New housing project fills need in Steinbach outreach ministry
STEINBACH, MB—Construction is underway on a housing project that will help Southland Community Church take its Four Winds ministry to the next level.
Established five years ago, the mission of Four Winds "is to minister spiritual and emotional wholeness to people with broken families, broken lives, addictions and other life-controlling behaviours." The housing project is a two-level dorm that will house 22 women and 22 men on separate floors, each with their own common areas.
Stefan Duerksen, director of Four Winds, says the $2.4 million facility is being built because some of the people the ministry works with need housing as they work toward getting better.
"We realized that if we had [a house] to help people out, we would be able to help them along further in their journey to spiritual and emotional wholeness," Duerksen says.
Duerksen adds that right now, Four Winds works with 100 to 125 people at the church each Wednesday. They come from all sorts of backgrounds and struggle with a variety of different things, including depression, pornography, and drug and alcohol abuse.
"We'll have people stay for three, six or nine months, depending on the person and what they're struggling with," Duerksen says. "We'll provide basic needs like food and shelter, but also love. We want to give them a sense of belonging."
If all goes according to plan, the facility will open in February 2013.
The church is also in the midst of a $15 million building project that will include an expanded auditorium to seat 2,000 people. Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
The non-denominational evangelical church attracts more than 3,000 people over four services each weekend.
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