Submitted photo Richfield Life Ministries Church moved to its new location at 53 Mill Rd., Richfield on Sunday, Sept. 7.

RICHFIELD — Richfield Life Ministries Church moved to its new location at 53 Mill Rd., Richfield on Sunday, Sept. 7. The move is just a half mile from a campus of five buildings, including the 1886 original sanctuary on Church Street in Richfield. The new 31,000 square foot facility will seat 663 in the multi-purpose sanctuary plus provide classrooms, large youth room, kids game room, fellowship room and kitchen all accessible from a large central lobby area to accommodate the worship, discipleship, fellowship and outreach ministries of the growing congregation.

The congregation is rejoicing for the Lord’s provision in making possible this new facility that will allow for the continued growth of the church’s ministries. Besides regular Sunday morning worship services regularly attended by 550 or more, the church offers Sunday School classes for all ages between the early and late worship services. Wednesday nights the church’s AWANA ministry for children from three years to 6th grade and youth groups for teens reach over 200 young people during the school year. Other nights of the week see the church’s Family Life Center host volleyball leagues and RC racing. In addition, Bible study and discipleship groups meet in the church’s facilities. The new multi-purpose sanctuary allows more seating for worship services along with enhanced stage, lighting, sound and multi-media capabilities. The Kids’ Zone classrooms for children’s ministries are all located in a secured section of the building for better safety for the children’s Sunday School classes and the AWANA program. A youth room that includes a full volleyball court and several breakout discussion rooms will enhance the youth ministries. The congregation has for many years placed much emphasis on its AWANA and youth ministries that have been a big part of the church’s growth and overall ministry.

The completion of the new facility is the culmination of a process that began 12 years ago. For over 25 years, the average attendance has exceeded the 300-person capacity of the current sanctuary which had already been enlarged three times over the 139-year history of the church, which until 2016 was known as Richfield Mennonite Church. This necessitated conducting two services each Sunday morning. Initial plans called for constructing a new sanctuary and classrooms at the current campus. In 2015, recognizing that fund-raising and construction would take years, plans for new construction were approved that included immediately air-conditioning the Family Life Center, the church’s multi-purpose gymnasium, to allow the second service each Sunday morning to be held there until a new sanctuary could be built, since by this time, attendance at the second service was exceeding the comfortable seating capacity of the sanctuary. Because the Family Life Center is used for numerous activities throughout the week, most notably the church’s Wednesday AWANA program for children as well as volleyball and RC racing during the school year, the stage, sound equipment and chairs have to be set up and torn down each week. While a plan for the new construction had been approved, one of the concerns was the lack of parking at the current campus. In 2018, a church member donated a 12-acre plot of land on Mill Road for the construction of a completely new facility. An additional 15-acre adjoining plot was purchased to enhance the usability of the new location and plans completed for the new building.

Congregational members have so far contributed over half the cost for the first phase of the construction project. The new facility does not include a gymnasium which is planned for future construction. The church plans to retain its current Family Life Center to accommodate certain ministry activities until the second phase is completed. Other buildings on the original campus will be sold.

The church will continue to conduct both an 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. worship service each Sunday with Sunday School classes for all ages at 9:15 a.m. The AWANA and youth program will kick-off for the new school year on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. Aaron Benner serves as Lead Pastor of the congregation assisted by Executive Minister Ryan Maneval, Associate Pastor of Youth and Young Adults Josh Thompson and Children’s Directors Ashley Scholl and Teresa Sheaffer. More information about the church’s ministries is available at richfieldlife.com. The Sunday services are streamed live at live.richfieldlife.com.

The mission of Richfield Life Ministries Church is to:

Reach all people. We will endeavor to reach all people by equipping members to reach people in our own community, conducting outreach ministries to our community, encouraging members to consider ministry callings beyond the congregation, and supporting outreach ministries beyond our community and around the world–all with the primary goal of winning the lost to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Connect all people to Christ and His disciples. We will seek to connect new believers and members to a vibrant personal relationship with Christ and into a unified congregational family that supports and encourages each other.

Love God and worship Him. We will encourage our members to love God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength, and we will also provide regular opportunities for Christ-centered corporate worship.

Encourage members to grow to be mature disciples of Jesus Christ. We will emphasize sound Bible-centered teaching and ministry to nurture our members to grow into mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

Equip members to go and serve God with all their lives. We will equip our members to go and serve God by ministering to both the spiritual and physical needs of our community and the world beyond to reach them for Christ.

For more information contact Ryan Maneval at (717) 694-3490 or office@richfieldlife.com.