Covenant News

Three Years After Fire, New Biwabik Church Taking Shape

BIWABIK, MN (July 30, 2001) - The Evangelical Covenant Church of Biwabik recently broke ground for a new church, nearly three years after an arson fire destroyed the former building. Volunteer help from other Covenant churches is helping speed the construction process.

The congregation has collected more than $60,000 of the project's estimated cost of $400,000, according to a recent article by the Duluth News Tribune. The new 10,000-square-foot church will be situated on more than seven acres and will require nearly three years to complete. Pastor Jeffrey Jones hopes an insulated shell can be completed by December so the congregation can worship inside the structure during the winter months.

A special block construction process is being used for improved insulation and soundproofing. Wall construction, roofing and floor work are well under way.

Tom Pappenfus, a builder from Little Falls, Minnesota, heard the Biwabik church needed someone to work on the special block construction and offered his services. Pappenfus knew the pastor when Jones interned at Grace Covenant Church in Little Falls.

Pappenfus (see accompanying photos) and three of his own crew worked with four volunteers constructing the walls over a four-day period. "It's one way that I can give back to God the bounty He's given to me,'' Pappenfus was quoted as saying in the News Tribune article.

The 60-member congregation had to decide whether to repair the old building or relocate and build a new one, following the fire Aug. 23, 1998. The congregation decided to sell the damaged building, located in a residential area of Biwabik, and build a new facility.

The congregation has been meeting in St. John's Catholic Church, Bray Elementary School and the Biwabik Senior Center. Constantly moving from building to building has changed the congregation's definition of church, according to Jones.

"We have learned that church is not about meeting between four walls,'' Jones said, adding that people are touched with the gospel more by what Christians do than where they meet or what they say.

For more information about the Evangelical Covenant Church of Biwabik and its rebuilding efforts, call Jones at 218-865-6216.

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