About Us

Adironack Alliance Church (AAC) began as a house church in the summer of 1999. Our group formed out of a common desire to worship God together in a manner not then present in Saranac Lake. Over time, our membership changed and our vision became clearer. As we outgrew the home church format, we decided that God was leading us to create a new church. One that is faithful to classic Christian doctrine, warm in fellowship, and relevant to 21st Century Saranac Lake. Orthodox Christian belief teaches of a Holy God who hates sin, yet made a way for us to be forgiven. Our church aims to communicate both the need for repentance as well as the unconditional love of God through Christ. This is the gospel with the power to change our lives!

AAC’s founding members all came from varying church backgrounds. We studied basic Christian doctrine for a year in an attempt to find a denomination affiliation that suited our members. In the fall of 2000, we became acquainted with the Christian & Missionary Alliance, or C&MA. One of the distinctives of the C&MA is an accomodation of various belief systems on many points, while holding fast to the distinctives that separate authentic Christianity from the rest of the world’s religions. By affiliating ourselves with the C&MA, we found a denominational home large enough for our different beliefs, yet small enough to retain a central emphasis on our need for Christ’s substitutionary atonement.

The Northeastern District of the Christian & Missionary Alliance is the Upstate New York branch of the denomination and is located in Rome, NY. The District has been very supportive of God’s working among us, and we in Saranac Lake cannot thank them enough. Through the District’s support we welcomed Randy Cross to the full-time pastorate of AAC in July of 2003.

Since 2003 we have been looking for meaningful ways to do God’s work in Saranac Lake.  We realize that our building could be an important community resource so we have made it available to groups to use when it is not serving as a church.  Young Life serves a hot breakfast to High School students in our building once a week when schools are open.  A community choir rehearses here once a week.  Several community groups have used the building for meetings.  We support the work at the homeless shelter in Saranac Lake, Samaritan House, and AscentCare pregnancy services.  It’s exciting to see God work among us, shaping us into a church family. Please, come visit and see for yourself!

After an extended search that included over 20 different locations and buildings around Saranac Lake, we finally located a suitable and affordable building at the corner of Route 3 and Canaras Ave. Our search took more than two years. We purchased the building in July of 2005 and embarked on a remodeling project to convert the building from a dry cleaner’s into a church building. Our first worship services were held in January 2006.

In June 2006, Adirondack Alliance Church was recognized by the Christian & Missionary Alliance as a fully accredited church of the denomination. To meet these requirements, the church had to establish a constitution and bylaws, have a membership drive and be financially independent from the denomination. Since then, we have been seeking the Lord as to our role in our community and have been expanding outreach to the Tri-Lakes area where He leads us.

In December 2022 we welcomed Pastor Dan Ockrin as our interim pastor following a year long process.