2004: The Beginning

Lift’s first "service" was Sunday night, September 9, 2004, in the apartment of Corey and Tanya Best, an American/Swiss family who had recently moved to Switzerland to be "tent-making" church planters of Lift. Ken & Kristin Eales, a South African couple, were also present that first evening along with four other adults and 5 kids. In January 2005, the "Lift Nights" were moved down by the Lake of Zug to the meeting room upstairs at Vorstadt 30. From the beginning, whether 15, 20 or only 7 people, Lift faithfully came together to worship God and open the Bible to learn from His Word. Stami (Evangelische Stadtmission Zug), a German-speaking church across town, was and is a great support to Lift.

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2006: Good Morning

In the summer of 2006, Lift moved to morning worship service times at 10:00am, which quickly proved to be the right move in Lift’s identity as a new "church" in Zug and not just a "small group" where we boldly proclaimed to our community that we were Lift - The International Church of Zug.

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2007: God Adds Workers

In 2007 God provided a few key people who arrived in Switzerland with a common vision and mission for His church. This led to a broader leadership team being formed by the end of the year, which was called the Servant Leadership team. At this point there were not yet any formal appointments of Elders/Pastor. 

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2008 - 2010: Full-Time Home and Growth

In the Spring of 2008 Lift was officially established as an independent "Verein" in Zug.

In September, God provided a full time "home" to rent at Ibelweg 18.

Into 2009, with a newly-built nursery, Sunday School space, and the Lift Living Room, many ministries were able to develop "at the church" while many other ministries "in the community" continued, such as small groups, Ladies' and Men's Studies and lakeside baptisms. It's intentional for Lift that the church is more about the people, not the buildings or rooms. 

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2011 - 2013: More Growth & Commissioning 

Tanya and Corey moved on to continue their journey with ICF and in January 2011 we formalised and commissioned Pastors (Elders) at Lift according to biblical instruction.

Lift soon outgrew the building at Ibelweg, and in March 2013 we moved again, this time to Sihlbruggstrasse 3a in Baar.

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2014 - 2025: Full-Time Pastor and Administration Staff

With the growth of the church, the need for a full-time Pastor became very real. In February 2014, the Lord saw fit to bless us with our very first full-time pastor family: Peet & Jenni Wallace (they have 2 sons – Chris, who is a Chiropractor in London, England and Ryan, a Chartered Accountant in New Zealand). Exciting times forging ahead with Jesus and His people in Zug!
 

The Eldership team and deacons, together with the rest of Lift Church, have continued to seek God regularly to ensure that Jesus is central to our mission and our lifestyle is governed by the Bible.
 

During these years 

• We have established a Kids Church that runs parallel with our adult services

• Ministry to the poor has become more practical and hands on through the ministry of Love On A Hanger

• Our Youth and Adult ministry has grown to the point where in September 2025 we moved into our Youth Centre which has provided much needed space for our teens

• We have also started Alpha live for our teens on Sunday nights at our Youth Centre

• We also employed an Administrator that has made serving at Lift more effective and strategic

• We also added recently to our Staff team an Accountant and also a Worship Administrator which has increased our ministry effectiveness at Lift

• Bryce Kaff, one of our elders has also joined us on staff this year as a volunteer for a year and together with his wife Skye has brought needed help to us. They have already added momentum to the ministry and have stepped into the roles of leading our Youth Ministry

 

One of our greatest joys during this period has been to see people from different nations at Lift, serving each other and Jesus together around the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, many making public decisions to follow Jesus and declare Him as Lord and Saviour, getting baptized in water as a declaration of faith and being filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered as they leave Switzerland to continue to live, work and serve in the countries that God has placed upon their hearts.

 

Our effectiveness as a church is expanding as we are establishing relationships with other churches in Europe to see the Gospel preached.

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