Alexandra Elim Church was founded in 1983 by four couples, pastored by Ps Jim Rentoull. Originally taking turns meeting in each other's homes, they soon grew and started renting the Dunstan High School hall. After a period of using The Terrace School, the church would start using the Dunstan Anglican Parish Hall on Shannon Street from 1992-2010.
In 2008, Pastors Keith and Lesley Taylor felt it was time to Alexandra Elim to have a building of their own. What was then a Pottery Studio, and prior to that a Four Square supermarket, 156 Tarbert Street became available for purchase. The trustees resolved to purchase the building in January 2009 and after resource consent was finalised, a purchase and sale agreement was signed in December 2009. The first service was 28th March 2010.
The land was rented under three different titles (crown/council land). The building and a third of the land needed to be paid for. A cleaning project came available at Alexandra New World to clean the supermarket 364 days a year. Church members agreed to commit to the contract and roster was drawn up so that every night was covered, cleaning once the store had closed. What a commitment!
Cleaning started on 19 May 2010 and ended 14 March 2014 when it was reported that the church was now debt free and owned the building and third of the land. Thank you to the generosity of church members, crown land was purchased in 2018 and the remaining land purchased in 2019 with the help of a Christian Savings loan.
We were now able to merge the titles and present a building to sell. Miraculously, 156 Tarbert Street was sold with a very generous offer and in record time! In November 2019, a For Sale sign went up with a 4 week tender period after which an offer was received. A purchase and sale agreement was signed in December 2009, with a settlement date of 17th January 2020. We then had 3 months of renting back the premises whilst we made arrangements for Sunday Services. This took us to 31st March 2020 - almost 10 years exactly to the date we moved in to Tarbert Street. Level 4 Covid lockdown happened on the 25th March which delayed our move!
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