Almost three years after being devastated by a fire, Lifepointe Baptist Church is rebuilding – and its popular Christmas event is making a comeback.
Much of the Buderim church was destroyed by the fire in January 2023 but rebuilding started three weeks ago and is on track for completion by the end of September 2026.
Senior Pastor Phil Greenbury told Sunshine Coast News the rebuild hit a snag when the church’s insurance company fell into financial difficulty while the claim was in progress.
“Our rebuilding is a bit of a long journey. What happened, the insurance company that we were insured with went into receivership so we didn’t get our full payout,” he said.
“What we’re doing now is part of our rebuild, and we’re trying to raise money to finish the building as well. There’s a whole section of the building that we don’t have finances for yet that won’t be built, but the main auditorium will hopefully be ready for Christmas next year.”
Pastor Greenbury said he was excited the church’s beloved Christmas at Lifepointe would be back for 2025.
The event, which has been held for the past 20 years and draws tens of thousands of people, was cancelled last year in what was described as a “bittersweet” move.
“It’s something we as a church decided to do this year,” he said.
“After not doing it last year we really missed it, but we really felt that the community missed it a lot as well. So we’ve gone over and above to bring it to them this year.”
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He said event cost the church more than $100,000 to run.
“We decided we’d do that, even though we’ve got a deficit in the building program, because we just want to be doing stuff for the community.”
He said the event would be similar to past years, despite ongoing construction at the Wises Road site.
“We’re doing it again this year just the same as what we’ve had every other year, so that families can come and enjoy Christmas without paying millions of dollars to have a great experience,” Pastor Greenbury said.
“We’ve just got our car park and we’re actually doing the whole presentation in it.
“We’re doing our best to bring back everything they like: the animal farm, the musical production, the Tunnel of Lights, JC Action Sports, free fairy floss and popcorn, all those sorts of things.
“We tried to find some other places to do it but they wanted us to charge people to come in, and we don’t charge. That’s not who we are. We just want to bless our community at Christmas time.”
The church’s main auditorium, offices, foyer, hall and adjoining improvements were destroyed by the fire, which was caused by a faulty illuminated exit light.
The church has since continued to run out of demountables, with its Sunday services held at the nearby Immanuel Lutheran College sports stadium.
The new church design will feature a large auditorium, village green-style foyer and two-storey youth and children’s building, although the latter will be delayed until additional funding is secured.
“It’s been an adventure for the church community,” Pastor Greenbury said. “Ever since the fire, we’ve learned we’re going to make this work no matter what. The whole church community has pulled together and grown through this time.
“Through the week we have playgroups, children’s and youth clubs, ladies craft and everything in the demountables, as well as what’s left of the building.
“Our most challenging thing was that we didn’t have as much room for the community to come in and be part of who we are. As a church, we’re not just about what we do, we see it as a big community centre and a hub for the community.”
Pastor Greenbury expressed his gratitude for the support of the local community.
“They’ve been really positive towards us as we rebuild. Everyone has been nice, helpful and can’t wait to see the building redone. We’ve really valued that,” he said.
“The council has been really good. The mayor’s been very positive and helped us in a couple of sticky situations, so we really appreciate that.
“If people are happy, we would really love donations. We don’t want to say ‘we’re out there’, but people are welcome if they want to help donate towards the building program or cost of Christmas at Lifepointe.”
