Victory rebuilds home and hearts
by Cindy Stephen

After serving the homeless and working poor of inner-city Calgary for 15 years, Victory Outreach Church was ousted from Victoria Park last summer to make way for Stampede expansion. They relocated to the old Ogden Hotel, a derelict building full of addicts, prostitutes and the working poor. While holding services in the basement of the 96-year-old building, the church began renovations, not only in the building but in the hearts of the lost souls who still live there.

"A lot of these guys are just one step up from the Drop-In Centre," said Don Delaney, pastor of Victory Outreach Church, adding that no one in the 60-room building will be evicted.

"We just want to come in and build relationships with the guys – we’re going to renovate around them – it’s going to be a slow process."

Delaney said the church paid $2.5 million for the structurally sound building, and thanks to several financial miracles they have already paid off the mortgage. Renovations are expected to exceed that.

The first phase of renovations on the main floor is complete and the congregation of 75 has moved up to a beautiful new sanctuary called The Heritage Room, the only part of the building that has the original tin ceiling.

"About 10 to 15 per cent of the tenants come to church," Delaney estimated. He and assistant pastor Tom Maxwell are continuing the work the church did in Victoria Park, and lead a weekly addictions group with almost a dozen people from the community – eight from the building alone.

"Our approach was to come in and start to be an influence where they’re at. When they come to that place where they hit rock bottom and they’re about to maybe lose their place, we sit down and talk to them and say listen, this is what’s got to change in your life and generally nine times out of ten, life starts to get some order," Delaney said.

Apartment meetings are held once every three months.

"We asked them what kind of a building they wanted, and they said they wanted it to be more peaceful, they want the drugs and the violence gone," he said, smirking at the irony. "We said, we’re going to help you do that."

Delaney said anything illegal is immediately dealt with and bad behavior won’t be tolerated. The church also expects residents to help with improvements.

"We want them to take ownership – everyone has to pitch in. We want to create that sense of community where they can feel like they belong and maybe partially replace the family they don’t have," he continued.

Delaney said they’ve had good feedback from the community about cleaning the place up.

"With most communities it’s NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), but this is a totally different thing. This was a crack building. The cops were here at least once a week. When they heard a church was coming in here, well, they were just loving it," Delaney said.

"There are a lot of lonely guys in the building and loneliness is good soil for the Word of God. We just love them and give them the Word. We may not see the fruit outwardly real quick," Delaney concluded. "We’re not in a hurry – we’re going to build relationships with the guys in here and see their lives transformed and transform the building at the same time."