Click HERE to view the Room to Grow Information Booklet. Updated May 2023!
Or stop by the Church Office to pick up a printed copy.
God has a goal for Sylvan Lake. He wants to save 100% of the people who live here. The Bible tells us that He wants no one to perish; no one to spend eternity apart from Him. This is not a simple task, but He is big enough for the challenge and He is inviting brave people to join Him in His mission to save everyone.
God wants more people to be saved than there are today. He wants more prodigals welcomed home; more orphans adopted into His family. There are many people in Sylvan Lake who have no idea what unconditional love really is. They have no idea what freedom looks like. They have never experienced one second of their life where they were honestly free from guilt and shame. They have habits and addictions that they cannot break free from. Jesus wants to save them all. He wants them all connected into a community of believers where they can be encouraged and grow, a community where they can serve with the gifts that God has given them, a community that will stand shoulder to shoulder with them to save their lost friends and families as well.
I believe that God is inviting us to reach out the hand of friendship to our neighbors, friends, co-workers and family members. We are going to have to open our homes and our hearts and our church to them.
And when those people want to come and fellowship with us, we are going to have to find a way to make room for them.
We have a unique opportunity to create ROOM TO GROW in our capacity to reach people for Jesus, in our ability to bless Sylvan Lake and in our overall positive influence in town. God has blessed us with a 73 acre parcel of undeveloped land in the southwest corner of Sylvan Lake. Of course, we won’t need the whole 73 acres, but we will reserve a parcel of about 10-15 acres on which we will eventually build our new facility.
When you give to this great cause, you are investing in the future. You will grow in your faith and trust in Jesus. You will see amazing growth happen. And you will be a part of the very heart and mission of Jesus.
Pastor Tim Bergmann
WHAT IS A CAPITAL CAMPAIGN?
A Capital Campaign usually involves large sums of money, voluntarily contributed, to create a transformative and life-changing improvement to a community. The ROOM TO GROW capital campaign is for the raising of $1.5 million to purchase 73 acres of land on which we will build a new church facility.
WHAT IS A FAITH PROMISE?
A faith promise is an amount of money that an individual intends to contribute towards a Capital Campaign over a two-year period of time. This is made in faith and not under compulsion. It is fulfilled by the power and blessing of God and the obedience and sacrifice of the giver.
WHY BUILD?
The elders had met at their 2019 spring retreat and unanimously agreed that we should seek permission to begin planning and preparing for a new church home to enable our growing ministries, and build upon our missional vision. To do that, we would need to find a viable piece of land. The elders selected a piece of property at the northwest corner of highway 11 and 60th street. It is on this land that we believe we have the greatest potential to both grow and be a blessing to the town of Sylvan Lake.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What is the vision for the overall property?
A: We want this property to be a blessing for the town of Sylvan Lake. Some possibilities for development include seniors housing, nursing homes, low income and transition housing, a school, library, town recreation facilities, and healthcare. The most recent Sylvan Lake Sustainable Housing Initiative states that “the town currently has roughly 181 social housing units, and is expected to need up to 320 social housing units by 2036."
Q: How did we pick this property?
A: We identified 31 possible properties that are both actively listed for sale or have been listed for sale in the past. Available developed land in the 10 – 15 acre parcel size ranged from $500,000 - $600,000/acre. There was a parcel of 73 acres of undeveloped land available on the west side of Sylvan Lake that seemed like a great fit. We filtered all the properties through multiple criteria including location, size, and price. This narrowed down the selection to 13 properties. Upon evaluating these properties, we assessed that the 73 acres is both the most affordable and has the most possible upside as far as finding partners to develop the site.
Q: How are we going to pay for this?
A: There are several sources that we are going to use to pay for this including the capital fund now in place, the Room to Grow campaign, the sale of current property, the sale of parcels of the new site with partnering agencies/companies, and possibly some debt.
Q: Can we make money from the other 58-63 acres we do not need?
A: Yes we can. We are actively pursuing partners to develop other parts of the property, but we view all possible deals through the lens of blessing the town of Sylvan Lake.
Q: Why are we thinking of building a new facility?
A: The church is growing. God is bringing new people into our midst and we are moving towards living more missionally. God is going to answer our prayers and our obedience and more people are going to come to know Him and need a place to worship. A new building will also give us more opportunities to serve the town of Sylvan Lake.
Q: Won’t this take us out of the heart of Sylvan Lake?
A: With all the new construction on the west side, as well as the relocation and development of a large sports and park area, the heart of the town may very well be moving. With this plan, ACC will be in the center of this new location.
Q: What is the current church building worth?
A: Approximately 2.5 million dollars is the appraised value, but we are limited by the number of potential buyers for the building.