Project due diligence was completed through Fall 2021 and in Feburary 2022 we closed on the purchase of the property at 42 Royal Avenue, just down the street from McMaster University.

Total project cost includes the following:

• • Property purchase and closing – $1,900,000
  • Renovations & Finishing- $1,250,000

Prior to purchasing 42 Royal Ave, LIFT secured a construction mortgage from Church Investors Fund to cover a large portion ($1.2M) of the property purchase and renovating costs.

Through an initial fundraising campaign, LIFT has fundraised ~$1M through internal giving and external partnership. To complete outstanding renovations, we have launched a second campaign to raise the outstanding funds to complete interior and exterior renovations. As of March 2022, we need $250,000 for phase 2 – interior renovations. The subsequent phases will be initiated as the previous phase funding and scope are completed.

2021 Audited financial statements can be found here. 

LIFT currently operates out of a 1,500 sq ft leased office space less than a kilometre from McMaster University (called Rubix 3.0). The majority of this space has been modified to accommodate studio and production areas to run weekly livestreamed gatherings (All Regions Stream) and leadership teaching (Leaders Assembly), as well as to produce regular content for training and communications.

As a multiplying discipleship movement, our focus is to continually identify, train, and send individuals to new cities and campuses to bring more people to know Jesus. For example, in the past year we launched Living Sent Missionary Academy and have trained an initial cohort of 32 missionaries. A key enabler of this mission is the ability to hold in-person training sessions and gatherings, and this is not possible in our current location.

In addition, we continue to require space for team members to work and meet throughout the week.

The new building will serve as the Next Generation Discipleship Centre, training and equipping disciples to be sent to campuses across the world to see people made fully alive in the hope of Jesus.

We believe that in order to serve the campus and the neighbourhood around it, we must be intentionally present in that community and be an open space into which we can welcome and integrate the neighbourhood.

While the Next Generation Discipleship Centre exists in Hamilton in proximity to McMaster University, it exists to serve all of our regions and campuses through training, discipling students, caring for missionaries and leaders, producing weekly broadcasts (All Regions Stream and Leaders Assembly) and discipleship resources, and central operations. All regions – current and future – will benefit from the Centre and all disciples and missionaries being sent will be trained and cared for in some way via the Centre.

The building under consideration has two levels, which will include the following:

• • Community space to gather 100 students together to integrate the neighbourhoods into church family
  • Large training space and discipleship classrooms to train 13 new Campus Church planters to be sent to new campuses around the world
  • Campus missionary space to train and care for 50+ campus missionaries
  • Community kitchen to better serve meals to 150+ people in multiple low-income Hamilton neighbourhoods
  • Multi-purpose recording studio and production area to proclaim the Gospel through weekly broadcasts and to produce training modules and discipleship resources
  • Team co-working space and operations centre

Planning for this project began in 2018 shortly after LIFT moved into its current office space (Rubix 3.0) and the Board and Senior Leadership Team committed to saving for a future space. The lease on our current space is up in 2023 and we needed to plan ahead for next steps at the end of that lease.

In 2020, we conducted a feasibility assessment to evaluate options for acquiring new space that could support our mission long-term. These options ranged from taking on a larger lease to a new build. The most financially viable option for a larger, long-term space in the neighbourhood around the McMaster University campus was assessed to be purchasing a property with existing zoning as a neighbourhood institution. This assessment was validated through external consultation and approved by LIFT’s Board of Directors.

The following due diligence has been completed on the property under consideration for purchase as part of the Rubix 4.0 project:

• • Zoning verification by the City of Hamilton
  • Program analysis by an architectural firm
  • Appraisal
  • Property condition assessment
  • Structural assessment by an engineering firm
  • Phase I Environmental Site Assessment

All analyses have validated that the property is able to meet LIFT’s requirements and that renovations required to meet our needs are feasible within the project scope. 

Project updates will be posted via a dedicated webpage.

LIFT Church leaders and members will be engaged through updates as part of our regular rhythms of communication at gatherings and including via our internal communication platform engage.liftchurch.ca.

Updates to our partners will be provided through regular electronic communications.

Opportunities to visit and tour the space will be arranged as the project progresses.