In the news: As printed in The Montclair Times
Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Christ Church purchases tract for ‘campus’ outside Montclair: Main operations are moving to Rockaway; an affiliate to remain
Wednesday, May 28, 2003

By Ken Thorbourne

For 17 years, the Rev. David Ireland has made growth a hallmark of ministry at Christ Church.
Almost from the time the dynamic preacher relocated his church from Bloomfield to Montclair nine years ago, he’s preached to his flock that the day would come when they would have to leave their ornate home at the corner of Trinity Place and Church Street for more spacious quarters.
The actual move is a year away, but space for the new church home has been purchased.
Ireland confirmed to The Times last week that Christ Church is the “contract purchaser” of a 107-acre parcel of property in Rockaway Township in Morris County, a 25-minute drive from Montclair. Price tag: $14.25 million. The property is the site of the former headquarters of Agilent Technology, a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard.
Ireland was quick to emphasize that Christ Church has no current plans to sell its Trinity Place facility, a house of worship originally built by the members of First Baptist Church in 1911.
“We’re going to keep our commitment to Montclair,” said the 41-year-old Ireland. “Our first approach is to plant a church here. We plan to continue all our pro-grams in Montclair.”
Ireland said that if, at some future date, Christ Church sold the Trinity Place property, the church would only sell it to another religious institution.
The move to a larger facility was inevitable.
When Christ Church first moved to Montclair in 1994, Ireland, who had started the church 10 years earlier in South Orange with six parishioners, could boast of having a healthy, but still manageable 500-member congregation.
Membership is now 5,000.
The church, known for its sharp preaching and stellar musical talent, has jumped from one Sunday service to five, this with sanctuary seating for 500 and three “overflow” rooms.
Not one to admit that his Sunday schedule borders on maniacal, Ireland did concede that he “sleeps like a baby” on Sunday night.
Sitting in his office last week, Ireland proudly pointed out some of the main features of the new facility.
Two buildings dominate the new “campus” he explained, a mammoth-sized 4,000-seat sanctuary and a 160,000 square-foot Education and Family Life Center building.
The mega-sanctuary will immediately slice Ireland’s Sunday workload from five services to two.
The Education Building speaks to the fact that the church prides itself on taking a holistic approach to its constituents.
This building will house a food court, a gymnasium, a computer learning center, a center for the performing arts, a school for students from prekindergarten to fifth grade, a book store, a small museum about Christianity, and a 1,000-person banquet hall, Ireland said.
Elsewhere on the campus are soccer and baseball fields and tennis courts.
The new complex will also provide Ireland room to expand his ongoing radio and TV ministry. “Everything will be state-of-the-art,” said Ireland. “This [facility] will lend itself from birth to death.”
Ireland doesn’t believe he’ll lose membership with the relocation.
“We’ve never lost members from a move,” said Ireland, for whom this will be his seventh move as pastor of Christ Church. “For the past four years, our members have known we’re looking out west and within a 30-minute commute.”
Ireland said that as long as church members see the connection between physical growth and religious expansion, they would remain supportive.
Ireland said that his church has established ministries in 30 countries, with a goal of operating in 100 countries within the next five years. In March, Christ Church sponsored a trip to Guatemala for medical workers in which 1,700 persons in five days were treated for various medical ailments, he said.
“If there is a social goal, our people love that,” Ireland said. “We found that if we convey to the congregation the enormity of the goal and the contribution it can make to the ministry, then they stay on board.”
There are some municipal hurdles Ireland will have to cross before his plans gain final approval.
Churches, he explained, are a “conditional use” in the area in which he plans to build. This means that the local planning board has to grant a variance for the project to be built. In addition, there are parking requirements the church will have to meet. The campus currently has 850 parking spaces. The Christ Church plans require 1,200 parking spots. Ireland said that two existing buildings would be razed to make room for, among other things, additional parking.
Out of the total 107 acres on the new site, 58 acres can be built upon and 59 are wetlands, Ireland said.
Montclair resident Marcus Bourbon, the facilities manager at the church, told The Times that he’s already figured out how to drive to the planned headquarters.
Attracted by Ireland’s preaching over the radio, Bourbon said that he joined Christ Church eight years ago when he was living in Jersey City.
“I’ve traveled 30 minutes to get here and I’ll travel 30 minutes to get somewhere else,” said Bourbon. “I’m excited about [the move]. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate the power of God. It shows the church will grow if you serve the needs of the community.”
Diana Stewart, a Montclair resident since 1993 and a Christ Church member for five years, was less sure she would make the trek to Rockaway.
“I’m not sure if I would be making the drive out there. I don’t know at this point,” said Stewart, adding “there are a lot of other good churches in Montclair, maybe I will join one of them.”
Asked what has kept her a member of Christ Church, Stewart, who lost her husband in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, said that she’s been made to feel like family.
“I have really enjoyed the people that attend. We’ve all come to love each other and know each other,” said Stewart. “As a group, we have been through a number of things. This is very much a family atmosphere.”
Carol Patron, a Montclair resident who works at the church, said she’s ready to make the move and no, the church is not deserting Montclair.
“I don’t feel they are deserting [Montclair] because, being a member, it’s like family, and family never deserts you.”

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