The Holy Cross Building Program
The Temple
Who we are and where we're going
Elevation of the Holy Cross Orthodox Church was founded as a mission parish in 1976 by a small group of committed Orthodox faithful who had the dream of establishing an English-language Orthodox parish in the Sacramento area.
They dreamed of a parish that would proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and make the fullness of the Orthodox Faith readily accessible to anyone who desires to embrace it.
Since that time, we have grown to become a vibrant community of over one-hundred regular worshippers on Sunday mornings, filling our current worship space and facilities. Some of our parishioners were baptized as infants, married, and now are raising their own children in our parish. Parishioners who embraced Orthodox Christianity as adults make up nearly half of our congregation, coming from a variety of different Christian and non-Christian backgrounds.
The Details
The complete development of our site will be a multi-phase project designed to meet the long-term needs of our growing community. Elements of the master site plan include:
- New Church Building with Fellowship Hall
- Renovated Education Building
- Covered and open-air outdoor fellowship spaces
- Parking adequate to meet our planned growth
- Expanded facilities for our Food Closet Ministry
The Progress
We have raised over $100,000 each year for the past four years, bringing us to over $600,000 in our building fund. Our fundraising goal over the next two years is to continue to raise at least $100,000 per year and enough to complete the Phase One work without a loan.
The Roadmap
Phase One (2021-2022)
Our first phase of work – “Phase One” – involves the installation of all site improvements (parking lots, landscaping and required utilities, grading and storm drainage, etc.) that are necessary for our new church and other facilities.
This work is now underway, as we have engaged a civil engineer and landscape architect to first prepare the necessary design documents and permits needed to complete this initial effort.
With the help of God, we hope to complete Phase One work by the end of 2022.
Phase Two (2023-2027)
Our second phase is the most anticipated as it centers on the construction of our new temple and fellowship hall.
The design, as blessed by our Hierarch, Parish Council and general membership, incorporates a daylight Fellowship Hall under our sacred space in a single structure. The Temple features a traditional Byzantine dome, the crown of our design, bearing witness to the beauty of our faith and the Incarnational reality that God is with us in the Person of Jesus Christ.
We hope to begin construction by our parish’s 50th Anniversary, on Sept. 14th 2026, following the completion of Phase One and several more years of successful fundraising.
Further Phases (2027 and beyond)
Once the new church and hall have been constructed, several more phases will be needed to complete the development of our property. These include:
- Conversion of our current chapel into multiple classrooms for church school, adult Bible study and other ministries.
- Expansion of our Archangel Michael Food Closet facilities, currently serving 65 needy families in our community, to double the impact of this ministry.
- Iconography work to beautify the interior of our new church.
Celebrate with Us
Our vision and prayer is to begin constructing our new church by the time we celebrate our 50th Anniversary, in September of 2026. We are thankful to have come this far already and that Phase One work is already underway. We are convinced that God has called us to this holy work and that with Him all things are possible. We invite all who feel called and inspired to share in this holy work to help contribute to the building up of Christ’s Holy Church in Sacramento.
