In the last week so much has changed. We packed up all our stuff, we moved most of it into storage and we had our first worship time at our summer location. Here is a few pictures from our crazy week.
P.S. Most of those speakers are not ours and not plugged in…
I am quite excited about our new summer venue and yet at the same time am intensely aware at how amazing our old church building has been for us. Our old building is in the perfect location, it is the perfect size, and … it’s just perfect for us. We are still in negotiations about potentially purchasing the building. This will require a lot of prayer and intervention from God.
A few prayer requests for this week:
1. Safety and people to help. Safety as we relocate a church full of things (sound equipment, puppet set, kitchen supplies, etc.) and huge numbers of people to help with the move.
2. The first service in our new location. We have done our best to predict what issues may come up with a new place, but who knows what will happen. We are praying set-up and take-down go great on Sunday, and God moves in a powerful way in people’s hearts, confirming that he continues to go with us wherever we meet.
3. Church purchase negotiations. It has always been my desire to own this old church building of ours. We have tried for 3-4years now to purchase it. In 2006 we made our first offer, but it was sold to someone else. We have made three to four offers since then around the same price which were declined. And now we try again. Please pray!
4. We only have 12 weeks to sort out a more permanent location. If the church purchase does not happen in the next few weeks, we will be needing another location by Sunday September 13.
I have been teaching 1 Peter - It just so happened that LONG before I knew anything about needing to move out of our building the teaching schedule had us in 1 Peter 2 about how WE are “living stones… God’s building.” The right message before a big move. If you want to have a listen to the message you can find it HERE.
God is in the process of doing something. I can’t wait to see what He does. Keep praying!
This Sunday looks to be our final services in our building unless something amazing happens. We are still in negotiations with the owners about purchasing this old church building, but as of yet we have not been able to get anywhere near an agreed upon price, and so we must go.
Although I would love to stay, our summer venue is going to be amazing. We are renting the Qudos room in the Queen Margaret Union. (It is in the building just behind ours, and is pretty cool.) We can only use it for 12 weeks but that gives us some much-needed time to figure out what is next.
We have a huge amount of physical work to do next week as we attempt to move most everything into storage. We could use prayer for safety, strength, and for many people to show up and help.
I am praying God will intervene and bring us back into this building for a third time, and this time for good. I am praying God will provide the money needed when the time comes to purchase it. I am praying God will do this in such a way that people all over the world look at our situation and praise God.
Again I sit here thinking about the situation we are in and am filled with thanks knowing people are praying for God’s intervention from all around the world.
Since Monday we have been investigating all sorts of venues around the West End of Glasgow. In 48 hours much has been accomplished. The people of Re:Hope have been unified and are filled with faith as we explore options of where to meet. We met again Tuesday AM and Wednesday AM to pray and plan.
Our best short-term plan has us renting the Queen Margret Union at the University of Glasgow. The space is right, the price is right, and the location is just behind our current building. However, there won’t be storage and we will be moving our stuff in and out weekly. This is only available until September. The hardest bit is the inability to do our evening service, which accounts for significantly more than half our adult attendance, but at the same time we have found no reasonable options that would have allowed for an evening service thus far.
We are also investigating some warehouse space in the area that could be purchased or leased as a mid to long-term home for Re:Hope. This has exciting possibilities but with a large price tag.
As an answer to prayer I believe, in the last 48 hours I was contacted by the company who own the building and had a quick and unexpected meeting with them yesterday. We have actually begun discussions about purchasing our church building. They are keen to sell. We are keen to buy. Will we find an amount that is acceptable for both sides? Only time will tell.
At any moment these doors could close. At any moment new doors could open.
Keep praying. I am feeling quite strained in this moment of crisis. We are making decisions with so many unknown variables, forced into the smallest of time frames. Pray for strength, clarity, and God’s clear leading.
First of all, I am so encouraged having heard from so many of you, people I know and even people I don’t. About 18 of us met this morning in the church building to pray, plan, and produce results. I told them at the beginning how I had heard from people all over the world who are praying for our situation, and that this morning we were joining a global intercession on behalf of our situation. It has been virtually impossible to be discouraged with how cared for we feel. Generally speaking, there is a sense of excitement and anticipation for what God might be leading our church toward.
This week our plan is to figure out a plan.
Next week our plan is to entirely uproot and relocate.
Today we wrote down our resources as well as what we are looking for short-term and what we need long-term. Today many are scouring the area following up on ideas and possibilities. Tomorrow morning we will meet again at 9am to pray and report and plan.
Keep praying, especially that the people we need to talk to are available and that we have unusual favour with those who can do something about our situation.