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| Company type | Non-Profit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Construction |
| Founded | 1969[1] |
| Founder | John Freemen[1] |
| Headquarters | Sacramento,California, United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Revenue | 13,068,659 United States dollar (2016)  |
| Total assets | 21,117,804 United States dollar (2022) |
| Website | www.maranatha.org |
Maranatha Volunteers International (Maranatha) is anon-profitChristian organization founded in 1969 and is based inRoseville, California United States with offices in Canada,Latin America, India andMozambique.[2]
It is a supporting ministry of theSeventh-day Adventist Church with the primary focus of organizingvolunteers to build churches and schools indeveloping nations.[3]
In 1969 under the direction of John Freeman a commercial photographer, a group of Seventh-day Adventist volunteers flew to theBahamas to build a church[4]This idea expanded to other projects involving volunteers flying their private planes to locations to build churches and was organized into Maranatha Flights International based inBerrien Springs, Michigan.[1]
In 1989 Maranatha Flights International merged with Volunteers International under the new name of Maranatha Volunteers International and moved the headquarters to Sacramento, California. Recently, the headquarters were moved to the neighboring city of Roseville, California.
In its 40-year history more than 60,000 volunteers have built churches, schools, orphanages, hospitals and community buildings in 67 countries.[2]
An average of 3,000 volunteers participate in projects each year.[1]The majority of the volunteers are from the United States and Canada but participants come from all over the world.They generally pay for theirtransportation as well as a participation fee which coversmeals,lodging, in-country transportation andinsurance while on the project.Most projects are approximately two weeks duration.
The funding for the buildings is primarily furnished by Maranatha via donors as well as participation byAdventist-laymen's Services & Industries (ASI).The local church provides the land and final labor and materials.
Projects are classified into categories such as teen, young adult, open, group or family depending on the volunteer makeup.While the teenUltimate Workout and young adult groups which are age limited, other projects have widely varying age volunteers.A number of volunteers participate in multiple trips, often on an annual basis.
Not all volunteers are skilled in the construction trades.In addition to actual building construction, some volunteers are typically involved in cooking and some may participate in community projects such asVacation Bible School or medical and dentalclinics.
Maranatha concentrates their building activities in certain countries which change from time to time.In 2010 Maranatha is building primarily in Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, India, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Zambia and the United States.[2]In 2009, 507 churches were built of which 428 of the structures were "One-Day Churches" built in 25 countries.[2]
In 2010 Maranatha provided assistance toHaiti following theJanuary 2010 earthquake.140 "One-Day Churches" are currently being built in Haiti to be used as churches, schools, medical triage and temporary shelters.[5][6][7]
The One-Day Church was developed jointly by Adventist-laymen's Services & Industries and Maranatha in an effort to meet the demand for rapid economical construction of more buildings.[5]Thegalvanized steel frame and roof of the church are manufactured at a facility inDodge Center, Minnesota,containerized andshipped on-site where it isassembled by volunteers and local personnel in one day.[8]
The walls and floors are built of local materials and vary according to local practices.Floors are most often pouredconcrete.As of March 2009 over 1,000 structures had been manufactured and as of July 2010 more than 800 had been constructed in 10 countries.[9][10]
In June 2010 Maranatha introduced the One-Day School project at theGeneral Conference of Seventh-day Adventists session inAtlanta, Georgia.[11]This project is an extension of the One-Day Church idea providing a metal frame, roof, walls, doors and windows.The project launch involves 1,000 classrooms with the first One-Day School to be built inZimbabwe.[11]
TheUltimate Workout is a volunteer two-week mission program forhigh school age teenagers.[12]These projects are generally inLatin America and may involve up to 200 volunteers.In July 2010 the Ultimate Workout project celebrated its 20-year anniversary with a reunion project inChiapas, Mexico.
Maranatha's catalyst project is dedicated towards creating a spiritual community for like-minded people which can help them in their spiritual life. It specially targets the age group 18-28.[1]
Maranatha has a quarterly magazine namedThe Volunteer that is mailed to volunteers and donors.[13]
Since 2003 Maranatha has produced a 30-minute television program namedMaranatha Mission Stories which documents various building projects.Now a weekly program, it has surpassed 100 episodes.It is shown on3ABN andHope Channel.
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