When a family grows they run into a host of what some call “good problems.” For example: when we were expecting the addition of our third child, we had to reimagine transportation and upgrade our tiny Toyota Yaris to a minivan.
We anticipated the change of seasons from summer to fall would create similar “good problems” in our growing church family. Our anticipations were correct, and if you’ve worshipped with us these past few weeks you’ve likely noticed we’ve outgrown our meeting space.
God has provided a solution to this “problem” and we’re pleased to announce that on Sunday December 5th, we’ll be moving to 25 South Allen Street (The Albany Elks Lodge) for our Sunday morning services. As we will still be renting, we also will be shifting our service to 10am (yes, for some this is desirable and for some this means showing deference to what works best for the community as a whole). Please take a moment and join us in celebrating this exciting news.
- With this new location comes a better children’s space to teach and serve our children.
- With this new location comes twice as much space to accommodate new guests to worship with us.
- With this new location comes parking(!).
- With this new location comes better access (within walking distance) to restaurants, coffee shops, and a theater that help us better embed our church in the life of our city.
- With this new location we can better position ourselves as salt and light to a city that needs the hope of the gospel.
What’s the plan going forward?
With these sorts of announcements the question always arises: “what should we expect going forward?”
Let’s address the reality: change can be hard and our priority is people. Buildings are just a means to an end: accommodating a growing family of people! Sometimes change can feel like death. It’s ok if it takes a little time for you to process this transition. We also want to be transparent, growing into a new space can be messy and there will likely be little quirks and bugs that we need to “figure out.” These are all, once again, “good problems.”
For the next couple of months, let’s take this opportunity to grow together as a church family. I trust that we will see new people step up to help serve and make this transition sweet. We are always happy to see new faces, and we plan to announce a Relaunch Service in the New Year. But for now, we focus on our own church family and how we can make this new place our own. We come together, celebrate Advent and Christmas and make some new memories and seek the Lord to continue to do more than we can hope or expect.