Town Building
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Visit the "Building Blog", a regularly updated "photo-journal" of the construction process. View the architectural plans for the building. The “Mission to the Ankole,” which began in 1997, has grown to 21 churches and approximately 1,000 members. This includes 20 village churches and one church in Mbarara town, with about 70 members. We are also working with five new village “preaching points” which we hope will become churches over the next year or so. We praise God for the great progress he has made, and view the challenges that have come with the growing work as exciting indicators that all is moving in a positive direction. Perhaps the most significant of these challenges is the issue of a long-term solution for three major aspects of the ministry here: 1) A permanent home for the town church (Mbarara Church of Christ, or MCC) in a favorable location 2) A facility to house numerous movement-wide events (such as Ankole Bible School, leadership meetings, women's meetings, "Ankole-wide" church meetings, national meetings, etc...) 3) Sustainable, on-going funding for the above facilities and ministries (more info. on this aspect can be found below...) Knowing the importance of finding a suitable solution to each of these, the team made a plan in 2004 that we believe is an ideal solution that meets all three of the above needs: buying a plot in town and build a permanent facility on it. In November 2004, we were able to buy an excellent plot of land due to the generosity of the many friends and supporters of this mission! The plot is on the main street of town, and is centrally located -- we could not have dreamed of a better spot. Land is not generally available in Mbarara town, and the process of securing our plot was truly an amazing story of the Lord's providence. The first half of 2005 was spent drawing up building plans, processing legal paperwork and preparing the site for construction. Team member Danny Naramore was tasked with the oversight of the building project on behalf of the team. After the plans were approved in June, Danny and his crew began making bricks for use in construction and removing excess soil from the land. Construction is to begin in November 2005; Lord willing, the first phase should be complete sometime in early 2007! (It is also quite possible that we will be able to move in and begin using the ground floor of the building a few month's prior to the completion of all three stories.) HOW YOU CAN HELP... First, we ask for your prayers. Pray for a smooth and safe construction process, and for all the remaining legal steps to be met, hassle-free, along the way. Pray that the Lord will provide the remaining funds as needed. Ask the Lord to make this facility an effective "Kingdom tool" and a blessing to all the Ankole churches. Second, consider becoming a financial partner in this project. If you feel led to do so, your contribution would be very much appriciated! To date, more than $250,000 has been donated towards this project, but we still need an additional $175,000 to complete the building. Donations can be sent to: We are very excited about this project for many reasons... This building is going to be a huge blessing for the town church. We are the only church in Mbarara town that posseses its own land in the main part of the city. All others are renting, and most have therefore had to relocate out of the city center due to rising rental costs. With our new building, MCC will never have to face that problem... The Mbarara Church of Christ will always be the "downtown" church in Mbarara! Another thing about this building that excites us is the multi-purpose aspect that will make it a blessing to ALL of the Ankole churches. By providing a place for leadership training events, the Ankole Bible School, and other such ministries, we are relieved to know that this part of the mission's future can continue unhindered. (In the past, rental prices that are too high for the Ugandan churches have been paid by the missionaries to provide places for big events and leadership training.) Developing godly, effective servant-leaders is now more important than ever, and we are pleased that a large portion of the upper levels of this new building will be dedicated to this purpose! Finally, we are excited about the "self-sustaining" nature of this building project. Our desire is that this multi-purpose building will be a blessing to the Ankole churches, and not a burden. From the beginning, we have been working with some of the Ankole church leaders to make sure that the the building would be financially sustainable. From the first discussion, their answer was immediate and clear: the building can be sustained if the plans could include rooms on the street-front which could be rented out in order to generate income (a very common thing for property-owners in town). Therefore, the front section of the ground floor will be reserved as rental space for shops. This “rental space” plan is by far the simplest and most indigenous approach to financial sustainability, and it will be able to provide enough revenue to sustain the facility and to help fund the other “movement ministries.” In addition to the practical ministry values listed above, it has become evident that possessing a permanent facility will lend a great amount of legitimacy and stability to the Ankole churches of Christ. Ugandans are well aware of the many transient, “come and go” church missions and even cult groups that are here today but gone tomorrow. A permanent facility will indicate validity and permanence to both the community and the government here in Uganda. To conclude, we want to again ask for your prayers on behalf of this project. As we are now beginning construction, we ask the Lord to guide the whole process along in HIS wisdom and timing -- as he has done all along! There is much to do, and we are depending on the Lord to continue to provide everything necessary to complete this multi-purpose building in Mbarara town. The blessings to the town church and to the mission as a whole will be immeasurable! If you would like to know more about this project, feel free to contact us at: team @ ankolemission.com
Above: Looking down "High Street" (the main street in Mbarara town) from the front of our new property. |
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