History

...Christians who adamantly believed that the sanctity of life begins at conception were presented a challenge and an opportunity: to find a way to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to a society becoming increasingly more reliant on human ideas rather than divine teachings.

Following the examples of others in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, a group of area WELS members opened the Alpha Pregnancy Counseling Center in Watertown in 1985 and became the Tri-County Chapter of the national organization WELS Lutherans for Life. The center was set up to serve women in Dodge, Jefferson, and Waukesha counties with free pregnancy tests and biblical-based counseling, with the underlying purpose to encourage soon-to-be mothers to choose life over death for their unborn babies.

Though abortion continued to be an important issue, the availability of affordable pregnancy testing and the increase in life issues across the age spectrum led the center to expand its services to all age groups. WELS Lutherans for Life became Christian Life Resources in 1999, followed by the center changing its name to the Alpha Life Resource Center in 2001. The center opened its doors to not only pregnant women but also to single parents, families, the ill and handicapped, seniors, and others, providing material assistance, information resources, and referrals in addition to counseling and pregnancy testing. In 2019 the center underwent a logo change and is now known as the Alpha Resource Center, or ARC.

Though society and its needs may change, ARC’s mission to protect the God-given gift of life will always remain constant. Enriching clients’ lives with the love of God, the power of His holy Word, and the hope of a better tomorrow continues to be the goal that drives ARC volunteers in what they do.