Martins Creek Mennonite Church begins rubble cleanup, looking ahead into future

  • By Tricia Flickinger
  • August 12, 2010
  • 495
                        
After the devastating blaze that burned down the older, historical portion of Martins Creek Mennonite Church (MCMC) on July 13, things are finally starting to look up for the church community. Cleanup of the scattered rubble has started, where workers are putting the rubble in dumpsters and rotating them out until the tedious job is complete. The rubble should be cleared out by the start of this week. What will replace the empty space is still in the planning stages. “Well, we’re going to build something,” said Carl Wiebe, pastor of MCMC. “We’re planning to build a classroom and fellowship hall. We’re in the discernment stage of the shape it’s going to take.” Wiebe hopes that the rubble can be cleared out and building can begin as soon as possible. “Our hope is to begin building soon so that we have a shell up before the winter,” Wiebe said. “Then we can work inside during the winter months.” At this point, there really isn’t a deadline for the new building to be completed. Wiebe said he hopes to get the new portion built as soon as they can. “Ideally we’d like to have it done by May or June, but everything needs to move along fairly smoothly,” he said. Martins Creek Mennonite Church was founded in 1869 and the older portion of the church, which burned, was built in 1905 and added onto in 1955. For many members of the church, the historical part of the church was very symbolic and people were devastated after the blaze. Having the mindset that something will be built in the empty space is helping to turn things in the right direction and it’s helping the church community to move forward and look to a bright future. “We all grieve that it’s gone, but we also know, under the circumstances, that it happened and we need to make the best of it and move ahead,” Wiebe said. “We’re happy to take the structure away. It was sort of an eye sore and cleaning it up will help us all realize we’re moving forward. We’re moving forward and looking into the future. We’re excited about that.”


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