Прошло уже почти 11 лет как был построен офис вначале Конференции, а позднее Униона церкви ХАСД Беларуси в г. Минске по ул. Аннаева 28.
Время неумолимо идет вперед, ставя перед нами все новые и новые задачи. А ведь самая главная задача нашей церкви – это эффективное и постоянное служение Господу на той территории, где мы проживаем. За это время Белорусская конференция церквей стала называться Унионом, появился новый отдел – медиа центр, развиваются другие отделы, появилась нужда в большом зале для проведения богослужений и организации церковных мероприятий.
Двор офиса уже не вмещал всех автомобилей, на которых на совещания приезжали пасторы и члены церкви с разных областей нашей республики. Стало действительно тесно не только во дворе, но и в молитвенном зале. И Господь, видя эту нужду, позаботился о том, что близлежащий к нашему офису соседний участок в 8,5 соток продавался.
Лучшего варианта для нас и быть не могло. Администрация БУЦ в молитве просила у Господа мудрости и особого водительства и вопрос был решен положительно. 29 декабря участок был выкуплен и сразу на повестку дня был поставлен следующий важный вопрос – проект нового дома и дальнейшие мероприятия по строительству.
Братья предложили начать стройку с 1 апреля, но не дожидаясь этой даты, уже в середине марта они приступили к работе: был снесен старый дом, вырублены старые деревья, участок был приготовлен для фундамента, а во дворе были выгружены строительные блоки, плиты-перекрытия и газосиликатные блоки.
А как, вы думаете, отнеслись к нашей стройке соседи? По-разному. Одна соседка сначала была очень не благосклонно настроена, но затем, видя доброту, проявленную к ней, расположилась. Наши братья предложили ей помощь: спилили старую грушу, отремонтировали ворота – и ее сердце было покорено.
Сосед с другой стороны тоже был благословлен тем, что ему из оставшихся стройматериалов был починен старый сарай и укреплена крыша. А сосед, что напротив, узнав, что церковь расширяется, попросил дрова и ему был выгружен самосвал дров. Все соседи остались рады и довольны, поэтому даже строительство может быть хорошей проповедью.
Если бы вы пришли на стройку 3 апреля, то вы увидели бы залитый бетонный фундамент, но уже к 12 апреля объединенными усилиями братьев из разных областей был выложено подвальное помещение со стенами и перекрытием.
Братья начинают рабочий день с 7.30 и работают до 20.00. Вдохновленные желанием построить дом для Господа, братья-служители вместе с руководством БУЦ, не замечая усталости, ветра, холода энергично трудятся на стройке, зная, что труд их не тщетен пред Господом.
Особая благодарность нашим рядовым сестрам и братьям, которые жертвуют временем, деньгами, готовят по очереди вкусные и питательные блюда. Каждая община в Минске договорилась о том, чтобы по очереди обеспечивать обедами и ужинами братьев-строителей.
Впереди еще много работы, но мы верим, что Господь благословит нас и исполнятся слова Священного Писания: «И стали строить, и имели успех» (2 Пар.14:8).
11 years has passed since the office of Belarus Conference was built on 28 Annayeva Street, in Minsk. This building would later become the headquarters of the Union of Seventh-day Adventist churches in Belarus Republic.
The second church in Minsk was organized together with the office and later the 3rd, 4th and the 5th churches have been built. During this time the church was growing and developing in many cities of the country and churches were built or reconstructed. And then the time came for the Belarus Union office to expand and to be reconstructed.
One of the reasons to construct a new chapel in Annayeva Street was God’s providence. If we turn to a general reconstruction plan of Minsk city, we can see that the district of this street will be turned into a high-rise building area. Out of all the existing buildings there are only two that will not be destroyed and these are our church building and a building of another protestant church. Thus if the property located next to our building would have been purchased by a developer, our chapel would have been jammed between high-rise buildings and under no conditions would we have been able to expand its territory. But the Lord persuaded leadership of the union to purchase the neighboring property of 0.21 acres (850 square meters).
It’s known that the previous property was small and did not meet the requirements of a church, also there was a great demand for bigger rooms not only for the union office, but also for the local congregation too. For instance during some advisories our guests had to huddle together not only in the small rooms, but also in the hallways of the church to hear the information. And there were no other place for the congregation to gather except the worship hall.
We can consider the beginning of construction to be April 2, 2012, because on that day they began to dig the foundation pit and just 45 working days later, on June 28, the four-story chapel, 46 by 52 feet (14 by 16 meters), was almost ready.
A big number of people worked on a construction of this building. Every pastor used his abilities and skills work at least 30 days. We would like to mention that the majority of our pastors are not only good ministers, but good builders too. All of them worked without compensation, they worked very hard and their efforts helped the church to save a big amount of money, about 150,000.00 USD. It was nice to see that lay church members of different ages from different cities like Kobrin, Bobruisk, Polotsk, Pinsk and Minsk came to help during the construction process. A special attention has to be given to the union workers, leadership of BUC and pastors of Minsk churches, as the majority of these people worked hard at the construction site over the whole period of construction. ESD vice-president pastor Michael Kaminsky worked at the construction site for a week and his wife Zhanna helped in the kitchen. All workers did this job besides their direct responsibilities and we do not even mentioned their families. The working day lasted for 12-13 hours.
As any other construction, the elevation of this building has taken a lot of financial expenses for materials, technical equipment, food, etc. We thank the Lord that this project was financed from the 13th Sabbath offerings project of 2014. Also the Euro-Asia Division and Belarus Union of Churches have covered a part of these expenses, besides there was a special offering in Belarus churches on May 5th. As a result we collected quite big amount of money. We would like to thank brothers and sisters and all those who took part in this project and demonstrated a spirit of sincere sacrifice.
When this project was planned in November, it seemed to us that it would be impossible to fulfill it. But today we can see that the Lord provided everything and we almost do not have any debt. Praise the Lord for His provision.
God has helped us to purchase all the materials for construction before the prices significantly increased. After we bought the materials in just a few days the prices for all building materials grew by 20%. Thankfully we had already bought ceiling panels, flights of stairs, foundation, gas-silicate blocks and even the paving tiles. Later we had a special blessing – access to construction equipment right when necessary materials were delivered and so the workers did not have to spend time waiting.
We could see God’s hand even in weather conditions. There was clear skies and bright sunshine almost the whole time and for only a couple days was there heavy raining.
When we talk about a construction process we cannot miss one of the main “motivational forces:” the kitchen. As they say “he who does not work, neither shall he eat,” and he who works as hard as our brothers worked, has to eat very well. Our kitchen workers managed to do their work very well. Elena Gunko was our head chef. Our sisters from all SDA congregations in Minsk were invited to join the group of cooks, and so church members from the congregation located on Ananyeva Street and from other Minsk churches helped her. They were organized into groups of 7-8 and they cooked at home using their own products and brought the food for construction workers. The food was very tasty and nourishing. Every Minsk congregation was in charge of cooking a certain week. Church members from nearby smaller churches took part as well. Because of this construction workers had a chance to eat tasty, nourishing and a variety of food. The cooks had to cook for 40-70 men every day. This was quite a challenging task since they were responsible for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We would like to mention that church members from other Belarus cities made their own input when they sent different canned food, vegetables and other products, as these items helped us to reduce the cost of meals.
The building is beautiful and spacious. There is a big dining hall in the basement of the new chapel; it can place more than 100 people. Besides, big dining halls are excellent for having wedding receptions and other celebrations. We also hope that the new chapel will provide good conditions for the development of interesting missionary projects – youth cafes, meetings for a cup of tea and many more.
On the first floor there is a big and cozy worship hall. The Annayeva Street congregation has felt a need to expand its worship hall for a long time. Also, this room will be in demand as the Union office has many guests who are invited not only for Sabbath worship, but also for weeklong events, seminars, and working meetings.
The completion of this building project also brought good news for our smallest brothers and sisters. There are now good and comfortable rooms assigned for them. Until now children from the church on Annayeva Street did not have their own room and they had their meetings in a hallway of the office or in a storage room of an Adventist Book Centre. Now they have a room with special children’s furniture.
On the same floor we have two guest-rooms and two rooms for the long-anticipated media center studio. Our union has had media ministries since the fall of 2008 and at that time we purchased video cameras, lighting and other equipment. In the summer of 2009 we began broadcasting programs on Hope Channel. For quite a long time shooting took place in different chapels in Minsk that these chapels were not adapted for this kind of work. In February 2011 we started shooting the “Music kaleidoscope” program. A special feature of this program is the singing of old Adventist songs that are well remembered by those who lived during the 1950-1980s.
On the third floor there are two apartments. Many people know how difficult and expensive it is to rent apartments in Minsk that is why these apartments will be a real help for employees without their own place to live, pastors and guests can also have good living conditions in those apartments.
Undoubtedly construction of this building is an active and perspective forward step in developing Adventist church in Belarus. Since growth means expansion of an occupied territory, and in accordance our parking lot has increased two times.
We want to note that our union is one of the few in Euro-Asia Division that does not have difficulty providing chapels for local congregations. Almost every congregation in our republic has its own house of prayer.
Today the months of hard work, energy and time spent on construction site have become history and we have pleasant memories about this time. This large chapel is worthy to be dedicated to the Lord to fulfill its mission. Turning to the words of the Holy Scriptures we would like to say: “So they built and prospered” (2 Chronicles 14:8), because the Lord was with them.
