Normally, the collapse of a church structure is, at the least, a headache for church administrators, but for Seventh-day Adventists in the northern Egyptian town of Dahasa, a building collapse may speed a new church's opening.
Normally, the collapse of a church structure is, at the least, a headache for church administrators, but for Seventh-day Adventists in the northern Egyptian town of Dahasa, a building collapse may speed a new church’s opening.
“God knows everything ahead of time—and He arranges our affairs so that we may continue our work and life without too many difficulties,” reports Peter Zarka, leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Egypt.
At the end of 2002 Zarka and Peter Roennfeldt, ministerial leader for the Trans-European region of the church, worked on a plan to replant the Dahasa church in upper Egypt and to transfer from a mud-brick building to a new, more permanent structure in a Coptic community. The transfer has not yet been completed.
“Last week the local pastor called to report that the community was starting to build a new mosque next to our old church building,” Zarka says. “The builders dug a three metre (10 foot) deep hole for the foundation of the new mosque and minaret. They told our members to take care of their building. Of course the members were unable to protect the wall of the church—nor stop them from digging the foundations of the new minaret so close to the church.”
The Adventist church building collapsed. “No one was injured and we saved some of our furniture—but the 44 members and their visitors were unable to use it for worship,” says Zarka.
While church leaders and the members in Dahasa do not actually rejoice in the collapse of their building, they believe God prepared the way before this happened.
“We started to ask for permission for the new church project more than six months ago, and made the plan for the new church building,” says Zarka. “God supported our request in the sight of the local and regional authorities—and so far they have supported our request to replant and rebuild. Both requests are extremely difficult. Following the collapse of our church building, the local pastor immediately went to the officials to report the case and to gain permission to gather the members together in their homes.”
Members in Dahasa expect that local officials will grant the necessary permission for in-home worship and the transfer to the new building.
