For the past six summers, Lord of Life Lutheran Church has been sending teenage volunteers on a week-long mission to help build houses for Habitat for Humanity.

But now, the congregation is asking them to help at home before they go.

The Tabernacle congregation is outgrowing its church, completed just 11 years ago. It has been gathering donations to construct a new Faith Development Center, a 6,300-square-foot building for Sunday school classrooms and meetings.

It will cost an estimated $433,000 to complete. That's a bear of a price, said the Rev. David Jones, who helped found the church in 1986.

So, inspired by its youth group, the church has found a way to save money the old-fashioned way.

In two weeks, Lord of Life will hold a "barn raising," the kind of thing associated with Amish communities.

In one day, the church hopes to erect the wood frame and the pre-fabricated roof trusses, said Neil Brown, the project's coordinator.

Brown is a church member and a residential contractor. Normally, he would have an eight-member crew to work on a project of this size.

He expects he will have at least 75 volunteers at the barn raising. That includes the 40 youth group members who are going to Boston this summer for their Habitat project, said Donna Yates, director of youth ministry at the church.

Putting a frame together is like building a puzzle, Brown said. With the professional direction of knowledgeable church members like Brown, the skill levels of the volunteers won't really matter. (Although the teens will be attending a mandatory tool-safety meeting next week.)

"If you can imagine, it's like having a group of ants attacking a structure," Brown said. "If it takes them longer to nail, it doesn't matter because there's a lot of them."

The foundation is already in place. If all goes well, Brown hopes, perhaps the team can begin covering the walls and roof.

The barn raising will save the church an estimated $20,000 in labor costs and will shave about two weeks off the construction time, Brown said.

But that's not the only reason for the barn-raising.

"We felt it was a good way to bring our church members together," said Brown.

The building will also be used for youth group meetings, Yates said.

Having teens help build the center will give them ownership of it. They will also gain construction experience and fellowship with adult role models, the Shamong resident said.

About 50 volunteers, mostly high schoolers, are already committed to the project.

By the way, children 18 and under make up about 40 percent of the church's membership.

"They are the church," the pastor said. "They're a blessing to our life."