Celebrating God's Generosity Fellowship Highlights


Over 500 people gathered March 6 at Salem Church in Waldheim, Sask., for a Milestone Celebration with the theme of “Praising God for the Past — Praying for the Future.” We celebrated the faithfulness of God, as well as our rich history. We watched a PowerPoint® presentation of church activities over the years, en- joyed wonderful music, bid farewell to the old building built in 1934, dedicated the new building and enjoyed


a lovely meal together. Momentum for our building addition accelerated in 2014


when a new set of plans were presented and overwhelmingly approved by the membership. Tis was a significant step of faith and was taken aſter years of work by past Property & Finance and Building Committees. God had been blessing us with steady growth through these years with worship service attendance growing from an average of 170 to a regular attendance of around 300. New families joining our congregation doubled our Sunday School attendance, stretching our Christian Education space beyond capacity. Tis, together with the realization that our old building was in need of costly repairs, brought about a new urgen- cy to move forward with construction. Much prayer, planning and giving went into plans for the new addition to our church. A sod-turning ceremony took place on April 12, 2015. Te


now-finished building is a 20,350 sq. ſt. addition which houses 13 classrooms, four offices, a state-of-the-art kitchen, nursery,


We readily recognize that this achievement is not our doing. It is not due to our wonderful programs or super people who make up our congregation. It is God’s doing.


16 FellowshipForward.org


and a fellowship hall/gym large enough to seat over 400 guests for a meal. Te estimated price tag was $2.75M. Giving to this project has far surpassed all targets and pledges. Cash donations to date exceed $1.3M. In addition, members purchased $625,000 worth of debentures. In a wonderful demonstration of Christian solidarity, the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Stewardship Ministries granted us a loan of $850,000. Eleven months later, the building was finished, ahead of schedule and below budget. We are humbled and excited to realize that God has provided for this in many unique ways. It was a clear goal of our church not to allow the building pro-


gram to curtail, stall or cutback on ministry, including missions. Giving to the building project should not be done at the expense of our general operating budget or missions. We praise God that during this time period regular ministries have grown along with our annual budget. A significant portion of this growth has been in the area of global missions. Since the building project began in 2009 we have been privileged to send out two new missionary families and by July of this year four single missionaries, more than in the previous decade. We readily recognize that this achievement is not our doing. It


is not due to our wonderful programs or super people who make up our congregation. It is God’s doing. To Him belongs all the praise. He truly is a generous, gracious God!! As the building neared completion plans were made for the


ministry teams to move into their new spaces. On Sunday, March 6, all Christian Education ministries took place in the new building. Te very next week building materials and items from the old building were salvaged. On March 14 demolition of the 1934 building and the 1977 addition took place. On March 15 the debris from the old building was burned. God provided perfect weather for that burn to take place; a heavy snowfall overnight, snow falling throughout the day, and a breeze from the north taking the flames away from our existing buildings. We look forward using the new facility to the glory of God, as we seek to be a proclaiming people.


Leſt column, top to bottom 1. Representatives from several age groups led in prayers of dedication 2. Rubble of old building burning 3. New building Right column, top to bottom 4. New dining area seats 400 5. Modern kitchen facilitates meal preparation


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24