It's Rose Church's Grand Opening this weekend moving into a permanent home.
Founded in September 2020, co-pastors Mark and Roberta Roslund are ecstatic about this next step for their congregation.
When talking about how the church came to be, Pastor Mark shared, "It's wild. It makes no sense, but God is God, so it makes perfect sense."
Opening in the middle of the pandemic, Roslund said, "We just really began to seek The Lord, and we're like, is this no? Is this paused? Do we wait until this is over? What do we do? We just felt strongly to bring hope to the people. So we put everything online. People we had never met before were joining our launch teams. We want to help build this church. So we launched online and did that for a year before meeting in person just over two years ago. And this weekend, we're going to be moving into our very first permanent home, and we're super excited about it!"
While he admits it wasn't an easy process, it was worth it.
"It was really scary. It's easy to talk about now, but in the moment, it was terrifying. People were slowly joining our team, and we were connecting with people, but in terms of who is going to help us do this, and where were the finances going to come from? Only looking back can we really see what God was up to, and we're really grateful that the Holy Spirit gave us the courage to keep moving forward in that season."
Seeing how God has used the church the last three years, preparing for this weekend when they open their doors to a new permanent home has been special for him.
"We like to think that God, in His perfect timing, used the ministry of Rose Church to play a pivotal role in people's lives. It doesn't make sense to us, especially when we're in the thick of it. We're walking in the unknown or the uncertainty. For us, knowing that God's promise to bring hope to the people and keep moving forward, we didn't even know what that looked like. We felt there was a ton of freedom and opportunity for us to get creative and innovative in that. We just knew that God was saying to move forward, and because we moved forward, lots of people's lives have been impacted. During that time, it built the foundation for once we went in person, and now we're about to move into our permanent home. All of the foundation from what God is doing today was laid in those early days when we had no idea what tomorrow was going to look like."
Leading up to the first Sunday morning, there are some extra special activities planned.
"On the 18th, which is Saturday, at 5:30 p.m., we have our ribbon-cutting ceremony. We have the scissors and the ribbon, and we're just going to pray and dedicate the building to God and those that have not yet been in this space. For us, our heart is those who have never been to our church. We want to reach the lost and engage the community."
"Right after that, we'll move inside at 6 p.m. for a worship night. The first time that we will ever worship in this building. Then the next day, on Sunday morning, we have our first ever service, our grand opening service at 10 a.m. So it is a full-on weekend." Roslund said of the exciting plans.
When asked what he was most looking forward to, he shared, "My heart is people connecting, connecting with each other and connecting with God. So, obviously, during service, seeing people worshipping, seeing people receive from the Word, that's going to be super special. But the buzz in the lobby, I am so excited for the overwhelming buzz that's going to exist in that place, people talking and laughing and figuring out where to go."
While he is excited, he knows there will be a few bumps along the way as they figure out the new routine.
"Quite honestly, it's going to be a gong show. Our teams will be working hard to figure it out, but we're all new to the building as well, so we're going to do our best to serve people well."
"It's going to be messy in the best of ways and we're excited to figure out and continue to grow into this space while we work out all the logistics. I'm just excited for people to walk in, look at the pictures on the walls, check their kids into kids ministry, grab a coffee, and encounter Jesus."
Pastor Mark invites you to join them to worship together at 67-630 Kernaghan Avenue at 10 a.m. on Sunday mornings.