Finding Christ in the flood might largely be dependent on personal religious beliefs, but finding the flood in Christ Lutheran Church, especially after the water inundated their building courtesy of this past summer's disaster, might be more dependent on factual information.
Associate pastor Michael Johnson from Christ Lutheran Church said that building-wise, the entire basement was ruined and there was two feet of water on the main floor. They had to tear out the drywall and the carpet on the main level as well as all of the pews in the sanctuary. Johnson doesn't know what that looks like dollar-wise yet because the total cost can't be factored in until they rebuild, but he guessed it'd be about $1 million to 1.5 million.
As for the toll on the congregation, Johnson said that about 80 families, or 20 to 30 percent of the members, were directly affected by the flood.
The church basement took the hardest hit, Johnson added, specifically the kitchen that was located there. He said they couldn't get the two stoves or the dishwasher out and the kitchen was "just torn apart."
Virtually nothing in the basement could be saved, said Johnson. Also the pews in the sanctuary couldn't be saved, he added. What's more, Johnson said there was a preschool in the basement that hadn't been cleaned out before the waters came, which was a private business run by two members of the congregation.
The flood also made a huge impact on the worship services and activities. The week that the church flooded and the town was divided, Johnson said, the people living on the south side worshiped at Bethany Lutheran Church while the people on the north side worshiped at the Grand International Inn for three weeks. Then they moved the services to Bethany, where they've been since, he added, which has worked really well. He also said that Bethany moved the times of their worship services to 8 a.m. for their early service and their late service at 11 a.m. so that Christ Lutheran could have the 9 to 10:30 a.m. time slot. He said that they have had some services at Christ Lutheran and might have their Easter services there as well.
The flood impacted church activities, too. Johnson said that Christ Lutheran runs part of the soup kitchen and have been using Bread of Life Lutheran Church's kitchen. Church activities on Wednesday nights are held at Bethany, although it took some juggling to work out the schedules of having two congregations in one building.
In the sandbagging and evacuation effort before the flood hit, Johnson did not know how many people helped. He reported that everybody helped in one way or another and that there were more people than he could count packing things up in the church and taking them to other places.
Johnson felt that the most challenging part in the aftermath of the flood was locating and tracking down members of the congregation. He said the church directory listed only home phone numbers, not cellphone numbers, which ended up being useless in evacuated houses. Instead, he had to ask around and about other members or wait until the members contacted him.
"If you can't find your members, it's hard to minister to them," he added.
Also providing a challenge, he said, is not having their own building and not knowing when they can begin worshiping in their own building again.
Another challenge is for everyone to remind themselves, both mentally and spiritually, he said, that "we can't sprint our way through this. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Buildings can be built quickly if you have the money, but people need time to process, heal, and grieve and you can't put a time limit on that for any individual."
The most surprising aspect to come from the flood, thought Johnson, was probably the willingness of congregations to work together and to give their resources to help congregations in need.
Johnson added that he felt like everything had to be changed after the flood. However, he said, the routine has continued. They still have church services, church school, weddings, funerals, and hospital and nursing home visits. "The ministry has stayed the same, but how you minister and where you do it has changed," he explained.
Returning Christ Lutheran Church to its pre-flood condition is being considered, Johnson said. At their annual meeting recently, the congregation voted on whether or not Christ Lutheran's ministry is strong enough to continue at its old location, he reported, and the vote was passed in favor of continuing. He said the building has been cleaned and sanitized and has heat, water, and electricity, so the next step is to get a space study on how the building can best be used and then see what the congregation wants to do.
The question Johnson said they'll be asking is, "What do we want our building to look like so we can make the space fit our ministry and not make our ministry fit the space?" since the building is gutted and now they can redesign it however they choose.
Due to the flood, Johnson has noticed a decrease in membership, but much of it is from people who moved out of town right after the flood. He has also noticed a decrease in weekly worship attendance due to people's natural preference to worship in their church home. However, he added that members who haven't been attending services at Bethany will attend when there are services at Christ Lutheran.
The current plan for the building is to complete a space study as soon as possible and then figure out how to use their space, Johnson said, but they need to have a plan first. He said the goal is to do that within the next month or two.
Johnson thought that the current plan for the people of Christ Lutheran would be to continue worshiping together. In the immediate future, they'll still be worshiping at Bethany and a little further out, they'll be back at Christ Lutheran, but he doesn't know the time frame yet, he speculated.
"Prayer is our greatest need," Johnson said. "Without the continuous help and blessing of God, we can't get this done." He said they, as a congregation, need to ask themselves what is God calling them to do or be in Minot, how they are called to help their community, and how are they called to proclaim Christ. He continued, "That's going to take time, prayer, discernment, and patience because the answers won't come immediately." He also said that it will require them to focus on Christ, his words, and the sacraments, which is why it's important for them to worship together at Bethany and then together at Christ Lutheran.
The church has managed to maintain some of its routine, like having events and activities planned for their members. Johnson said they've introduced a Bible study on the Book of Acts to the congregation and have had their annual chili cook-off to kick off the Lenten season. They'll have the Lutheran Campus Ministries Fat Tuesday event tonight at First Lutheran Church, he added. Lenten services will be held at Bethany on Wednesday nights and Easter services tentatively held at Christ Lutheran.
"It can't get much bigger of an event than Easter," he stated. "And we get to do so in a tomb a hollowed-out building in the flooded part of town."
