Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home Evangelical Church celebrated the opening of its new Family Member Ministry Center with an open house on Saturday.
The church was dedicating a new addition to the former home of Little Promises, on Kalmia Street, between 14th and 15th avenues.
The building was originally a house, Pastor Gary Englert said. It was expanded about 20 years ago, and Little Promises made its home there. After Little Promises moved out to the old Pleasant Valley School, the church tore down the older, front part of the structure and built a new hall.
It was structurally tired, Englert said, and it needed to be torn down.
The new hall is more like a covered patio, with three openings to the playground to the east.
The idea was to “do something for families,” Englert said. “There are two things we have on our plate so far.”
The church has many teachers in its congregation, and they have opened a tutoring program for children, Englert said. It also is a place where mothers with preschool children can come and hang out.
“What else are we going to do?” he said. “The sky’s the limit.”
It’s part of the church’s effort to focus on families of all age groups.
The Michael Bahn Band of Grants Pass provided music for Saturday’s open house, while children waited in line to get their faces painted and played on inflatable toys.