HAMPDEN – Bethlehem Church recently moved to a new $6 million Baptist worship center at 123 Allen St., after more than a year since the project broke ground.

Lori Cooney, director of connection and outreach at Bethlehem Church, told Reminder Publications the 35,000-square-foot building seats 625 people in its worship center and features a café, activity center, kids’ wing, a section dedicated to middle and high school age youth, as well as an adult education wing.

Pastor Brian MacLeod said the church was built with the idea that it would serve as a worship and community center for parishioners and their families.

“We want to make sure that we’re hitting on all the bases for young and old alike,” he added. “Church ain’t just for old people.”

The worship center also included band equipment such as drums, keyboards, and guitar for music during Sunday services and large screen projections. The worship center also features a cross that was made from wood from a 1800s barn that resided on the former Simkins Farm property.

MacLeod said Bethlehem Church moved to its former site, 216 Allen St., from Roosevelt Avenue in Springfield in 1991 and since then the church has seen expansion among its parishioner population.

"God’s been very good to us here,” he added. “The church has grown and by the time we got into the early 2000s we were really growing pretty well so we actually thought about expanding.”

Bethlehem Church purchased the Simkins Farm property in 2009, he noted. The church also raised more than $1.25 million from 2009 to 2012 to help fund the project and received a $625,000 grant to be used solely for places of worship.

“In the end it’ll be a doable mortgage and that’ll be nice,” MacLeod said.

He added that the main difference between the new church and the old one is that there is more space for growth and dedicated spaces for age groups.

“At one point we were running three services, but we kind of expanded our sanctuary enough that we were able to shrink it back to two, but even that [wasn’t enough],” MacLeod said. “We’re able to gather here with one service, at least to start, and then hopefully we’ll see some growth and we’ll go back to two services again.”

He noted that a couple from Hampden once asked him why Bethlehem Church was constructing a new building when other churches were having difficulty keeping parishioners.

“I wanted to be honest with them,” MacLeod said. “I really think the key is that we try to faithfully preach the word of God and I think some churches, believe it or not, have gotten away from that and so while they are still there [and] they still function; they have a social element that people enjoy, they just don’t seem to have the substance of God’s word as the backbone of what they believe.”

Children’s Ministry Director Ashley Abel said she’s looking forward to the opportunities to grow children’s programs in the new church.

“Children’s programs are a big part of this church community, so that’s going to be a big priority,” she added.

She noted that one of the new features of the building is an electronic web-based kids check-in to create an added layer of security.

Bethlehem Church Youth Pastor Tom Brennan said young people aren’t much different from adults  – they want answers to questions such as their purpose in life and what happens after their death.

“They’re not finding them anywhere else,” he added. “They’re looking for them in their academics or in their relationships or somewhere else and I believe we have the answers to [those questions] in God’s word.”

Bethlehem Church is set to host a holiday open house Dec. 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. The event will feature a tour of the new church, refreshments, and musical entertainment such as carolers and an acoustic guitar trio.

Donations for My Father’s House, an outreach ministry to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of homeless and precariously housed men, would also be accepted during the open house. A list of requested donations include paper towels, plates and toilet paper.