BANGOR – One of the area’s fastest-growing churches will hold an open house and offer tours of its recently completed education and office wings after services Palm Sunday.

The praise and worship service at Abundant Life Church on Outer Broadway will begin at 9:30 a.m. with tours set for about noon.

Three years ago, the 900-member congregation celebrated the opening of its $2.5 million facility on Palm Sunday. The congregation met at the former Dow Chapel building on Texas Avenue for nearly 12 years before building its own facility. The church still maintains a community food cupboard at the chapel because the location is on the city bus route and outer Broadway is not.

The two new wings, attached on opposite sides of the main building, were completed last fall, but the interior of some classrooms wasn’t finished until last month, according to the Rev. Ron Durham, pastor.

Four years ago, the church modified its original construction plans and delayed building the offices, classrooms and kitchen because of the cost. Now, for the first time in almost 20 years, Durham has an office where he can meet with and counsel church members, make phone calls and prepare sermons.

The education wing includes the assembly room used by the church youth group. The large carpeted room contains a small stage, musical instruments and a sophisticated sound system.

Some 65 teen-agers between 13 and 18 attend the weekly meetings, said John Durham, office manager.

Long-range plans call for the addition of a 2,800-seat auditorium that would be used as worship space and for other activities such as revivals, concerts and speakers. Once that is completed, the huge room now used for services would become the Family Life Center. It will be remodeled to include a basketball court and fellowship hall, according to John Durham.

Now that the kitchen is completed, he said, the church plans to open a day care center in May or June. The six classrooms in the education wing would be used during the week for day care and for Sunday school on weekends.

“Because of the uncertainty of the 1990s and the unbelievable shift in moral values, people have gone back to the church looking for reality,” Pastor Durham said in 1999.

“Because our services are in a celebration style, and our message is practical and upbeat, and because we offer credible ministry to children and contemporary ministry to our youth, people want it,” he said. “That’s what they are looking for.”

For information, call 945-5577 or visit the Web, www.alcrevival.com.