Auburn Christian Church

Harvest Sermons:

Check out the sermons from the Harvest Campaign at the following links:

Harvest Campaign Information:

The Harvest Campaign is a strategic generosity initiative, sought after and designed through prayer, to create and enhance spaces in order to continue to reach more people with the life-changing hope found in Jesus by creating a facility adjacent to our current building to expand our community outreach, enhance our ministry for the next generation through children’s and student ministry and by providing a larger, more accessible space for church gatherings.This fall, we will go on a journey together as we seek to leave a bold legacy so that thousands will come to know the hope found in Jesus through the ministries of ACC for the next 146 years!

R.C. Barrow, a missionary serving Christ in southeast Nebraska, wrote in a letter in 1867… “We need many additional evangelists in these destitute places. The people are ready to hear and obey the Gospel. I am doing, and intend to do all I can do, but the field is an immense one, and almost destitute of preaching.” The devotion shown by R.C. Barrow directly contributed to the beginning of our congregation being part of the Auburn community since 1875.

The challenges may have changed and the hardships encountered may differ from those of the elders first serving our congregation and our community 145 years ago, but the mission remains the same. In 2016, God guided our ACC elders to step out in faith and vision to purchase land and build a Family Life Center focused on bringing people to Christ through meeting the needs of our community. We continue to move towards that same vision. We are excited for all members of ACC to be part of this journey together. This building vision is about sharing in the same intensity of commitment for spreading the Good News to our community today and into the future, as the church described in the Acts of the Apostles.

We all know there are numerous needs existing in our community. The Family Life Center will provide new fellowship opportunities for church and community, flexibility of worship space, ministry for the next generation, and opportunities for increased discipleship growth. Yes, the field is still immense today and the workers may be few, but we will grow as workers and grow more workers to send out into the fields because of this project. Join with us in cheerfully “doing all we can do” to share God’s generosity with our community.

Auburn Christian Church: For Jesus. For Auburn. We are a church that exists to worship Jesus and call people to Him. We are a church that exists to love and serve our community, loving our neighbors as ourselves. As someone who has lived in Auburn for 9 years, I know that our church and community have several needs. We need more youth space. We need gym space. We need meeting space. As someone who served as youth minister here for 8 years, I have seen the challenges our youth ministry has faced because we have not upgraded the space that we have for students. For nearly 20 years, Auburn Christian Church has continued to dream and think about what church life would be like if we expanded our facilities to meet these needs of both church and community. Thankfully, God has brought a leadership team and a church together in His provident timing to build and expand the ministry space of Auburn Christian Church. We seek to build this because we want to make a difference both to and for our city. We are seeking God’s guidance and praying that God would use this facility as a tool, so that the people of ACC would work harder and more effectively in bringing in a new harvest, guiding our community toward salvation in Jesus Christ.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: With everything that’s happening in the economy and country, is now the right time to be building something?

A: We have spent a good bit of time and prayer about this question. One of the big themes that we are tackling this year is faith over fear. If we wait for a time when there are not fearful things happening in the news or economy to take the steps that we need to take as a church, then we will never move forward into the future God has for us by faith. It is because of God’s timing and leading that we are continuing to move forward with this project. In times like these, spreading the Gospel and meeting needs around us are more important now than ever.

Q: Why are we building across the street and not connected to the building we have?

A: Various options have been prayerfully considered by ACC elders over the years, including building adjacent to the church building. The selected location is located near existing church parking, provides great community visibility, allows larger space with more flexibility for church and community fellowship.

Q: Why aren’t we exploring other larger options in other locations since we already have a 100-year old worship center?

A: With the investment that was made in our current worship space in 2012, we believe that our current updated worship space provides a historic, elegant space for worship. We also believe that we want our facility to be for AUBURN and continue to be located in the heart of the town where we minister and serve.

Q: Have we explored other options with empty facilities locally to expand our space?

A: Over the years ACC elders have looked at other options, including empty facilities locally. The opportunities presented various obstacles including location, remodeling needs, and didn’t meet the vision God was moving our hearts toward.

Q: Why aren’t we building a cheaper building with the money we have on hand, without asking people in our church for money?

A: We are focused on maximizing the potential for enhancing God’s Kingdom. Limiting the possibilities to what we currently have deprives ACC from taking a journey marked by courage and stewardship. We want to build a Family Life Center which glorifies God for future generations, brings our community to Jesus, and demonstrates that through faith in God all things are possible; not one that is limited by caution.

Q: What exactly are we going to be doing in this space?

A: This building is going to be a tool used for many purposes: youth ministry, fellowship space, community events & practices, kids ministry, and much more. The specific uses we put it to in the future will be up to us, our staff, our leadership, and our membership.

Q: What about parking?

A: We plan on including angle parking on the north and west side streets adjacent to the Family Life Center (FLC). Also, the lot east of the church will be adjacent to the south of the FLC.

Q: How will we pay to maintain all of this space or staff this facility?

A: God’s provisions and blessings. We are actively seeking partnerships to add a part time youth pastor position to assist our current staff with programming and youth ministry. We are also praying for volunteers who will help provide for some of the maintenance needs.

Q: Are we in a financial position to take on a project this big?

A:Yes. We have completed a financial analysis with a church consultant to ensure we have strong giving, good initial capital to invest to start building, and forecasted capital campaign to support this project.

Q: Will we use both buildings at the same time on Sunday mornings?

A: We will have all of our kids and worship programming on Sundays in our current worship facility. The new facility may house certain small groups and fellowship gatherings on Sundays, as well as an occasional large group gathering.

Q: Why are we remodeling the basement of our current building for kids ministry use?