New Canaan Methodist Church

When New Canaan Methodist Church began construction on their new church, they never imagined the trials they would face. Even after a storm ripped the roof off their new church, the congregation refused to give up hope.

This exciting, creative congregation has 60 to 70 adults in worship, and many, many children running around their classrooms.

New Canaan originally had a typical urban-style church building: two stories, brick walls, tin roof, and wooden floor. The stairs outside had no guard rail for the children.

The congregation had outgrown the old building, so they began construction on a new three-story building that would share a wall with the old building. They planned classrooms for the first floor, with the sanctuary on the second.

Eventually, they planned to knock out the wall between the buildings, creating a worship area capable of handling 200 people. The third floor would serve as an apartment for the National Pastor serving in this area.

And this is Celia’s Church! Many Oklahomans know Celia Callisaya, who has cooked for Oklahoma VIM teams for more than15 years. Celia has never had a team work on HER church until this past year. She was so very excited to have us there.

Skiatook United Methodist Church Assists New Canaan Congregation

In July of 2008, Skiatook UMC did a special VIM trip to New Canaan. They ran a Vacation Bible School for the children of the community in the mornings, and worked on the new building.

The progress was encouraging: the walls were just about finished, and Skiatook UMC helped the New Canaan congregation get the tin roof on the building. Skiatook left some money to purchase windows and doors for the building.

The Storm Demolishes New Canaan Construction

After the Skiatook team left, one of the strongest wind storms the area had ever seen devastated El Alto. The storm picked up the new tin roof and smashed it onto the old building.

Now, not only had they lost the time effort and money to build the new building, but their old building was also unsafe for worship!

Last January, I was coming back through El Alto from worshipping with another congregation on the Altiplano, and came visit New Canaan.

At 3:00 p.m., worship would be over, and I didn’t expect to see many people there.

As usual, I was wrong.

When I arrived, I saw 40 to 50 men, women, teens, and children, all working on the building. They had worshipped earlier that day in the small, unfinished first floor classroom of the new building. The old sanctuary, downstairs classroom, and kitchen, all of which had been made of wood and adobe brick, had been torn down to the foundation.

In place of the old adobe building, the New Canaan congregation had completely rebuilt the first floor with concrete and bricks. The dangerous stairway was now enclosed inside the walls, with handrails. On the second floor, they had poured a concrete slab in place of the rickety old wooden floor.

The men of the congregation were stationed on scaffolding all around the second floor, laying brick for the new sanctuary.

The “new” building already had another roof on it. And they had begun repairs on the third floor pastor’s apartment, which had been destroyed in the storm.

Unbelievable Dedication from New Canaan’s Congregation

I was amazed at the amount of work had been done. “Where did you get the money for all of this concrete and steel and bricks?” I asked.

They said, “We cleaned off the mortar from each of the bricks that fell. We received $2,500 from Oklahoma Methodist Churches in Owasso and Stillwater, and you had left us $500 which was supposed to go to finish the sanctuary. We used it to buy these materials. We hope you don’t mind.”

Of course I didn’t mind, but I could see much more than $3,000 in materials had gone into the building. Their answer surprised and humbled me.

“When the storm came, we declared a month of prayer and fasting for the church members,” said the church elders. “We prayed, ‘God, should we rebuild or not? Why has this happened to us?’”

They believed God told them the old building was not good enough, and they needed to start all over. Ever since, the brothers gave a little here, and a little there. The sisters made empanadas and sold them at the market.

“Every day that we are not working at our jobs, we come and work on the building ourselves. Even on the holiday of New Year’s Day, everyone was here working,” they said. “When we poured the concrete floor, even Bishop Rojas was there, smoothing out the concrete.”

Completing the Church at New Canaan

I asked how much will it cost them just to complete the sanctuary, and get the roof and the doors and windows in.

“Oh, it will be very expensive,” they told me. “We have decided to put no pillar down the middle of the sanctuary. So we can’t use wood rafters to support the tin roof. We will need to use steel rafters, and these are expensive. The sanctuary is about 50′ wide, much bigger than the normal church here because they have so many members. The total cost will be about $8,000.”

After more discussions and looking at the third floor pastor’s apartment, and many a time of prayer with the congregation, I pledged to help them complete their work.

“Brothers and sisters, you did not know I was coming here today. And I found you hard at work rebuilding your church. You did not sit and wait for money to come from the National church, or from the United States. You used what you had and shared your own hard-earned money.

“I wish to join you in this great challenge. Keep working. And keep giving. And I will do what I can to raise some of the money too.

“I cannot promise anything. I may not raise much money. And it may take us one year; it may take us five years.

But together, in partnership, we will build a great sanctuary and a great church for the glory of God.”

Unbelievable Dedication from New Canaan’s Congregation

Join brothers and sisters in Skiatook, Owasso, and Stillwater to support this hard-working church. Any gift will be appreciated.

A steel plaque will be placed on the building recognizing the church or individual who donates at least $1,000 for that particular church.