Tornado’s destruction “sharpened our vision”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Three years after a tornado ripped the roof off the fellowship hall at Arlington Woods Free Methodist Church, they hosted a community celebration as they cut the ribbon on their upgraded and improved facility.

“When the tornado hit, the congregation leadership took a hard look at whether to put things back the way they were or whether to branch out and do something better to reach our community,” says Mike Hogeboom, the church’s lead pastor. “Our board was fired up about the idea that God is calling us to something more. We came up with some ideas and a lot of it was outward focused. We have been very intentional.”

Arlington Woods Free Methodist Church was directly hit by one of the tornadoes. Photo courtesy of Arlington Woods.

Insurance covered the cost to repair the water damage and replace the fellowship hall roof—around $800,000 total—but the church set to work on some ambitious plans.

“One of the things that came out of the tornados is that we became the hub for our community for two weeks, even just for people to charge their phones. So we made the church much more accessible and appealing for our community.”

They started with the damaged fellowship hall, replacing the flooring and making it more suitable to hosting sports, from basketball to badminton. They installed sound absorption materials throughout the building so the space could be used to host different events simultaneously. They also took steps like removing a staircase and installing electric doors to remove barriers to access.

Hogeboom explains that the damaged space (originally the sanctuary) was built in the 70 and was not well set up to serve modern community or church needs. “There was no sound deadening. You couldn’t hold two events at the same time because you could basically hear people breathing on the other side.

The church hosted an open-house celebration on October 30, with guided tours, a local dance team, as well as an art display and live music from church and community members. Photo courtesy of Arlington Woods.

“In our retrofit, we also removed a wall and put windows on the outside, which brightened everything up. The idea was that when people drive by it was very hard to know what is going on in there. So we opened it all up so we can see the community and the community can see us.”

They also bought lumber milled from the community’s white pines that the tornados destroyed. They used the wood as part of a café where the church can fellowship and the community can drop in to unwind.

“We wanted to provide a nice, quiet place for people to land. The lumber yard provided 2x4s that are part of the ceiling in our White Pine Café. We serve Equator Coffee—fair trade coffee. Throughout the week we will have it open so people can come in, maybe have business meetings, and parents can drop in for a cup of coffee after dropping kids off on the way to school.”

The church hosted an open-house celebration on October 30, with guided tours, a local dance team, as well as an art display and live music from church and community members. On Sunday, October 31, they held an official ribbon cutting service to celebrate God’s provision, which manifested in more ways than expected.

“COVID drove the costs of supplies and labour up. Our projected costs shifted from $975,000 to $1.5 million [in addition to what the insurance covered],” Hogeboom states. A year after the tornado, they launched a fundraising campaign and took three-year pledges totalling just over $1 million.

“We are celebrating that people have sacrificially given. We have just crossed the two thirds mark and we have brought in almost $900,000 during COVID when people weren’t even coming to church. It really speaks to how God provides a vision and the people grasp that vision.”Community members and other churches also donated to the project.

While some may wonder at a big building project in the wake of COVID, Hogeboom says the benefits will be long-lasting. Each area of the church is interconnected with video and audio, so the church can spread out much more and still keep the congregation well connected. Hogeboom also stresses that the tornado deeply bonded them with the community and these updates will help continue that connection for years to come.

“There are a couple things that remind us of our past. There is a cross that was made out of the 2×4 structure that was blown out by the tornado. We want to talk about our past, but we certainly want to talk about the future. The fact that the church [suffered with the community and] kept providing services to our community, we can identify with them. This tragedy made us stronger and sharpened our vision and focus.”