Faith in times of expansion
Christchurch Elim Church, Millhams Street, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 1DN
To God alone be all the glory
In 1937, following an
evangelistic campaign held by a lady evangelist, Christchurch Elim Church was
planted. The congregation met in a hired upper room in Millhams Street
Christchurch (we do not now know the location of that room) until 1939, when just
before the beginning of world war two, in faith, a gospel hall was built in
Jumpers Road, Christchurch. The land cost £100 and hall cost £217 and was built
by a Mr. Leat of Bransgore. The work was completed in November 1939.
The new gospel hall
was small and could only seat about 60 people comfortably. In 1984 a new porch
was added to the building, which cost about £4,000. Research was undertaken, plans were drawn up and consents
were obtained from the authorities for the building of the porch and the Church
began to pray. Little by little
the money began to come in starting with a gift of 50p from one of the children
who wanted to give to the project from her pocket money. The porch was built
without borrowing any money.
In 1991 the
congregation began to grow and by 1993 the church needed some extra room. By
faith, plans were drawn up to extend the building at a cost of about
£40,000. The Church prayed and the
money came in just in time to meet the bills. With the addition of the new
extension in 1994, the building could now hold up to about 120 people.
For many years the
church had been praying for new premises with better facilities as the children
were meeting for Sunday school in the kitchen and in the small back room and
there was no more room to build on that site.
It is important to
this account that an incident is mentioned that occurred some years before the
need for a new building became plain. What happened was this. Several years before
the congregation began to grow, the Pastor had been walking along Millhams
Street in the town centre. Situated in Millhams Street was the second largest
church building in the town with a clock tower and large facilities, including
a separate hall and numerous rooms suitable for Sunday School and other activities.
The building was in a very poor state of repair with missing slates, broken
windows, seriously eroded stonework and many other visible signs of a lack of
care. As the Pastor walked past
that building, he asked God, “Why is this church in such a state?” Immediately
the question was asked, God answered by giving a very clear and precise thought
to the pastor. The thought was silent but as clear as if spoken out loud,
“Because the life has gone out of it!”
In an instant, the Pastor responded, “Then put the life back in
it”.
Little did He know how
that prayer would be answered.
By the time the extension
to the building in Jumpers Road was completed, it became clear bigger
facilities were needed if the church was to continue to move forward.
On land adjacent to
the church there was an old factory building which came onto the market. After
prayer, the pastor enquired wanting to make an offer but the property had just
been sold. God had different plans.
It was subsequently
learned that the believers who met in the URC building in Millhams Street were
considering leaving the building as so much work was needed to restore the
property to a useable standard. The building was and is a grade II listed
building.
On hearing about this
probability, the pastor of the Elim Church contacted the URC church officials
and offered to purchase the building for £1.
After an inspection by
the Elim Church Leadership and discussion with the URC leadership, the URC
decided not to sell the property. On hearing that news, the Elim pastor went
home and with his wife prayed a simple prayer, “Lord give us the building and
fill it.” Later, and without any prompting by Elim, the URC contacted Elim and
agreed that the Elim Church could take over the building for only £1.00.
It was decided by Elim
to go ahead, believing it was God’s will for them to do so despite the fact
that there was an enormous amount of work to be undertaken. At that time, Christchurch
Elim had less than £4000 in the building fund. The church buildings in Millhams Street were to be
transferred without the kitchen and toilets as they were sited on a piece of
land that was to be sold separately by the URC to a developer who planned to
build houses on the land. Despite this, Elim went ahead fully persuaded that it
was God’s plan for them to do so.
On the surface £1.00
seems very little, but the amount of money required to fix the building was
estimated at over £250,000. Subsequent to moving in, a quantity surveyor
assessed the cost of restoration at £750000.
The Elim Church congregation
took possession of the building on the 13th of November 1998, moving
from the small building in Jumpers Road, to the new building with all of its
problems but with space for growth and all the potential of the larger
facilities.
The old building was subsequently
sold for £65,000 and net sale proceeds of about £63,000, together with the
building fund of £3,673 was everything that the congregation had towards the
restoration project.
The roof was leaking
badly in many places and for some time there were even buckets spread around
the building catching the drips of water during services on rainy days. It was so bad that the electrics were being
compromised by the water ingress during the services. A quite extensive (though not complete) list of works can be
found on the website showing the extent of what was required.
Do take a Look at this list on our
site - http://www.christchurchchristiancentre.org/restoration2.html
Although the estimated
costs were so high, the Church relied 100% on God supplying the money for the
restoration and they determined not to borrow or go into debt. Although there
was one time cash flow seemed likely to be inadequate, in the event there was
sufficient in hand to cover all needs as they arose. Prayer continued as the
project proceeded and God not only sent in money little by little but He also
sent some new church members along who had the skills needed for particular
parts of the restoration work. In particular, the church prayed for a builder
to join. That prayer was wonderfully answered and God sent a skillful builder
(who had trained as an engineer) and other able tradesmen to help.
We cannot say that the
numbers attending are very high but finance has still come in. This is more clear evidence that God is
the God of the impossible. The first part of the request, “Lord give us the
building,” was answered. The second part will be answered too, “And fill it.”
More than fourteen and
a half years on and the building project is ongoing, however it is nearly
completed. There has not been much
financial support from outside the church and almost all of the £400,000 plus
that has been spent thus far, has come from two main sources:- the generous
giving of the church members and the income from a 3 hour coffee morning held
each Monday morning in the church hall.
God taught this little
church to exercise faith, starting with a £4,000 porch and then a £40,000
extension to the original building and now the current project. God has worked
in response to faith and obedience.
At times work was started when insufficient funds were available but acting
in faith led to these steps being taken and the bills were always paid,
although on several occasions the finance came in at the very last minute.
The amazing testimony
is that all of the money required for this restoration project has come in on
top of the general income required to run the church, pay the bills, employ a
full time Pastor, reach out to our community with the love of Christ and to
continue support for international missions each month.
Some people told the
Pastor that he was crazy taking on such a project. Some told Him that it could not be done and that they would
fail. However, obedience and faith
in The God of the impossible are ingredients for success.
It could be said that
it all started with the prayer, “Then put the life back in it,” but we believe
in God’s purposes and doubtless, what we see Him doing now is what He has
always intended.
We have continued in
prayer, often quoting part of the Lord’s Prayer but always looking to God who
alone will see His will fulfilled. We pray, “Lord give us our daily bread,
build Your Church and bring in what is needed to restore this facility”. We
continue in prayer, “Lord build Your Church, fill this Church and save this
town.
To God alone be all
the Glory and Honour.
Hebrews 11:1 NKJV
Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things
not seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment