Local churches looking to build

Sundays in Maricopa seem to be pretty much the same as they are in any small town.

Families pile up in their SUV or minivan and head off to their local church. But the classic image of church one might have, with the tall building and giant steeple, is much different than the reality for many residents in Maricopa.

A number of churches have and continue to meet at various schools because getting a building of their own has been a struggle.

Jay Gjurgevic, pastor at Waypoint Church, said they have tried to make plans for getting a building of their own but rental prices in Maricopa are too high. Waypoint currently holds services at Legacy Traditional School.

“The rental prices (in Maricopa) are even higher than in Ahwatukee,” Gjurgevic said.

Waypoint Church gets funding from Acts 29, a global network of churches that support each other, and Foothills Baptist Church in Ahwatukee, where Gjurgevic spent five years with the congregation before starting his own church in Maricopa.

Gjurgevic said the congregation has talked about building a church, but the time isn’t right.

Cora Aguilar is pastor of Maricopa Lutheran Church, which meets at Santa Rosa Elementary School. She said her church has started a building fund but is still far away from any specific planning.

The church is receiving help from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Grand Canyon Synod, but only for salary and ministry programs.

Aguilar started Maricopa Lutheran Church in 2008 and held services on Saturdays at First Baptist Church. The congregation quickly moved to a storefront in the Maricopa Business Center so they could worship on Sundays instead of the Saturdays they were allotted at First Baptist.

Then the church moved to a ranch house off Porter Road that was converted into a church, allowing it to start other ministries not possible because of time constraints at the storefront. They were only allowed to use the space three hours a week.

Eventually, Maricopa Lutheran moved to Santa Rosa Elementary School because of the growth of the church.

“The school is allowing us to worship at 70-plus,” Aguilar said.

Journey United Methodist Church has been meeting at Santa Cruz Elementary School since February 2010 and has 75 to 100 in its congregation.

Due to “financial reality,” Pastor Eric Brown said Journey Church will not start plans of building a church of its own until January.

They have a group of church members, who Brown calls the “dream team,” that will meet and discuss a plan for future building opportunities.

“There’s a great lack of ready-to-build space,” Brown said.

He said most of the land in Maricopa is tied up in real estate investment trusts, so the prices for land are very high.

Brown doesn’t see any real opportunity of obtaining land for his church for at least three years.