MONROE - Members of the Albany United Methodist Church are stepping out in faith.

The congregation will break ground on Park Street for a new 11,000-square-foot church building after the 10 a.m. services Sunday, Oct. 23. The new church will be located just slightly more than a block from the current, 150-year-old building.

The age of the old church is one reason the congregation has decided to go ahead with their building plans. Besides the increasing need for extensive repairs and maintenance, the church suffers from old wiring, structural stress and a lack of handicap accessibility.

But the growing congregation also needs more space, especially more space to park and more classrooms for Sunday school, according to Pastor Pat Soddy.

"The current church doesn't fit the needs of a growing church today," she said.

Soddy is amazed at the growth the congregation "at a time when so many churches are closing." But to take on this major financial project at a time when the economy is struggling is even more fantastic, she said.

"This congregation has the vision, the insight, the tenacity and the courage to do this," she added.

The congregation of nearly 200 members has been planning to make the move "in a prayerful process for almost two years," Soddy said. "But now we have the right people in the right places at the right time."

Among the congregation members are a general contractor, a bank vice-president, an excavator, a painter, a carpenter, interior decorators, even a state building inspector employee, as well as a member with the "wisdom and knowledge of previous church-building projects.

"These are all local people," Soddy said. "And with the economy, people are needing work right now."

Because of its advanced planning and saving, the church is not financing the project and is in a position now to raise less than one-third of the needed funds to build the church. Soddy said the congregation wants the funds to blacktop the driveway and fully brick the church. She declined to give the total cost of the project.

The church has obtained 5.5 acres of land, enough to allow for future expansions, on the southside of the village, east of the Hillcrest Cemetery.

Soddy said the congregation has been watching the soybeans grow in that field all season, while members dreamed and imagined their future, and now the harvest has come in.

Next fall, they hope to reap the joys of their labor and move into a new home of worship.