So exciting to be celebrating 50 years this year! On Sunday, September 14th, we had our Celebration Service followed with a light lunch. Many came out to join in the festivities. We saw some new friends and some old friends, some from near and some from far. It was such a nice time to look back at what the Lord has done and to look forward to what He will do in the days ahead!
A big THANK YOU to all who have served in this Ministry at various times!
BEFORE: the church started in Niagara Falls in January of 1975 under the leadership of Rev. Edmund Boettcher. The church began on Morrison Street as Church of God Niagara Falls.
NOW: the church is now located (1995) in Chippawa and has renovated (a few times) from a grocery store to this beautiful building!
...the church purchased the 12,000 sq. ft. grocery store located in Chippawa at the corners of Sodom Rd, Main Street and Lyons Creek Road.
Meetings began in the store until renovations could be started and continued through the renovation until they were completed.
Walls went up and we were left with a sanctuary, classrooms, a gym, a foyer and offices.
At the dedication service in June of 1997, the sanctuary had taken on a whole new look.
Our attendance continues to grow seeing many people changed by the love of God.
If you will make this a place of praise, I will bring people from far and near. They will see my light; they will see my glory. But you must lift me up in this place; make this place a temple of worship to your God. And not only his community, but from far and wide will say, "This is the house of the Lord God".
In the fall of 2002, a leaky roof forced us to re-evaluate the structure of the building. So it was decided that we would do a second phase of renovations to fix the problem and to make some extra room inside the church.
Almost all of the work done during the renovation was done by volunteers from the church. We first added 7' of wall to the top of the building.
...and added a pitched roof on top of that to replace the old flat roof. The new roof and 7' of wall were done while standing on the old roof.
With the help of the MWOA, we finished our new roof in an amazing two short weeks and all the work was done by volunteers!
With a new pitched roof on and an extra 7' of height inside the building we added a balcony in the sanctuary going right back over top of the foyer giving us more seating as well as adding another classroom and office.
During this time, the services had to be moved into the gym so that construction could be done in the sanctuary.
As part of the renovation, new heating and air conditioning units were looked at and we eventually settled on in-floor heating throughout the building and new air conditioning units and air ducts also going through the whole building.
We also added a new front entrance with a cross in the windows. A sidewalk and gardens with lamps were also added to the outside of the building (after this picture was taken). A sloped roof was also added on the classrooms wing and over the canopy.
Inside, the additions of the balcony added 130 chairs raising our capacity by about 50%. A new projector and screen were also added to our media department as part of the renovation.
The whole sanctuary was carpeted and services were brought back from out of the gym.
This allowed the final touches to be put on the gym. When the old roof was taken out, the three beams that had stood running down the middle of the gym were removed, allowing for various types of games to take place across the whole of it. Tile was laid down giving lines for full court volleyball, hockey, basketball and tennis. Holes for the volleyball and tennis net posts were put in so as to be able to move them in and out freely and basketball nets with adjustable heights were also added at each end.
This also allows for a fellowship hall with a warm-up kitchen right off of it.
...finished up with a redo of the bathrooms, classrooms and offices.
December of 2022 we made our final payment on our mortgage. We are now free and clear! A celebration of cake took place early December.