A Church Building

  When you need to build a bigger building, it is a good problem.  Around here we have 2 seasons – rainy season (mid November through mid May) and dry season (mid May through mid November).  In the rainy season everyone is busy farming. In the dry season, they harvest their main crops and have a bit more money. That is why there are more weddings in the dry season.  They also spend time making bricks and building homes or additions to their homes. 
    Churches have to use this time well so that they can build new buildings or classrooms.  It takes a group effort to build a new building.  They gather stones or bricks for the foundation.  They spend time making mud bricks and then leaving them to dry in the sun. Later they move them to the location and build a kiln to burn them. Someone has to fetch water for the brick making and the mud which is used in the kiln.  Someone has to fetch the logs which are used to burn the bricks for several days to make them hard.

   When it finally comes time to build, there are costs for the mason and his crew, cement for the foundation and support, frames for the window and doors, boards for the roof structure, nails, rebar, metal roofing material, etc… Before they know it, they have thousands of dollars.  Granted the cost is nothing compared to a building in the States, but it is a lot for them.
   It is something that takes years. Often they lay the foundation first and then let is sit a couple years while they make bricks. They build the walls up so high and run a ring of cement are rebar around  it to hold it together even if it rains. Then they wait another year or two to gather funds for the roof.  In all this they still haven’t done anything more than a dirt floor for now.  It takes time and planning.  Some church boards are great at motivating and counting the costs, others are weak at doing the math and they get halfway and fail to finish. This causes the structure to be weak.  A new method is to send letters around to other churches and individuals to raise funds to help.  It is a tough game to play because if you don’t start, people aren’t motivated to give, but if you don’t have the funds it can all crumble down.
They love to celebrate in their newly finished buildings. Often they haven’t even filled in the gables with bricks but they are excited to begin using their hard-earned church. Praise the Lord for the growth in our churches!