Twin Lakes Church in Aptos celebrated the grand opening of their new children’s building April 12. The 40,000-square foot state-of-the-art building is part of a church initiative that is also funding construction of a similar building in India.
The new Aptos facility will serve the church elementary and junior high school as well as mid-week and weekend children’s ministries. “It’s a seven-day-a-week building,” said senior pastor René Schlaepfer. “It will be used all week, both day and night, providing daily opportunities to build into the lives of children in our community.”
The three-story building features 22 classrooms, including a specialized music room, art room, computer lab, and science lab. Two office suites and a two-story outdoor amphitheater are also part of the project.
The new construction is part of the church “2020 Vision” initiative, which also built an educational and medical clinic building at a children’s home near Chennai, India. “Every time we build on our Aptos campus we also construct a facility in the developing world for a non-profit or church,” said Schlaepfer. The India children’s building is slated for completion at the end of May.
Church and school water usage have been substantially reduced as part of the project. New low-water landscapes were planted throughout church property, and brand new low-flow fixtures were installed not only in the new building, but in every building on campus.
“Our goal was to demonstrate how we could open a new building yet also dramatically reduce water use, and we’ve done that,” said Schlaepfer.
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Founded in 1890, Twin Lakes Church is one of the oldest and largest congregations in Santa Cruz County. Weekend services are Saturdays at 6 pm, and Sundays at 9 and 10:45 am. The campus is located next to Cabrillo College in Aptos at 2701 Cabrillo College Drive.