Covenant News

Manistee (MI) Church to Dedicate New Facility

MANISTEE, MI (October 19, 2001) - Faith Covenant Church will formally dedicate its new 16,000-square-foot building on October 28. Great Lakes Supt. David S. Dahlberg will participate in the 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship service and the luncheon to follow.

The church will commemorate the dedication with a weekend of activities, beginning October 26. Robert Hoey, pastor of Messiah Church in Detroit, Michigan, will speak on "Fishing Stories from Peter as He Learned at the Feet of Jesus." Faith Covenant Church will have a 6:30 p.m. dinner before its evening service October 26. On October 27, Hoey will speak at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Faith Covenant Church was founded in 1882 and had used its previous building for 83 years in a town with a population of 7,000. The previous church site (5,400 square feet) is one block off a main highway and the church had considered expanding there, according to pastor Reynold Samundsen. They attempted to buy a property that housed a local restaurant, but couldn't afford it. Over the years, the building became less practical for the congregation's needs. City codes requiring other changes make the need for a new building more urgent.

The 90-member congregation used its previous building until September 2000. The building was sold during an effort to raise more than $550,000 for phase one of its current building project. Another $376,000 has been loaned by National Covenant Properties. The new building is located on a nine-acre patch of land on the south side of Manistee, one quarter of a mile from the former site.

Samundsen said that the multi-purpose room, two offices, seven classrooms, a nursery, a choir room and a large narthex and reception room are finished. Phase two of the estimated $1.5 million project includes construction of the new church sanctuary, according to Mert Youngberg, building committee co-chair. It is hoped that the sanctuary can be completed by the end of next year, Samundsen said.

The new facility has helped draw newcomers to the church - more than 100 have regularly been attending worship services this fall, said Samundsen. The fact that the church is handicapped accessible also should aid ministries, he noted.

"There has been a slow but gradual growth, and with the building going up we're at a high point," Samundsen said. "The church has worked through this (project) really well and we've gotten over a lot of hurdles."

"God has worked in miraculous ways and it's overwhelming to think about it sometimes," said Youngberg, who has been at the church for 35 years. "We have a field for growth (in Manistee) and now we have a facility to help us reach these goals we have for the unchurched in the community."

For more information on the church and its dedication weekend events, call George Yaworski at 231-723-4987 or Samundsen at 231-723-7173. Emails can be sent to Youngberg at mjyberg@manistee-net.com.

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