It started with loss, but will end with growth
On the night of the 13th of February 2023, Hawkes Bay was severely affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Our region saw extensive flooding that resulted in lost lives and livelihoods. Village Baptist was also affected, losing the church offices, four kids’ ministry rooms, and a kitchen. Parts of our system providing drinking water were also contaminated, while extensive silt deposits were left across the church site.
With a desire to rebuild in such a way that Village Baptist didn’t just get what it had but would be ‘set up’ for the next 20 years of ministry growth, the Building Back Better plan emerged. To discover more about that plan, and how things are progressing, please check out the posts below.
The latest Updates
Yesterday (29th August) the church cottage was finally lifted onto two trucks, cut down the middle, and relocated to its…
While stage one of our Building Back Better project is largely complete, things are still moving forward. Recently we’ve seen…
Last week we had the final run to the finish line. During that week, we saw (just about) everything completed…
With one week left from today, we’re officially on the downhill slope for stage one of our Building Back Better…
The painters have been hard at work across the last week, and have (just about) finished all the painting that…
The biggest visible change this week has been the preparation of the Church Cottage for removal. As the ‘modern’ additions…
Between the pink wood of the new partitions and the pink bats installed between, our ministry center has begun to…
The builders officially began work on Monday this week! In the photo above, you can see the ministry center classrooms…
All go from Monday! Today, we had a site meeting with our builder and architects to plan the construction to…
While it’s been a few weeks since the last update, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes….
It would be fair to say that the journey to obtaining a signed agreement for the relocation of the church…
It would seem that planning to move a cottage is quite an involved process! Today, the couple who have agreed…
Today the tendering process closed and we have received confirmation from our architect that four construction companies have issued tendering…
Last year we managed to relocate the power and internet connections that previously terminated at the cottage. Today we completed…
For a long time, we’ve had an issue with the present septic drains that run the length of the ministry…
After an extensive process of ‘back-and-forward’ discussing details such as light and light switch locations, alarm sensors and security camera…
Village Baptist has an arrangement with a local grazer in which they graze their sheep and cattle on our property….
As the council will not allow us to site the classroom at right angles to the ministry center, we will…
That new white box mightn’t look like much, but it’s progress! Because, regardless of whether the cottage is demolished or…
With three weeks’ notice, the church held its ‘For Them’ fundraiser on the 10th of December. The goal of this…
For as long as the church has been on the present site, the property hasn’t been fully fenced. This has…
Having communicated the preferred rebuild options with the church (here), we finally arrived at a point where we could present…
As our work shifted from the immediate cleanup to long-term planning, a ‘Property Development Committee’ was established. This committee was…
This week we were able to identify the source of the water contamination and develop a treatment plan. Unfortunately, we…
The following week saw the first visit from our insurance assessor and the completion of property assessments by electricians, plumbers,…
Two days after the cyclone had passed, the waters had receded enough that we could begin our clean-up. With more…
The morning after the Cyclone cleared, a handful of church members thought to check on the church and arrived at…