregation, a multi -generational congregation. And so we just picked up from there. We exist to be a bridge between these two communities.”
In addition to the Grand Opening September 21, Overflow is planning a Fall Festival the following weekend, outside on the big front lawn and parking area. They hope that families who are curious or interested, but not quite ready to show up at Sunday services, will feel welcome at the Fall Festival. There will be food trucks, bounce houses, and family friendly activities Sunday afternoon, September 28 starting at 1 p.m.
Pastor Elijah Shemanda Rachel Schultz
Sanctuary at Overflow Church
