The Rev. Jack Soper, in space designed to be an art gallery.
The addition includes five adult education classes, two large nurseries, a youth center and an art gallery, as well as a storage building for the Boy Scouts, a courtyard and renovations of spaces including the Fellowship Hall and choir room.
It is the first expansion project under Pastor Jack Soper, in his 20th year as senior pastor at the 1,000-member church.
The building project took four years and cost $1.8 million, Dr. Soper said.
Some of the renovations that occurred during 11 months of construction.
"We started with the use of three demographic studies," he explained. "We made use of the annual conference resources, Precept and Missioninsite. These resources gave us very valuable information about our parish. We discovered people in this area who were longing for progressive biblical theology, a truly inclusive church and an emphasis on mission. That is us." Arapaho UMC is also known as the "Pumpkin Church" because for the past 15 autumns, the church's lawn is covered with bright yellow and orange pumpkins that are sold to benefit missions efforts
