Florida Church to Build 100,000-Square-Foot Park for its City

CAPE CORAL, Fla., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cape Coral's ranking as one of the top cities in the nation for foreclosure and unemployment rates has prompted a Florida church to shift its focus – from building a $15 million worship auditorium to building a 100,000-square-foot park for its city. After assessing how loss of jobs and homes was impacting families, Cape Christian Fellowship is launching a non-traditional church campaign to build Fellowship Park. Open to the public, Fellowship Park will include the city's first amphitheater, a splash pad, four children's playgrounds, sports and multi-purpose fields, common areas, zip line, jogging trail, pavilion and cafe. It will be funded, built and maintained by the church. In addition, Cape Christian Fellowship is launching a community-wide campaign, "Not in My City," providing resources to families facing hunger, homelessness and poverty.

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"It's alarming that 350 children are homeless in our city. Assessing the community's needs was sobering and led us to turn our attention outside the walls of our church," says Cape Christian Fellowship's Lead Pastor Wes Furlong. "Even though we've outgrown our current facility, we cancelled our plans for a new worship center. Instead, we're building a park where families can gather, play, attend concerts and community events. We're also providing resources to help families who've lost homes or jobs. We are a church that exists for our city."

The largest Mennonite Church in the U.S., Cape Christian Fellowship has doubled its attendance in five years and created more than 20 ministries for the city, including a mentoring program for young mothers and a state-approved character curriculum in public schools. It's "Feeding Cape Coral," program stocks food pantries with more than 25,000 items. In addition, the church is recruiting volunteers with the goal of logging one-million volunteer hours within public schools. Cape Christian Fellowship also plans to launch the Center for Family Life to create and multi-media resources for parents, married couples, and people with addictions and other life-controlling issues.

Cape Christian is located at 2110 Chiquita Blvd. S. in Cape Coral. The 25-year-old church is home to more than 1,400 people who attend its contemporary worship services each weekend. For more information, visit www.capechristian.com or call 239-772-5683.

SOURCE Cape Christian Fellowship