Church Moving Time
The time has come to move church venues. After many years of praying, dreaming, researching and waiting we are ready to move. I feel an affinity with Moses and the exodus generation when time came to leave Egypt and head out into the wilderness. It's a great frame of faith and hope, knowing what you have known and adjusted to, to embark on an adventure which is not fully mapped out.
As we step out, the next while may well be a time of matching expectations and hopes with actual realities. The temperamentally half empty among us may be pleasantly surprised while the half full may need to reduce expectations. The choice of any new home expresses what we value and hope for in the life we live there. The new venue in the Aalst part of Waalre offers much for mission among people who come by car and younger families. It has a wonderful main worship venue for all who can get there and offers much scope for various forms of creativity. It is sufficiently modern enough to be relatively neutral as far as denominational trappings are concerned.
On the other hand our new home is not so well suited to Eindhoven people who are without a car who come by bike or rely on public transport. This generates a bit of a hurdle for the typical student resident in central or north Eindhoven. We need to address this and other new hurdles just as we addressed the logistic challenges of the Eikenburg.
So why are we taking up this partial match of the dreams and expectations some of us may have had, realising that some groups and some ministries might be adversely affected? This is an important question on the eve of our moving on. My answer to this is very simple. Of the doors we looked at and knocked on, this is the door God opened. Once we tried the handle God seemed to oil the hinges as well.
Believing that to be so I just have to put my notions of 'best' practice and 'best' strategic option aside and trust that any door God opens is the one to go through. With that clear in my heart and mind I feel it is up to us to bloom where we are planted and trust the gardener.
Having a space fully available to ourselves will open numerous possibilities. One big possibility is food. Even with the small existing kitchenette we could soon be enjoying brunches, lunches and fellowship meals in our own space. The smell of fresh bread or doughnuts may soon precede Sunday services. This might be a way to reward the cyclists and bus travellers upon their arrival? Food will also help feed hungry worshippers between morning and afternoon events.
This new space of our own will allow us to meet for prayer at all sorts of hours at our own convenience. Prayer ministry will not lack for suitable settings as in the past. Our children's and youth ministries will thrive on the possibility of having indoor events apart from Sunday. Everyone will enjoy the ease of being able to set up or prepare for their coming event on site.
If you read this before your first visit I encourage you to come the first time asking, Lord what do you want me/us to do there? What was your plan in opening this door? Then step through and onwards.
In Him,
Francis