Since Monument’s inception in 2019, we have been raising funds for a more permanent facility.  By 2024, our church had met on Sunday in 12 different locations in 8 different cities!  We had been very nomadic and were quite ready to call somewhere “Homebase.”  Not only because it was a “home” for our community, but also a base of operations to plant churches into the greater DMV area.  This property was not just an answer to prayer, it was the end of a long search and a lot of moving.  In fact, Google stopped letting us change our church location because they did not believe a credible organization would move that many times!  So we are grateful to have a landing spot.

 

The property is set on 30 acres zoned as agricultural land and has previously served as a farm among other farms in the area.  It has beautiful views overlooking a valley and on the other side of that valley sits Burnt Hill Winery, a functioning vineyard and event venue.  We are about five minutes west of downtown Damascus, MD where we are currently meeting on Sundays at Damascus High School.

 

While the property was zoned for agricultural use, the state of Maryland permits a church to use land of any zone type.  So, the way was clear from a zoning point of view, but we knew that there would be other matters to address in being able to occupy the land and buildings to use for religious assembly.  The key considerations were the septic system, fire suppression and the permits required to occupy the current structures for church assembly.

 

The extraordinary thing about this moment in the short history of our church is that it was made possible by a significant financial contribution that paved the way for us to have property far sooner than we had imagined.  We are grateful for the generosity of that gift and want to steward it well for the advance of God’s kingdom.  The following is a timeline of the major milestones since we came to own the property.  

 

March, 2024 - Monument Church purchased 30 acres of property at 11701 Prices Distillery Road in Damascus, MD.

April, 2024 - We began a plan to renovate and use the existing structures as soon as possible.  We did anticipate possible obstacles with the county that may hinder a quick occupation and use of the property.

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July, 2024 - Our plans did change when we encountered septic and zoning hurdles that required us to extend our original timeline by at least two years.  The exact timeframe for permitting, construction and occupying the property on a permanent, long-term basis was still yet to be determined.

 

August, 2024 - We hired Michael Graves as our architect, whose worship facility division has experience in designing over 300 churches.  The broader team includes Lerch, Early and Brewer as zoning attorney, VIKA as civil engineer and Grove Slade for traffic engineering and consultation.

 

August, 2025 - After a year of work we continue in the process of preliminary site plan design and submission working with our design team and the county to gain approval and permits to build our facility.  The budget and scope of the project is still being determined as we learn what we will be required to do and what it will cost.  Our aim is to renovate existing structures and build new structures that will accommodate the programming of Monument Church, including a 400-seat sanctuary with necessary facilities for our growing ministries.  Those ministries include: Next Generation (youth, young adults and children), Men’s & Women’s Ministries, Worship Music & Recording, Outreach and many, many more.