HOME DELIVERY

Bethel Hill UMC teams with ‘Help Build Hope’ to assemble house

LANSDALE >> Founded in 1770, Bethel Hill United Methodist Church, the state’s second oldest Methodist church, may be 250 years old. But it can still find new ways to serve in mission, especially when a viral pandemic demands adaptability.

Mission-minded members enjoy taking trips each year to work on building projects that help others. But while the pandemic has prevented that experience, church members found a new way to help build a home for distant neighbors by doing it in the church’s parking lot.

The church’s Servants At Work youth and adult mission team collaborated with Help Build Hope, a program of CrossRoads Missions, in Louisville, KY, to construct a frame and interior walls of a new home to be donated to a needy, deserving family in the Lehigh Valley.

The endeavor took place last weekend with more than 100 volunteers gathering at the

church to cut, sort and stack wood that had been purchased and delivered. On Saturday, the workers built the frame and interior walls. And the full battalion of builders came out on Sunday to temporarily assemble the exterior walls so all could envision the outcome. They dedicated the home, praised God for this modern miracle, inscribed Bible verses and words of encouragement onto the frame, and then disassembled the exterior walls and loaded it onto the truck.

The group also prayed for the recipient family and left a Bible for them, recommending it as the best key to open one’s door to a happy home.

Help Build Hope is a program of CrossRoads Mission that builds frame walls by “Building Partnerships, Building Relationships, Building Community, and Building Homes,” bringing the event to the hosting organization’s parking lot.

The walls provide a way to reduce cost for Habitat for Humanity and Fuller Centers for Housing and allow organizations to complete the homes faster.

SUBMITTED PHOTO, COURTESY BETHEL HILL UMC More than 100volunteers participated this past weekend in a house building project at Bethel Hill UMC.

SUBMITTED PHOTO, COURTESY BETHEL HILL UMC The frame goes up at Bethel Hill UMC so that volunteers can dedicate the house before disassembling for delivery.

SUBMITTED PHOTO, COURTESY BETHEL HILL UMC Volunteers work together to build a house for delivery to a Lehigh Valley family.

SUBMITTED PHOTO, COURTESY BETHEL HILL UMC Volunteers work on framing pieces in the Bethel Hill UMC parking lot.

SUBMITTED PHOTO, COURTESY BETHEL HILL UMC Volunteers stand in front of the house assembled for dedication and prayer Sunday before being disassembled for delivery in the parking lot of Bethel Hill UMC.

SUBMITTED PHOTO, COURTESY BETHEL HILL UMC Volunteers work in the parking lot of Bethel Hill UMC in Lansdale on Saturday to assemble a house frame.

SUBMITTED PHOTO, COURTESY BETHEL HILL UMC Crossroad Missions Help Build Hope program comes to Lansdale.