A new Brandon church is opening its doors to people no matter where they are in their lives.

"We are doing a thing called Freedom Church and it's Sunday nights in the bottom of our Super Thrift. We have a three story building and in the basement, we set up a space where people can join us for worship, hear testimony and a word, and we have guest speakers come," says Tara Murray, the Program Director with the Women's Adult and Teen Challenge (ATC) in Brandon, Man.

The church has been running for a few months already for the staff and residents of ATC in the area, but they are now open to the public. 

"The idea is, for people that don't typically feel like they're welcome in church, because they have addictions and maybe they might be currently in sin and stuck, we want to be a place where we can accept all people. To be clear that this is a place where anyone is accepted and that it's for freedom," says Murray.

The first service open to the public was held on August 29.

"We had our Executive Director Daniel Emond. He spoke and talked about how to walk with the Spirit, have faith in the Bible to be free. My husband Aaron and his friend Allister, they did worship. We had a girl share her testimony for the first time after being in the program for three months and it was amazing."

People who attended the first public Freedom Church service were friends in the area, according to Murray.

"So far we haven't gotten any street people, but it's right downtown so we're hoping we can do some evangelism and bring in people from downtown."

Murray wants people to know that Brandon ATC has five open beds for people who are struggling with addicitons right now, for the one-year program. They also have women's and men's groups for people in addiction who can't come to the year-long program. 

People interested in connecting with ATC can check out their website, or call Tara Murray at 204-441-0191.

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