Global Projects
Mexico
Bakerview has been working over the past five years to help a local Mexican church, east of Tijuana, construct a building. With the work of Darrell and Ruth Rempel, we have poured four slabs for two, two-storey buildings. Eventually, these buildings will serve as the church compound. We have been working with NorthWest Outreaches, run by Jerry and Bobbe Patchen who provide direction to our skills and allow us to bless the Mexican church.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Campus restoration at UCKIN began as an anniversary project for Bakerview church in 2005. Money raised for the project was for repairs to the secondary school on the campus. The building received a new roof and was also raised in height a few feet. New electrical connections and a complete paint job also. Three teams of workers went over between October 2005 and July 2006 when it was completed. Each team was there working for between 2-3 weeks. When no teams were there, the Congolese worked on the project.
The Bon Berger clinic has also been a missions project. Though MBMSI has the lead in building the clinic Bakerview has contributed both financially and with people going over. A new bigger clinic was built in a very poor area of Kinshasa called camp Luka. This clinic serves the area and is lead by Dr. Delphin and Dr. Pierre. These knowledgeable doctors are continuing to expand their contribution to this neighborhood to make it better.
The Lubudi church building project also in camp Luka has lead to a new and bigger church for the Mennonite Brethern congregation that has been there for 25 years. The old small run down church was removed and a new church was built. This project began Nov 09 and was completed Apr. 10. Fund raising at Bakerview and other donations helped see this come about. The doctors at Bon Berger were the construction administrators of process and saw that the project was completed on time and on budget.
Berlin
In 1999 Bakerview missionaries Lawrence and Selma Warkentin planted a church in Berlin under the auspices of the German MB Conference and Mennonite Brethren Missions and Services International (MBMSI). In the summer of 2000 Andrew and Olga Pritzkau joined them and after mentoring them for a year the Warkentins handed the Pritzkaus the pastoral leadership of the church. By the middle of the decade it was very apparent that the church needed its own facility to enhance its ministry effectiveness. In cooperation with MBMSI Bakerview took up the challenge of raising funds for the purchase of a facility. Finding a facility proved challenging but God opened a door and in December of 2007 a defunct community centre was purchased in the Johannisthal district of Berlin. An architect redesigned the building for use as a church and the demolition and reconstruction began. A team from Bakerview went to Berlin in April of 2009 to help with the project. In June of 2009 Bakerview committed to raising an additional $500,000 to complete the renovations. The open house and dedication of the facility was held May 29 & 30, 2010. The district mayor cut the ribbon and many people from the community attended the open house and the sanctuary was full to over-flowing at the dedication service.
Overall Bakerview and friends raised $1,200,000 for the purchase and reconstruction. The German MB Conference, European churches and individuals also contributed to the project and 100’s of volunteer man hours helped the project succeed. The Berlin Church has an excellent 12,000 square foot facility for their ministry base. This includes a large sanctuary for worship services, a multipurpose room and many other rooms for various functions. The church has a very gifted core of workers. Besides the worship services they have already begun a computer course to teach basic computing skills, coffee for seniors, childrens clubs and numerous English classes to serve the community. By God’s grace many people will be transformed by the love of Christ demonstrated through the ministry programs and people of the Berlin Church.
