Campaign Prayer

Savior Jesus, we are always guided by Your Word of promise and hope! We read that “Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God!”

(1 Cor. 10:31b) We humbly ask that You Bless whatever our efforts are in ministry and open our hearts to be generous in our love for You. May we give freely with true generosity.

Holy Spirit, help us to carry out Your plan for our “Forward in Our Story, All for His Glory” campaign. May Your goodness, O Lord, be with us and may You continue to bless the work of our hands and hearts. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

If you have a connection with Divine Redeemer Lutheran Church and School, it has shaped your family and life through a connection with Jesus. Our church and school work together to bring people to Jesus and have grown together over the past half-century in Lake Country. Starting in 1972 in a bank basement, we moved due to the growing number of children learning about Jesus. The same growth pattern repeated in 1974 on Hill Street, leading to another move to a larger campus. Today, our school educates over 400 students annually. However, our Early Childhood Development Center is at full capacity, and we are using unconventional spaces like former kitchens and newly built classrooms to accommodate the growth.

Once again, we face a challenge: no more room to accommodate God’s blessings. No hallway, kitchen, or attic remains for classrooms, yet we receive numerous inquiries (over 45 since last summer) from parents seeking to connect their children to Jesus. Conflicting with Jesus’ call to let the little children come to Him, we have to turn those families away due to lack of space. They join a waitlist, which dwindles as they find care elsewhere, and few of those other centers focus on Jesus. Every child turned away is a missed opportunity, and these constraints affect our school and church family. Most of our baptisms (61%) and new members (60%) come from students and families connected with our school. Imagine how much more growth we could see by giving the ECDC its own space and repurposing its current spaces to foster spiritual growth, youth ministry, Bible study groups and community outreach.

MATTHEW 19:14

Join our Forward in Our Story, All for His Glory Capital Campaign to address this critical need. Respondents to our Readiness Assessment overwhelmingly agreed that now is the time. Divine Redeemer has a history of adapting facilities to accommodate God’s blessings in Lake Country. We have the exciting opportunity to continue that history and magnify God’s glory!

Meeting this need requires great faith and radical generosity. The new spaces will enable impactful ministry efforts and leave a legacy for future generations. This is step one in addressing our community’s early childhood development needs. It is a blessing to know our community’s needs and fulfill them for the sake of the Gospel with Jesus!

The main objective of the campaign is to secure funds for the construction of a new ECDC, aiming to greatly enhance our capacity. Currently, we have reached our maximum capacity with 91 full-time students but, with the proposed 23,000-square foot building, we will have the potential to accommodate up to 226 full-time students!

Other exciting features of the building include:

• A spacious multi-purpose room accommodating numerous Bible studies and ministry meetings.

• Installation of water and sewer infrastructure, facilitating future growth and expanding restroom capacity.

• A prominent cross in the multipurpose room, serving as a powerful reminder of our purpose: Jesus, THE Divine Redeemer!

RENOVATION OF CURRENT ECDC SPACES FOR NEW CLASSROOMS AND MINISTRY SPACES | $500,000

Upon construction of the new ECDC, the classrooms below Fellowship Hall will be renovated. While some space will be used for classrooms and storage, a significant portion will be dedicated to Bible studies and other church ministries. This expansion provides ample room for various ministries to thrive, accommodating the needs of our congregation and community. It is a remarkable step forward in fostering spiritual growth and enhancing the impact of our ministries.

TOTAL COST: $6.5 MILLION

The Forward in Our Story, All for His Glory Capital Campaign’s goals constitute the first phase of our campus Master Plan. Any funds raised in excess of our Phase 1 needs will be earmarked for use in future phases of our campus expansion.