Dear Beloved in Christ!

After years of growth in our parish, the luxury of available seating has come to an end here at our church in Sunbury, Ohio. The faithful of St Barnabas Orthodox Church are now faced with an urgent necessity to design and build a spacious, traditional church and parish complex. After years of increase and planning, the time has come to take the first step to meet the needs of our parish family and to expand our labor of love right here in the community.

25 years ago, we made a commitment to help build up the body of Christ, inwardly and outwardly in the refuge of the Holy Orthodox Faith. In pursuit of our goals, we moved to our current building in Sunbury in late 2009. However, we have become increasingly aware of the physical limitations, structural deficiencies, and inadequate accessibility of our space and the need to extend our capacity to serve our church and the Greater Columbus area.

On August 14th, 2023 we found 5.8 acre corn field, just 6 miles east of our current location, and purchased it later that year with overwhelming parish support.

Since March 2024, the Parish Council has hired contracting, civil engineering, and architectural firms, and work has begun to develop the land. Phase I and Phase II of the initial plans and conceptual designs were finalized and shared with the parish at the annual parish meeting on October 6.

After receiving the blessing of the Archdiocese, we are initiating our wider fund-raising efforts, essential to an important aspect of our mission – adding souls to the Church from within our local community. To accomplish this, we simply need more space to better fulfill another aspect of our mission – caring for and helping people mature in Christ and in all aspects of life.

Our initial $4,400,000 Capital Campaign for Phase I of the project will allow us to prepare for the future while maintaining our Holy Orthodox Faith rooted in the past. We will build for the sake of our children and for future generations who will find the One, Holy Orthodox Church, get baptized, marry, have children, and worship in this holy space. We beseech God that our efforts will be pleasing to Him as the “arms of the parish” branch out to the community in the name of the Holy Trinity.

We invite you to be a part of this faith-building call to action through your prayers and financial support. Your generous contributions can be made by visiting stbarnabasorthodox.org/cc or by check to: St. Barnabas the Apostle Orthodox Church, PO Box 31, Sunbury, OH 43074.

Thank you in advance for your support!

May the Lord bless and keep you all in His loving care and grant that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

In Christ,

V. Rev. Fr. Athanasius Dresdow

+Fr. Athanasius, the Parish Council, Clergy and Faithful ofSt. Barnabas the Apostle Antiochian Orthodox Church

pdf download