God has provided a £20 million church

I wanted to share this and give thanks and praises to God for his mighty deeds.

The church I go to is bursting at the seams and has been for a while, so much so that we now have two services on Sunday mornings. The current main auditorium seats about 500 people, plus we have an overspill area which seats another 100 or so.

We have been looking for another building for around 10 years and finally a break through came when the City planners decided to pull down a large area of the city including our church, and rejuvenate the whole area. The planners offered to buy our land and sell us a piece of land which was once a large school, which is just a 10 minute walk away with it own grounds etc.

And so we then had the mammoth task of raising £20 million for the project.

But then the recession hit, everything was put on hold and we have been watching, waiting and planning ever since.

In the meantime, the City Council offered to let the church use a building adjacent to our church free of charge and also a 5 story building across the road free of charge! I suppose no one else wanted them as everyone knew these buildings would be pulled down and the Council figured it would be better for our church to use them rather than for them to fall down etc.

So over the last several years we have been able to use these buildings and now have a Sunday youth service where up to 300 teens and young people can have a sunday service tailored for their needs. We use the building across the road as a children's centre which runs all sorts of children's meeting and also a run a pre-school christian nursery 5 days a week. So while everything has been on hold, God has provided everything we need to continue to reach out to others.

Anyway due to the delay with the recession and for various other reasons, including that the land the planners wanted to sell us has now reduced in price, they have now agreed to build us a new church on this land FREE OF CHARGE, and they have also paid for a significant proportion of the planning, legal and survey fees etc etc. They even pulled down the old school building free of charge (leaving a modern large 7 storey block which we asked them to keep as we wanted to use it).

Isn't that just amazing!

The church in the meantime has managed to raise the majority of the £2 million needed to renovate this block and for other things it was felt would be needed. (That itself is a miracle in a recession) It is intended the remaining school block will be used to house the offices, children's work, counselling centre and for various other things.

The rest of the school land is going to be used to build a 1000 seater auditorium church, (with the provision to expand it to 1500 seats if this becomes necessary). Also there will be a smaller auditorium on site about 500 seats for the teen work and teen sunday services and which can also be used for weddings and other small meeting etc.

Amazing! We have gone from having to raise £20 million plus paying out massive fees for all manner of things, to God providing it all for us.

None of the planners, the developers or the officials are christians that I am aware of but God has moved them to do all of this for us.

The final legal contracts have all been signed off and the work has started on the new church.

Praise God.

It's so amazing isn't it.

The church holds a kids club on Saturday mornings with the help,of other churches in the area. Staff basically cover the main church seating area with plastic and other protective materials etc. Then they run a "messy church" activity morning of fun, games, water filled balloons, custard, quizzes, bible teaching etc. double decker buses part paid for by the church and part sponsored by the bus company, transport kids to the church from 3 or 4 of the poorest deprived council/social housing estates for the morning.

I found out recently that various local schools in these areas and further affield who got to know of this, have asked the church to run some of their school assemblies. One school has asked the church if they would consider running their after school club for them.
Just so amazing how all these opportunities are coming together.

There is so much awful news around these days about how Christians are being discriminated against and how attempts are being made to dumb down the christian message in the name of political correctness. . But it just shows that God is not hindered by the schemes of man.

Thy will be done Lord
Amen

What a powerful testimony about what God can do in the midst of such an environment which doesn't even like us as Christians. What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? (Romans 8:31)

It's quite amazing really there has been a real spirit of revival where I live for the past few years.

Dead churches are springing to life, instead of their notice boards displaying the times of services they are all displaying evangelistic messages of salvation and hope, with congregation numbers increasing.

New churches are springing up especially in the deprived areas, there are at least 4 new churches I know of just in a 4 mile area all evangelical.

Churches of different denominations are putting their minor doctrinal differences to one side and working together (wow that has to be God) with amazing results.

Even a couple of the Catholic Churches in the area are becoming very evangelical in their thinking with the emphasise on Christ crucified and risen from the dead bringing salvation etc, which has really been a surprise and great to see.

just shows what is possible when people step out of the way and allow Jesus to step in.

volunteers from different churches get together on Friday and Saturday nights (they call themselves Street Angels) and they go out into the city praying over people and with people who are going out clubbing and drinking. Praying for their safety and helping out where they can to make sure people get home safely. They have won the respect of the police who are happy to have them on side.

A charity which works with homeless and alcoholics which is run by volunteers from different churches is making great progress. So much so that they have become a well known charity and well respected with the police, city officials and social service. Local doctors surgerys are turning to them for advice and using them as a referral centre for patients with alcohol problems.

there is another charity run by the churches teen challenge, who go out with a bus on Friday and Saturday nights seeking out the drug addicts etc. they have set up a house where anyone who wants to come off drugs can go and get physical, medical, spiritual help and stay there until they are clean. It has over an 80% success rate that is amazing. Many have come to our church later to give their testimonies and it is wonderful to hear. They are like brand new people.

So many other things also are happening which has only been possible because the churches have been willing to work together with Jesus at the helm.

Praise God

Great to hear that. So, this is all happening in England.

It is in the city where I live. I'm not saying things are perfect but spiritual things are definitely happening and stirring.
interestingly it seems to have been the recession which is triggering this.
The needs of others have been recognised and the churches have pulled together and done something about it which is
getting noticed by the official bodies.

From what I hear similar things are happening in a few other areas.

Well, there's no doubt about it's a move of God. The reason I made my statement was because of the fact Europe is getting worse and worse with respect to their belief in God. Atheism is on the rise all across Europe. And political correctness is sweeping almost every corner of that continent.

This truly demonstrates that God can awake a dying area.

Hi thought I would provide a bit of an update, the building project is under way.
All being well it is anticipated the building will be ready to move into around May
next year.

There was a slight delay at one point due to a lack of steel, something to do
with the high demand for steel in China.

Praise God for His goodness.

The building work is running along at a good pace now, hopefully everything
will be finished with the move completed by end of May.

Here are a few photos


This was a prayer walk that was organised part way through the project








Here is an artist sketch of how it should look on completion.
The larger building on the right is the main building. The block
on the left was part of the original school, which is being developed
to house offices, meeting rooms etc.


Another amazing answer to prayer, the developers were going to charge the
church an extra £14,000 for the floor finishings, but after a meeting they
changed their mind and have decided not to charge extra for this. Praise God.

Praise God! All glory to Him

Miri, thanks so much for this testimony. When I read what the LORD GOD has done for your Church, I remember what HE said in HIS Word, " Is there anything too big for me to do for you, Am I not the Creator of Heaven and Earth?"
The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY has done it all perfectly well for us. We just need to receive and we receive by believing in HIM.
Thank You LORD JESUS, You have done it all for us. Blessed be the NAME of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY for ever and ever in JESUS NAME.

Amen to that, the above has been proven time and time again

It is so awesome to here what God is doing with your church and the area you live in. It is amazing how He is drawing Christians to work together from different Churches. Praise God.

It's pretty amazing to watch what God is doing, in the last few years at least
6 new churches have sprung up and several existing churches have started
to awaken spiritually.

A lot of this is due to the recession, churches of different denominations have come
together to set up food banks and have been doing various out reach work in the
communities.

Dont know if you have heard of Christians against Poverty, they help people who
are in debt to overcome this. Many churches have been working together with this
charity and all of these things have really opened the doors to preach the gospel.

The recession has taken a big toll but it has been a platform for the churches
to reach out to the needy like never before.

The building is ours now and all the moving is taking place and rooms
prepared. The last Saturday in June we are having a massive Gala/garden party and the
entire church plus anyone in the area, are able to come have a look around and join in
with the fun and games.

There is going to be activities for children, face painting, BBQ, etc

Then the Sunday will be the first service in the building. Can't wait.




For slightly older children hope the grown ups can join in!



Baby and toddler room - the church runs this 5 days a week.

Sunday just gone was our very first sevice in the new building, amazing

We invited various people from the local community one was the local councillor
who is Muslim. You know what, he stayed through the entire sevice there is hope
for him yet. Lol

Here are a few pictures. The carpeting through the church has been designed to
resemble water it's made from recycled fishing nets. A reminder to the church of the
need to be fishers of men and to expect the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The large pictures in the main auditorium hide acoustic panels. There are various pictures
but one is of the water of life bubbling up, another shows people walking around and is a
reminder to go forth and preach the gospel among the nations. Others with hands raised
are a reminder to worship God and esteem His name in high honour.

There are various other symbols around the site. In one of the coffee recreation areas,
there are clay pot designs hanging over the serving area. A reminder that we are the clay
in the hands of the potter, also in rememberence of the area's historic manufacturing days of
pot making.

On another ceiling there are round designs built into the lighting panels. Though I have yet to
find out what these mean. Plus various other things around the place.

Its just amazing that God has provided this. The presence of God was so awesome
on Sunday.

The whole site itself is huge, there are loads of rooms for activities,
including the children and youth work, teen church who have their own
purpose built room. There is a homework club set up with computers.
Rooms for the offices, catering facilities.

just so much to thank God for.

You will need to read the start of the thread for the full story.