Immeasurably More: The Story Behind BFA’s New Dorm

Protecting the Mission of Black Forest Academy’s Boarding Program

When the boarding program at Black Forest Academy (BFA) faced a seemingly insurmountable crisis, God provided for the school in a miraculous way.

For many years, the staff at Black Forest Academy in Kandern, Germany had been aware of the inevitable closure of two aging dorms. They had been praying for a feasible replacement option for over 10 years, knowing these residences were critical to the mission of BFA.

“The school’s purpose is to provide education for pioneering missionaries all around the world, but particularly in Eurasia, the 10/40 window, and we needed dorms to do that,” said Head of School Philip Dow. “We had 2 dorms that needed to be closed, so BFA had really a mission-critical moment where if these dorms close, it could begin a death spiral for our school and for our mission.”

A Providential Opportunity for a New Building

In September of 2022, an opportunity came up for the school to purchase a building, a potential triple dorm located only 200 meters from the campus. The cost to purchase and renovate the building was estimated at €8.3 million, which was significantly less than the school’s estimate of €10 million to build new dorms.

 “We went forward with this in faith, believing that this is what God had for the school, but we didn’t have any way to pay for it,” Philip explained. “We didn’t know how we were going to do that. We had set aside some money, but not a lot.”

A Last-Minute Answer to Prayer

The school began reaching out to donors and saved as much as it could over the next 2 years, raising around €3 million. While this was encouraging, the school was racing against time. The building needed to be available in a year-and-a-half, and the sale needed to go through before renovations could begin.

At this point, the school believed it would have between 6 months and a year to secure the remaining €5.3 million needed to purchase the building. However, after a key government approval, they were given just 10 days to pay off the rest of the building. 

Facing an urgent deadline, they prayed and explored the option of taking out a loan. Hoping to avoid high interest rates that would result in higher costs for BFA’s missionary families, they approached an anonymous alumnus about a possible bridge loan. The alumnus, along with another organization, offered €2.5 million in interest-free bridge loans. Combined with school savings and a smaller bank loan, they were able to gather enough funds just hours before the deadline to purchase the building.

More Than We Could Ask or Imagine

Through continued fundraising efforts, Black Forest Academy has repaid a significant amount of its loans. As of the end of July, it has less than €700,000 still owing.

“Our campaign slogan is ‘immeasurably more than what we could ask or imagine,’” Philip said. “And it truly has been a work of God. We are so grateful, grateful for all the people who have prayed along with us, grateful for people who have donated even small amounts. It's been incredible to see God do something that we just didn't think honestly was possible.”

Students will be moving into the dorms for the new school year in late August, stepping into the story God is writing at BFA.