Church Basement Report to the Congregation February 27, 2022
As you are aware, Janus Academy moved out as a lower level tenant in June 2020. We have had a few rental enquiries but nothing serious until we recently contracted a rental agency to search for us. We now have a one year lease of 5 rooms on the lower level to a Korean based church community called Jesus Baptist Church Calgary Fellowship. They plan to use the space about 9:30 am to 3:00 pm on Sundays as well as some meetings during the week. They will park on the south side of the church building and use the west entrance. They have services in Korean and Spanish. There is more than adequate space left downstairs for planned McDougall programs, as well as Ogden United Church offices and Acadia Pantry. The rent we are charging is similar per square foot to what we were receiving from Janus. There is an option to renew for an additional term probably at a higher rate.
This faith community of mostly young families is a branch of a denomination based in South Korea where there are about 100 churches, and there are other branches around the world with 4 in Canada. In doing due diligence, I went to the website of this organization (google “Life Word Mission”) to check their theology and approach. You can listen to a service translated into English. We also had many emails and two in person meetings with the leaders in which we discussed their needs, our expectations, and how we could respectfully share the space. They are a group of about 40 people, mostly young families, who formed a church 10 years ago and began meeting in homes. They outgrew that and rented space in Bow Cliff Seniors Center, but have outgrown that space. They seem eager and excited about being able to meet in a real church building. I also contacted Bow Cliff Seniors to determine if there had been problems and found there were none.
I am confident they will be a good fit but we decided to agree to just a one year lease this time to see how it works out with three congregations using the building at the same time. We will be using separate areas. Please welcome them.
Barrie Clayton