The 500-plus congregation outgrew its former church building in Hanover St, Dunedin in the 1990s. That building was sold in 1996 and the congregation has been without a permanent home since.
The development on the 7.4ha Concord site will include an auditorium, chapel, Sunday school rooms, offices, kitchen, gym, child-care facility, caretaker's residence and nearly 300 car parks.
Contractors had almost finished creating the building platform, car park and playing field, administrative pastor Mike Simpson said yesterday.
Extensive planting would be carried out by the spring, but it could be months before construction began.
The congregation was "pausing to do a considerable amount of further fundraising" and there was no timeframe for construction to start, Mr Simpson said.
The total cost of the project had not been finalised because detailed drawings were still being completed, he said.
