As the population continues to boom in Cy-Fair, several Houston-area churches have been looking to the area to expand their ministries.
The MET, The Foundry and Houston's First Baptist Church all came to Cypress this year, with The Foundry and The MET both constructing new campuses. Second Baptist, Bayou City Fellowship and Community of Christ are all planning to expand their ministries to CyFair in the future as well.
Zach King, campus pastor at the new MET campus, said a big part of the inspiration to expand was seeing the growth in the area and knowing the people moving in would need a place to worship.
"We launched not knowing how many people we were going to have, and on the first service at the new campus we had 1,200 adults and more than 400 kids," he said. "I think proximity to the neighborhood is important. People came saying they hadn't been to church in 10 years."
The MET's new campus features state of the art themed 'Kid's ministry' environments and open spaces for families and people to connect.
Although some churches have taken it upon themselves to construct entirely new buildings, others are looking to reach out to the Cypress area in whatever ways they can. Houston's First, as a part of a long-term multisite approach to reaching new neighborhoods, began conducting services at Smith Middle School on Sundays in April. Bayou City Fellowship will begin holding worship services at the Northwest Forest Conference Center on Telge road starting Dec. 8.
By choosing Fry Road for its new location, The MET put itself in a strategic position to cater to master-planned communities in both Bridgeland and Towne Lake. Other churches were driven by master-planned communities as well, where population growth is most pronounced. The Foundry opened in Bridgeland, and Second Baptist is looking at the Fairfield area to cater to the future population growth expected as a result of the Grand Parkway coming through.
Some churches have also made an effort to go beyond offering a place to worship. The MET has plans to develop its youth center, large worship center and a separate multi-purpose building. The Foundry has plans on the table for a baseball and soccer complex located on the open space behind its new campus with an emphasis on building confidence in youth.
"The kids will be coached in a way that prepares them for the field but also prepares them to become champions of life," said Godfrey Hubert, senior pastor with The Foundry. "We are getting a great response from the community and meeting significant needs there."
