REAL ESTATE | Congregation votes to sell Community Church in West Bend, Wi, as developer eyes future project

Pastor Dan Kelm said the decision, while significant, is rooted in a longer journey that began years ago.

Kelm, who started with the parish around 2018 said it was prior to 2020 when the church was preparing to expand its existing facility.

“When 2020 hit, before everything shut down, we were talking about expanding and building here,” Kelm said. “We had the five acres behind us and we were exploring that.”

Those plans came to a sudden halt.

Rather than push forward, church leadership paused.

“We stopped and… thought maybe this is just a sign that the Lord is saying, hold on, slow down.”

That pause ultimately reshaped the church’s direction.

“We went back, we prayed about it all.” Kelm said maybe the growth wasn’t about adding on, but maybe the parish needed to reach other communities.

That shift led to the creation of the church’s north campus in Wayne, a move Pastor Kelm said they never anticipated.

“We look back, and we laugh because we never thought of leading and launching a school back when we were thinking about building and expanding,” he said. “We look at this as the Lord was setting up things we didn’t even know, leading our way.”

As ministry continued to grow, challenges with the current West Bend building became more apparent.

“The building gives us a lot of headaches,” Kelm said. “It’s an older building. We struggle in a number of ways just facility-wise.”

The structure itself carries a unique history, having served multiple purposes over the decades. In the past the site was home to the West Bend Motel and the Moraine Supper Club. Cy Westerman oversaw the facility which featured a banquet hall, dining room, and 12 motel units.

According to historian Terry Becker, “The motel was built and opened in 1963. Several incarnations over the years have included (1968)- Lee Schmidt’s Moraine Supper Club, (1982)- Stoneridge Inn, (1986)- Paradise Valley Inn, (1990-present)- Community Church of West Bend.”

“As far as I understand… we are sitting in what was a motel room,” Kelm said. “What we call our chapel, I think that was a bar… that side of the building was the supper club, and then I think it was the dance hall.”

With aging infrastructure and scattered systems, the building has proven difficult to maintain.

“This building has numerous different furnaces, air conditioners all over the place,” Kelm said. “For us, we’ve just realized this building has not been able to house the ministry that we do well.”

When a developer expressed interest in the property in the fall of 2025, church leaders began to consider a new path.

“When the opportunity came for the sale of the building… we just looked at that, we prayed about it, and we’re like, I think this is something the Lord is bringing to us,” said Kelm.

The proposal was considered through a series of next steps.

“The elders talked and prayed about it. They then voted to bring it forward to the church,” Kelm said.

From there, the congregation weighed in.

“The church came forward and the vote was… high, high 90 percentiles,” Kelm said. “Just a couple weren’t in favor.”

He acknowledged that while the support was strong, the decision still carries emotion.

“We know this building has so much nostalgia… for a lot of people,” he said. “That’s always the challenge with the church… sometimes we have to remind people the church is not the building. The church is the people.”

Community Church currently serves between 600 to 650 people between its West Bend and north campuses.

Looking ahead, much remains uncertain as the development process unfolds.

“We’re in a little bit of a waiting game,” said Kelm, noting the developer is expected to move into the next exploratory phase around July.

In the meantime, the church is beginning to think about what comes next, including temporary and permanent locations.

“We assume we can’t go right into a permanent solution. We kind of expect a temporary solution is going to be on the table.”

More importantly, leadership is focusing on mission over location.

“The topic wasn’t so much on where and what, so much as who and why,” Pastor Kelm said. “Who has God called us to be? Why has He called us to the mission that we have?”

As plans take shape, the church explores what’s next.

“Our hope is that we can use money from the sale to potentially look at something new,” he said. “We want to make sure we can use anything for His glory and be wise about it all.”

For now, the congregation remains in a season of anticipation.

“So it’s kind of all up in the air, praying through it all right now,” Kelm said. “We’re in a waiting process… just kind of patiently excited.”