An Ohio church that nearly closed its doors 20 years ago is celebrating its 100th birthday with new construction to make room for its growing congregation.

Whitewater Crossing Christian Church of Cleves was on the brink of shutting down, but church spokesman Joe Porter told the Christian Post that the hand of God "moving through the leaders and committed people who have sacrificed" turned it around.

The church, originally named Westwood-Cheviot Church of Christ, was founded in 1916, but in 1984 it began to decline after the senior pastor left. For more than a decade the membership dropped off and several pastors came and went.

The church slowly began to come back in the late '90 as it got a second wind from fresh leaders and a new location. One of those leaders was senior minister David Vaughn who came on board in 2003.

Vaughn told WCPO in Cinicinnati that the church now has 1,600 people attending weekend services and it's adding 95,000 square feet to its sanctuary.

"We definitely won't apologize for getting big," Porter told the Christian Post. "There's nothing like the church when it's working right."

"We hope people see the obvious hand of God moving through the leaders and committed people who have sacrificed in the past. We hope we learn from the mistakes and continue to trust God to do big things in the future," Porter added.