On the night of Monday December 3rd immediately following the 2018 Graduation, a team of students and staff dismantled the old chapel and Lecture Room 5 for the building works that began early the next day. From then until only a few weeks ago, MST’s chapel, foyer and lecture room 5 have been transformed.
Not long after MST relocated from Lilydale in 2010, Hills Bible Church (HBC) began renting the chapel and other rooms for this relatively new church that needed a home. Since then, HBC has continued to grow, with their congregation bursting at the seams in the 160-seat chapel auditorium. For over two years now, Rev Andrew Courtis and his team have worked feverishly each Sunday morning to open out the chapel and expand the seating into the foyer.
In late 2017, HBC and MST decided that we should work together to make some changes to the structural configuration of Level 1 to suit the church’s growth curve. Throughout 2018 there has been a great deal of planning, culminating in the work beginning in December. And while our plans allowed for Lecture Room 5 to be used as an overflow space, together with the Level 1 foyer, HBC is already nearing capacity, with well over 300 attending each week at the 10am service.
The funding for this development has come from Hills Bible Church for which MST is grateful. This is another example of the Lord using our common faith and values to grow the faith community that uses the MST Wantirna property.
Please drop by on a Tuesday or Thursday at 10.30am and join us for worship and teaching at one of our chapels.
Not wombats.
A few people have enquired about the other work that was carried out around the property over the Christmas break. Well, I can assure you it isn’t a family of wombats! The trenches you see outside are for an upgrade to the fire hydrants that service the building. The permits we were required to take out for the chapel works meant a review of all safety features, both internal and external. The hydrant system needed to be extended to cope with our growing population and for the future building development with YD. New tactiles, stair nosing and handrails were required to make our stairs safer and bring them up to code. Airconditioning systems also required some additional functions to improve airflow.
If you’ve visited MST recently, you would have noticed a new set of stairs in the main foyer. Why two sets? Good question! The new stairs are required to provide better access for fire-fighters and their hoses should there be an incident. When we further develop the foyer as part of the YD, café and Student Centre development, we will possibly take away the old grand stair case as it will be redundant, and we can use the space for other exciting developments.
Please pray!
Please pray for our college finances as the costs for updating our safety systems has been additional to the contribution by Hills Bible Church. We have a duty of care to continually review the environment that supports the ministry work of those who come into this community.
PS: If you’d like to support MST’s ministry, please visit the MST website or contact us directly