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CHRISTIAN
NEWS |
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CHRISTIAN
NEWS |
IN A BOX ON MONDAY, ON SUNDAY IT'S A CHURCH !
An American company, Modular Building Systems, has shipped prefabricated building kits from Oklahoma to Port Elizabeth which are currently being assembled into a church to be ready for its first service on Sunday.
The assembling of the Church of Nazarene in Kroneberg Street, Chatty, started on Monday and will be completed on Saturday-ready for the Sunday congregation.
Steve Hazelton, a missionary with the church, said yesterday the kits were shipped in 12-metre-high cube containers in which there were two complete buildings. More pieces can be put together to extend the original 'building' if the need arises. "It's unique and the first in South Africa. Now we are building the first phase which will have a capacity of 150. If our congregation increases, we will add more kits to the original one to expand it. The final building will carry 600 people." said Mr Hazelton.
He said all these additions are done without 'tearing down' the original building. The company had to bring its engineers and volunteer workers to Port Elizabeth to assemble the church. The Church of Nazarene has fellowships in more than 135 countries world wide. In the Eastern Cape it has 15 churches, seven of them in Port Elizabeth alone.
The church has a programme called Work and Witness which allows its volunteers to go anywhere in the world identifying needs and then assist.
Mr Hazelton said another similar church would be built in Cape Town.
The church is built with largely insulated stressed skin panels as structural members for both walls and roof. The roofing is cathedral-like.
Pastor Gesan Naidoo said yesterday: "It's almost complete. In fact we are now doing the roof and it will be ready by Saturday afternoon".
(Eastern Province Herald)
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