August 2007

Build Here, Build There: Expand Facilities At Home And On the Mission Field

Hayden Lake Friends Church (ID), represented here by Maurice Roberts (right) and D.K. Sarkar, EFM worker in India, have parnered together in ministry for several years.

Hayden Lake Friends Church (ID) tithed on their new sanctuary

building project. They formed a partnership with D. K. Sarkar and his evangelical Friends ministry in Kolkata, India, by purchasing a vehicle, supporting orphans, and making personal visits. Theirs is a win-win involvement.

Canyon Hills Friends Church (CA) tithed on their new sanctuary construction. They formed a loan fund for Friends churches in the Philippines and have become deeply invested in the ministry of Jaime and Lydia Tabingo.

This simple idea, called Build Here, Build There, was adopted by the Evangelical Friends Mission Board (Missions Commission)

Canyon Hills Friends Church, located in Southern California, sent a tithe from funds raised for the construction of a new sanctuary to their adopted Friends mission field in the Phillipines.

during its May meetings. Build Here, Build There is a way for churches who expand facilities at home to also build facilities or take on major projects abroad. Build Here, Build There churches give a tithe of their building project funds to a sister project on a Friends mission field.

Below are samples of strategic opportunities for the use of capital funds available at the time of this writing.

Kathmandu, Nepal
A combination church and headquarters building is under construction. Nearly all the funds have come from the local people but they have borrowed to the limit. $20,000 would complete the initial building and another $10,000 would furnish the present two stories. $100,000 would complete the five-story building.

Mussoorie, India
This thriving Friends church was meeting in the local hospital. However, a major Hindu donor gave a huge grant to remodel the hospital. The new plans left no place for the church to meet. A $45,000 gift has been given toward a new location but prices have shot up and twice that amount or more may be needed. Currently, the church is crammed into a small room that seats sixty people. It is packed out.

Kigali, Rwanda
A Yearly Meeting-wide development plan is in the dreaming stage. This plan would train local church leaders and workers to launch transformational development projects in Rwandan communities. The goal is to help the people move out of dire poverty and into a sustainable lifestyle.

Khulna, Bangladesh
One of EFM’s newest mission fields in a Muslim country needs land for a future training center. In this poor country, $60,000 to $120,000, depending on size of parcel and location, would buy the acre of bare land.

Sisautiya, Nepal
Attenders of the local Friends church are jammed into the living room of a large house. Land and buildings are needed for an addition to the current building or for a separate large structure of a tabernacle type.

If your church is planning a building project or upgrade of any kind, consider raising enough money to send a tithe of your project to the Build Here, Build There program. Simply contact the Evangelical Friends Mission office in Arvada (CO), and the staff will notify you of unfulfilled projects and connect your group with the mission field you choose. Email vicki@friendsmission.com.

—Chuck Mylander
Executive Director, Evangelical Friends Mission

Chuck Mylander has served Friends in a variety of positions and ministries. Prior to his work as EFM Executive Director, Chuck was General Superintendent of Evangelical Friends Church Southwest. A recorded Friends minister, he is also a published author.