A local church has found a new home in a building that formerly hosted a variety of social service programs.
Connexus Church has held its services at Galaxy Cinemas for the past 16 years, but the congregation will soon move into the 11,000-square-foot building at 4 King St. that formerly hosted Empower Simcoe.
The church has signed a 10-year lease on the building, which will serve as the new home for the congregation of more than 500 people.
Lead pastor Jeff Brodie said the west Orillia theatre has been a good home for the church, but that church leadership have been looking for a space that can “keep pace” with its direction.
“We see so many opportunities that we just need a space that keeps pace with those opportunities, so we've decided, after 16 years in the movie theatre, it's time for us to move to a 24/7 permanent space in the City of Orillia,” Brodie told OrilliaMatters.
“We're really excited to have a facility available to really make a difference in the community.”
Part of the reason the church chose the King Street building was due to its size, but Brodie said its location in the city – near social service providers like the Lighthouse, and the Sharing Place – also made it an attractive venue.
“We continue to be in the corner of organizations like the Lighthouse and the Sharing Place, and this will allow us to do that even more,” he said.
The vision for the church, Brodie said, is to provide a space for people to invite their friends and learn more about Christianity – regardless of where they are in terms of their faith.
“We believe that God is for people and for Orillia, and we believe that our church should be too,” he said.
“One of the big parts of our vision is we want to create the easiest church for people to invite their friends, and we want to continue to create spaces where people can come and explore faith and explore who Jesus is, and (it’s) also a launchpad for us to be in the corner of the City of Orillia.”
One of the things Connexus Church does, Brodie said, is create spaces for those who are questioning their faith to learn more.
“Our passion is to be for our community,” he said.
“The way we go about that is we want to create the easiest church for people to invite their friends to come and explore faith, to ask their questions, to bring their skepticism,” he said. “We want to create spaces where people can explore faith and ultimately discover the meaning and the hope that they're looking for in Jesus.”
Brodie said the church is currently working with architects and builders, and anticipates it will be open to the public some time in 2024.
The church's Barrie operations will not be impacted as a result of the move.
