Over a month ago, on March 19, the 2200 Hamilton Road location of Auburn Community Church (ACC) opened for the first time, led by Pastor Miles Fidell. After purchasing the land back in 2019, ACC members have been greatly anticipating the arrival of the new building.
Because of the large number of ACC members, one of the smaller and previous church-meeting locations on Airport Road has been known to have had trouble with parking.
Mackenzie Dungey, senior in exercise science, explained what initially drew her to ACC at the beginning of her freshman year and how ACC has never had its own building until now.
“The summer before I started my freshman year at Auburn, I saw an Instagram account pop up on my phone with a church that had a motto 'church without walls.' This motto ultimately pulled me, and I was so intrigued by their concept of hopping around to different buildings every Sunday!” Dungey said.
However, Dungey shared that it was ultimately the people and the way God was speaking through the church that really drew her in and caused her to get involved there. As a faithful attender of ACC all four years of college, Dungey was excited to see how God would continue to provide with the addition of the church’s very own building.
Sarah Wren, junior in speech, language and hearing sciences, explained the numerous benefits of the new building as it relates to both building capacity and parking.
“It definitely can accommodate more people than the last building, which has been amazing…We have incredible parking volunteers that work really hard to streamline parking so that people can get in and out fairly easily,” Wren said.
Kristin Morrison, a 24-year-old Auburn resident and bank teller at Cadence Bank, also attends Auburn Community Church. She expressed her gratitude to the parking team as they are trying to direct people during all of ACC’s services, with two neighboring churches close by.
“It can sometimes be chaotic since there are so many people trying to fit in one parking lot, but I feel like it has been dealt with as efficiently as possible with all the learning curves,” Morrison said.
Dungey elaborated that the reason for this is more and more people are starting to come to ACC and bring guests, adding to the church’s numbers. However, she sees this as a blessing, and she says the church is always able to figure it out.
“There is a pattern and puzzle to it [parking], so it is different every week, but God has provided every single time,” Dungey said.
When asked how the new building has affected the church’s corporate worship environment, Wren said that while the culture of the church is the same, the impact of having their own space has been powerful.
Similarly, Morrison is grateful for all that the space has done for the church and gives all credit to God.
“Even though I have not been attending ACC since it first started in 2014, it has been super sweet seeing God answer the prayer by providing us a larger space for us to commune as a church family to worship,” Morrison said.
A fun fact about the new building is that Auburn Community Church's slogan is imprinted on the roof.
Wren explained the reasoning behind this fun addition, "The building is in the flight path to the Auburn Airport, so there are letters on the roof that spell out ‘Jesus Wins,’ so that anything flying overhead can see it. This wasn’t done to draw attention to the church, but rather to glorify the name of Jesus and spread His Word.”
While the new church building has undoubtedly had a strong impact on the church, Morrison, Dungey and Wren all had strong opinions about what "the church” really is.
“The church building within itself does not matter in regards to how big or small it is because God is not housed in a building, He lives in believers and that is so special… Church is when and where a group of believers come to worship God through the preaching of the Bible, singing songs and praying," Morrison said. "The building does not matter in the grand scheme of things but the fact that God chooses to meet with us and live within us in the first place."
Dungey agreed that a church is not in one specific location.
“This can be seen mostly in a building, but also has been seen in fields, on beaches, in mountains," Dungey said. "The world was built to worship God, so anywhere can be a ‘church’ where God’s people are gathered."
This seems to be a core belief of the church as well. On ACC’s website, auburncommunitychurch.com, it states, “We believe that church is not a building or a program, but a community of people doing life together, striving to look more like Jesus each day.”
Wren shared that she enjoys a special tradition at each ACC church service regarding the church as a people rather than a place.
“At the end of every gathering, they always say, ‘Go and be the church,’ which I love. Wherever people of God come together to talk about His Word is where the church is,” Wren said.
Dungey shared a Bible reference to affirm these shared beliefs.
“Scripture says, ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there,’ Matthew 18:20,” Dungey said.
Regardless, the new church building has been a blessed addition to the church family at Auburn Community Church, allowing for a greater amount of community and fellowship.
For those wanting to check out the new building or find out more about ACC, services are held on Sundays at 8:45 a.m., 11 a.m., and 5 p.m.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
