St. Olaf to celebrate addition
Published 12:39 pm Saturday, September 20, 2008
Saturday, Sept. 27 will be a historic day for St. Olaf Lutheran Church of Austin as they open the doors to their new building addition. The official opening of the doors will begin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. People should gather in the church parking lot at the corner of Second Street and Third Avenue Northwest for the event.
The 10,000-foot addition includes a fellowship hall, kitchen, offices, a large children’s ministry area, space for the weekday preschool, a large elevator and a small sunken auditorium. The building addition was constructed to enhance the mission of St. Olaf, “To know Christ and to make Christ known.”
The congregation seeks to accomplish this mission through its four core areas of ministry: reaching, welcoming, growing and caring. The theme of the building program was “Expanding the Welcome,” and that is exactly what they did.
“People can now park their car, walk through the doors and into the sanctuary and fellowship hall without having to deal with steps,” Pastor Ron Barnett said. “In addition, we have created a very welcoming space for children.”
The new weekday preschool area, The Wee Learning Center, is now complete and opened Sept. 2, and the children’s ministry programs began last week in the new space with an increase of 52 children over the previous year.
Now that the new addition is complete, work will continue on the remodeling of the existing building. This will include a new nursery area on the main floor, a large gathering area, media center, improvements to the third floor youth ministry and fourth floor improvements for music ministry.
Handicap accessibility to the choir loft is also included in the remodeling plans. The remodeling is scheduled to be completed by the end of December.
Each and everyone in the community is invited and encouraged to come out to St. Olaf Lutheran Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27 and join in the celebration.
For more information about St. Olaf Lutheran Church and its ministry opportunities, go to www.stolaf church.org or call 433-8857.
