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History

On January 15, 1981, Steve and Diana Shafe spent their first night in Albion. They had moved there from their home in Battle Creek in order to start a new church. The Shafes were sent by the First Wesleyan Church of Battle Creek. For several years Senior Pastor, Rev. Bob Zuhl and his Associate, Rev. Art O'Dell had shared a vision for their growing church to be involved in planting a new church somewhere in the area surrounding Battle Creek. Since the Shafes were very active in the Battle Creek church and Steve had recently graduated from Spring Arbor College with plans to enter the ministry, they were asked to consider providing leadership for this exciting project. In the beginning Steve continued to work as an emergency police dispatcher and the Battle Creek church paid for ministry and housing expenses.

Soon after the Shafes arrived in Albion they began their ministry with a midweek Bible Study which met in their mobile home at the Twin Pines Mobile Home Park on the outskirts of Albion. This study was called a Care Group and was modeled after a small group ministry that the Shafe's had been involved in when the were attending the Battle Creek church. The decision to begin the outreach in Albion with a Care Group Bible Study was significant because it eventually led the leaders to the name, Caring Community Church.

On Sunday, May 17, 1981 the Caring Community Church held its first public worship service in rented facilities at the former Albion Holiday Inn. There were thirty-nine people in attendance with about half of them being the Shafes friends and family from Battle Creek. For the rest of 1981 the group continued to meet at the Holiday Inn with an average attendance in the 20's. Then on January 3, 1982 they began to meet in space that the First United Methodist Church of Albion invited them to rent. This proved to be very important since it gave the young congregation more of a sense of permanence and room to grow. Little did they realize at the time this location would be their home for nearly ten years.

The community of Albion was hard hit by the economic recession which our country experienced in the early 1980's, yet the young church was able maintain a pattern of gradual growth. By July of 1990 they were in a position to pay cash for the purchase of 23 acres of land on Irwin Avenue. During the following year church leadership worked with the Jeffery Parker Architects and Denominational officials to design a Phase One facility and to arrange for financing. A ground-breaking ceremony was held in April of 1991, with excavation and site preparation beginning immediately. By the end of August, Fritz Wahlfield Construction began the actual building. The project proceeded so smoothly that the church was able to realize their goal of being in their new building before Christmas, with the first service being held on Sunday, December 22, 1991.

Since moving into their own facility the church has continued to expand their congregation and their ministry. We celebrated our 20th anniversary on May 20, 2001.  We were blessed to be able pay off the mortgage for our building in the spring of 2002. Our average attendance during the 2001-02 fiscal year was the highest ever.

Plans for future building expansion include: additional classrooms, a gymnasium, and an auditorium.