Szolnok Church - New building

Our Szolnok church has finally gotten their own building !!

This church started as a home fellowship of people who came to Jesus during the 90's. For over a decade we've been looking for a building in Szolnok and, amazingly, The Lord allowed Covid to help open a door for us!

Last summer we signed a deal and moved in the same week !! The large meeting hall upstairs, that we were able to crowd into, is complete with bathrooms, kitchen and a nice room for the small children. As you can see from the picture below it's about half the size of what we really need.

After the fall of Communism in 1989, there was widespread revival in Hungary. Like everywhere, Szolnok saw large meetings and lots of excitement. But after the first rush peoples initial curiosity tapered off, the work began. Church building, disciple making and soul winning are always the crucial issues.

In those early days we began to go to Szolnok to lead worship and do outreach with our friend Nagy Jeno and his wife Irenka. In addition to a regular weekly meeting there we did a lot of conferences and outreach. Eventually, together with Hamori Attila and Gabi and some others, we planted the church.

The Szolnok region has been a very fruitful place spiritually. Our church there has had home churches in multiple outlying communities, Tizsa Puspok, Torokszentmiklos, and as far away as Szalkszentmarton over by the Danube river. The church has ongoing women's meetings and men's meetings. The pastor and his wife, Pisti and Moni, were both saved and discipled in the church. Our Bonyhad church is pastored by a man and his wife, Tibi and Zita, who were also both saved and discipled in the Szolnok church. This is a church with a wide reach and solid fruit.

Below, is our first meeting in our new building, about a week after we bought the building.

For over fifteen years we have gone from one rented hall to another. Eventually we rented a hall in the "Green School", as everyone called it, and we met there for over a decade. After so many years of renting space in a school everybody was so ready to have our own building.

If you've ever had church in a rental hall, you know the problems and how it holds you back. So much effort just to be functional each week. So many decisions are based on the shear impact that the work of carrying it off will be on the church. But, for years buying a building seemed like an insurmountable task. We looked at building after building. Some were in desperate condition and still expensive. Some were in terrible locations. Others were built in such a way that it was structurally impossible to create a sanctuary. A couple had ownership struggles that were impossible to resolve. Everywhere we looked, prices continued to soar year by year, even for buildings that could never be enough to meet our needs.

The new sanctuary project in Szolnok meant "All Hands on Deck". Men came from all the churches for the demolition work. Demolition of the warehouse and other ground level buildings began with taking off the lower level roof. The guys filled container after container with rubbish from the demolition. Upstairs the ladies had been cooking and the group photo above was taken as the crew gathered because the call for "Spagetti" was sounded !

Szolnok is the County Seat and a regional hub that serves about 50 smaller outlying towns and the region. All the trains and buses run in and out from there. The Soviets built a lot of industry in Szolnok, it's the regional supply and distribution center for all business and industry and it's an international rail hub with huge rail yards. People are coming and going at all hours of the day and night. Everything in the region revolves around the city. It has a large hospital complex, the upper levels of the regional government and education are there. At night there is a thriving street scene driven by the student population.

We had to have a central location in order to be a part everything. It made no sense to go to the expense and effort of buying a building in a location that sidelines the church. To work so hard and still not be where everybody can find us, a location which people can effectively get to from anywhere in the region.

When the Covid Pandemic came, the real estate market in Hungary became disorganized. Values didn't fall uniformly across the market, but as buyers and sellers were impacted by the pandemic, there were some winners and there were some losers. Some businesses thrived and others collapsed. In this 'fruit-basket-upset' market, motivated sellers appeared. Before Covid, sellers would set their price and then just sit on it. If you made an offer a typical response would be, "Well we've decided to raise our price" or "we have decided to take it off the market". In a couple of cases, after we made an offer the seller went ghost on us and they would never answer their phone again. People knew that if they waited a couple of years they might get double for their building if it was in a desirable location.

At last, with the impact of the pandemic and help of the Lord, we found a great location !

Some of the existing warehouse buildings were so old that they were made of 'adobe' mud bricks. They possibly were the oldest part of the complex. They might have been an original small house or building on the site. They are all gone now, and the area is one single open room. A sanctuary that will seat about 150 people.

The building was owned by an auto and truck parts supplier. They had built an extensive warehouse on the back. It was a steel structure added onto the row of small buildings the back of the building on the ground level. Together it was ample space to build a sanctuary.

The owner was motivated to sell because he wanted to get his capital out of the building. His business was growing and the city of Szolnok was expanding north and west. A new freeway is almost completed around the city, connecting Szolnok directly to Budapest. He wanted to move and build in a new location. The changes were giving him a chance to grow and to capitalize on opportunities in his market, and everyone was expecting the economy to take off after Covid settled down. He was happy to take our offer, the title was clean, and by God's grace we were in a strong cash position so we were able to buy it immediately!

We are just two bus stops from the Central Bus Station in the city center, and two bus stops in the other direction is the Railway Station. Right away, crews began coming from all of our churches doing demolition. Construction started in the ground floor areas where the auto parts warehouse had been.

The Wood glue-lam beams had to be set by a crane. On top of that is another frame system filled with about 12 inches of insulation. The sky-lights bring enough light into the sanctuary that in daylight hours very little additional lighting will be needed.

Walls and foundations of the new sanctuary went in fast. Insulation and stucco went on the outside. Finally the roof beams (+/- 48 feet long) came and were set by a crane and the roof went on. We were closed in. We had a dry, secure building. A place where we can continue working regardless of weather or temperature.

With large skylights that go the entire length of the sanctuary we have lots of daylight coming in. The church picnic and worship service below was held before we had installed any additional lighting. The existing concrete floor was solid, but it was a hodge-podge of different concrete floors from the former buildings, many at somewhat different levels So the decision was made to lay reclaimed brick as pavers rather than tile. When everything else is done the brick will get a couple of coats of low gloss varnish that will seal the brick and it will look beautiful. Lots of nice restaurants and retail shops here use it.

There's still a lot to be done, but below is our first meeting in the new (though unfinished) sanctuary !!

"The city sleeps tonight" ... but please pray with us that "Those who dwell in darkness will see a great light !!"