Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church presently bending with the wind
The nursery, damaged by a previous fire, had just been wallpapered and carpeted. Brand new baby beds and toys occupied the room. Flames of another fire turned the whole church into a blackened brick shell containing little more than smoldering ashes.
"The hardest thing is dealing with the grief and displacement," said Pastor Bruce Porter. "It is difficult to keep people's optimism up."
Jan Terman, director of Christian Education, said, "You don't fully appreciate what you have until it's gone." Just prior to the fire, she had stocked up on all the necessary materials that teachers need.
Everything burned: the closet full of costumes, a jeep for VBS, audio-visual equipment, a TV that hadn't even been unpacked from its box, office supplies and all lesson materials. Terman explained how difficult it is to think you have an item for Sunday School, then you stop and remember
Experts told church leaders it would be approximately three years until they would be in a church building of their own again. At first Pastor Porter didn't believe them. He thought they could get the job done sooner. But now he says the experts are pretty close to being right.
So what does a body of believers with an average attendance of 414 people do when they no longer have a church building?
"We keep bending with the wind," relates Bruce Porter. It takes a lot of commitment, patience, communication and juggling of schedules, because for special events and activities, "we meet anywhere we can find space."
Funerals and weddings have been held at almost every church in town. They've used the Scout House, the 4-H building (for a dinner/theater), and the Olde Town Underground until that space was outgrown.
Pastor Porter acknowledges, "Everyone has been so gracious. We are grateful that the community, churches, and public officials have been so kind."
Tabor College offered rooms in their science building for the church to use as offices.
Wednesday night activities and choir practice currently are being held at First Mennonite Church. The youth in Mennonite Brethren Youth group fill up the chairs at Little Pleasures Coffee Shop for their mid-week meetings.
As for Sunday services, the congregation gathers at Hillsboro High School Auditorium. Volunteers arrive at 6:30 a.m. to begin setting up for church and Sunday School. Then more volunteers work after church to take everything down.
The whole process relies on a firm faith in God, committed individuals, and a caring community.
Terman spoke of how the church needed 22 classrooms for Sunday school. She said, "It was amazing. We had just enough. God has been good to us. God is teaching us that the building isn't the most important thing; it is the fellowship we have together. We rely on each other and God for what we have."
"This has stretched us
Emily Ratzlaff, member of MBY, vividly recalls the day her church burned. She had been in Newton, watching, "The Passion of the Christ" with other youth group members.
When someone phoned the group to tell them the church was on fire, she wasn't alarmed. But as their vehicle turned onto Indigo Road, she said, "It looked like the whole town of Hillsboro was on fire."
"I miss having a secure location. After a while, you get tired of new places and want a place to call your own," said Ratzlaff as she talked about the youth group meeting in different places. But she also noted, "We've grown as a youth group."
And she is excited about what the future holds — in a new church building.
