City Serve project helps Southside Nazarene with building addition | News, Sports, Jobs
Jill Schramm / MDN City Serve volunteers are installing a siding for a new section of the Nazarene’s Southside Church in Minot on Saturday.
A small church could have big dreams with the help of two Minot congregations who wanted to serve their community.
The Pursuit and First Assembly of God teamed up for The Pursuit’s annual City Serve event this year to install siding to help advance construction of an annex to the Southside Church of the Nazarene.
The annex will not only give the Nazarene Church more space for its activities, it will also house an immigration center that will provide assistance to individuals with processing citizenship papers, work visas and other immigration documents.
Rev Scott Mehlhoff, pastor of the Southside Church of the Nazarene, said the City Serve project had been a blessing.
“It’s just amazing to see the progress that is being made” he said on Saturday. “You basically work for weeks.”
Jill Schramm / MDN Wade Nelson with The Pursuit is sawing boards for a City Serve siding project at the Southside Church of the Nazarene in Minot on Saturday.
Since the City Serve project was also buying materials, the project was much more advanced than the Nazarene community thought at the time, he said.
Wade Nelson, youth leader at The Pursuit, said City Serve’s focus has shifted to less, more impactful projects this year. Building the Nazarene Church is a big project, but it shows the spirit of Christian unity, said Nelson, who suggested it for City Serve.
“The Christian community in the city always speaks of unity. I said why don’t we just do it. One of the things that keeps non-Christians from coming to us and checking us out is that so often Christians do not work well together. “ he said. “So I said, I think that could be very effective. We could bless another church. We could work together as a universal church, and we could show other churches that it works and that we can show non-Christians that we should work that way if we work together. “
City Serve volunteers wanted to finish most of the siding and decorative bricks on the building on Saturday. They also did basic electrical work in preparation for the electrician.
Mehlhoff said the church needed more space. Upon hearing that the former Remax building on Fourth Avenue and Broadway would be demolished for the construction of a new building, he reached out to property developer Chad Thompson to buy it and move it. Without thinking that it could be affordable, Mehlhoff was amazed when Thompson offered to turn the building over to the church.
Mehlhoff said the previously flooded Remax building had been cleaned well and had the correct dimensions. The church took possession in January 2020 but did not have the money to make the necessary improvements.
“I kept praying” said Mehlhoff, who heard God tell him that help would come from outside. The community raised enough money in 2020 to pour a foundation, move the building, and finish the floor and roof. With a half-finished project in the hands of the church, Mehlhoff decided to actively pursue God’s promise of outside help and asked Nelson, who had some experience with fundraising, for ideas.
The persecution and the First Congregation responded with City Serve volunteers.
The expansion will accommodate the Nazarene Church’s desire to have a parish hall separate from its sanctuary area. The annex will also house a kitchen, toilets, storage rooms, a children’s area, a meditation niche and church offices. There will be space for the immigration service.
The Nazarene Church hosts a Spanish service and it was through this connection with the Spanish-speaking community that the community became aware of the need for an immigration center.
As part of a Justice Department program, the Church is preparing to set up a center staffed by a trained and certified volunteer to assist immigrants with paperwork. Mehlhoff explained that immigrants, including those from Canada, have to travel long distances to complete the necessary paperwork to work in that country. You may need to travel to New York, Minneapolis, or Omaha, Neb.
“They are all far away and it costs thousands and thousands of dollars and they have to get lawyers in these cities.” said Mehlhoff. “By having this immigration center here, it’s local. People can come to Minot. “
Since most of the work is done by volunteers, the costs should be significantly lower, says Mehlhoff. With certified personnel processing, there is no need for a lawyer.
The Nazarene Church has one person who will begin training for certification in July. Should the demand for services increase, the center would try to certify additional volunteers.
Depending on how fast the government’s approval process progresses, the immigration service could open in late autumn or early winter, Mehlhoff said. He said the church hopes to complete the interior of the building by then through the efforts of church volunteers and contractors.
Jill Schramm / MDN City Serve volunteers are installing a siding for a new section of the Nazarene’s Southside Church in Minot on Saturday. Jill Schramm / MDN Wade Nelson with The Pursuit is sawing boards for a City Serve siding project at the Southside Church of the Nazarene in Minot on Saturday.
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