Pine Hills Auburn is “a church for the city, loving people where they are with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Now they’ll serve Auburn in a permanent location after being given a building this spring. Pastor Matt Lehman praises God for the opportunities this gift provides. “We have an incredible tool to use for the community.” Instead of setting up in a rental space once a week, this gives the six-month-old church a chance to plant roots and connect with and serve its neighbors weekends and weekdays.
How did this donation come about? Pine Hills Auburn’s new building was functionally vacant for the past decade. Pastor Matt Lehman heard from the city that they were going to tear it down, so he made some phone calls. The owner knew Matt from his previous work in the Auburn community in social services, so he gave the green light.
“As long as you’re willing to take the building as is, we’ll donate it to you.”
Having the support of the government and other local pastors has been huge, Matt says. “We’ve been able to build a really good relationship with the city of Auburn.” Mayor Mike Ley gave his consent for various Pine Hills Auburn activities, and not a Sunday goes by that Matt doesn’t receive encouraging texts or emails from other Auburn-based pastors.
One of the biggest blessings Matt sees is from the body of Pine Hills Auburn itself. “With church planting, everyone is in the lineup, nobody’s on the bench. Watching them shine to the glory of God and watching people come alive with those gifts and abilities is probably my favorite part of this.”
Pine Hills Auburn plans to move into the new building this month, but some repairs and updates, as well as a new roof, will need to happen. “We are in the process right now of figuring out what all of that looks like.”
