Beginning the Journey
18/12/08 14:11
The Father’s House
Beginning the Journey
I would like to share the journey of the Father’s House with you. The perspective is mine and mine alone. I am sure all the other great people involved in the church will have different thoughts on what happened but I can only tell you what I see.
The whole thing started on November 23, 1999. Our family had just arrived in England with plans to work with a new church movement and specifically to found a leadership training college. I awoke at 3 am with what I think was Holy Spirit inspiration. I felt I was to plant a church in Kensington.
I had no idea where Kensington was. I also knew I couldn’t share this with my wife. Imagine moving with your two young school aged children from the west coast of Canada to Chelmsford, Essex so you could initiate a bible college, then telling your wife you think you should start a church somewhere you never heard of before. Right! My wife is calm, cool and able to handle stressful situations but this would have brought about a self-induced colonoscopy.
So, I prayed!
At the end of a year I mentioned casually and briefly the possibility of a church plant. She never looked at me. Her only response was to hold up her hand (talk to the hand the face isn’t listening).
So I prayed some more.
A year later she was a little more civil. She said NO! No discussion, no nothing.
So I prayed some more.
By this time I knew where Kensington was. It happened to be the richest borough in London with the most expensive houses and rental rates. I started to debate with the Lord that maybe He meant Kennington as it was only one letter out and I thought possibly I could handle that. What a funny thought! I’m negotiating with God over the location because I think it’s cheaper. It was still way beyond my means. Some how things that are expensive look more reasonable once we have spent time looking at something even more expensive. I lost the debate.
So I prayed some more.
At the end of year three of praying she said it was a possibility but she didn’t know how it could possibly happen. A light at the end of the tunnel, there was hope. In May of 2003 we brought the subject up with the couple we were working with in the church movement. They were open to it, I think. Sometimes I think we don’t really give people a chance to say no by the way we put things to them. They said I should be looking to gather a team over the next year to go with us. Everything seemed a go at this point.
The home church was struggling by the autumn. Unfortunately two great opportunities happened almost at the same time. The first was a revamping of the small group system from a nurture base to a very evangelism focused structure that was not well received. The second opportunity was acquiring a building for full time use. It is strange how people can pray for a facility for years, and then when it comes about, they get upset and leave. The church was feeling very shaky and uncertain. We felt to take a team out would be misperceived and a tipping point to disaster for the church. We asked if the other couple would prefer it if we postponed the plant until the next year. They accepted the offer.
So, we prayed some more.
In October of 2004 it was announced that we would be gathering a team to plant a church in Kensington in the spring of 2005. We started to meet in our house in Chelmsford to pray and plan. On April 10, 2005 the church had a commissioning or sending service for our team and we were released to start the great adventure.
So, we prayed even more!
Beginning the Journey
I would like to share the journey of the Father’s House with you. The perspective is mine and mine alone. I am sure all the other great people involved in the church will have different thoughts on what happened but I can only tell you what I see.
The whole thing started on November 23, 1999. Our family had just arrived in England with plans to work with a new church movement and specifically to found a leadership training college. I awoke at 3 am with what I think was Holy Spirit inspiration. I felt I was to plant a church in Kensington.
I had no idea where Kensington was. I also knew I couldn’t share this with my wife. Imagine moving with your two young school aged children from the west coast of Canada to Chelmsford, Essex so you could initiate a bible college, then telling your wife you think you should start a church somewhere you never heard of before. Right! My wife is calm, cool and able to handle stressful situations but this would have brought about a self-induced colonoscopy.
So, I prayed!
At the end of a year I mentioned casually and briefly the possibility of a church plant. She never looked at me. Her only response was to hold up her hand (talk to the hand the face isn’t listening).
So I prayed some more.
A year later she was a little more civil. She said NO! No discussion, no nothing.
So I prayed some more.
By this time I knew where Kensington was. It happened to be the richest borough in London with the most expensive houses and rental rates. I started to debate with the Lord that maybe He meant Kennington as it was only one letter out and I thought possibly I could handle that. What a funny thought! I’m negotiating with God over the location because I think it’s cheaper. It was still way beyond my means. Some how things that are expensive look more reasonable once we have spent time looking at something even more expensive. I lost the debate.
So I prayed some more.
At the end of year three of praying she said it was a possibility but she didn’t know how it could possibly happen. A light at the end of the tunnel, there was hope. In May of 2003 we brought the subject up with the couple we were working with in the church movement. They were open to it, I think. Sometimes I think we don’t really give people a chance to say no by the way we put things to them. They said I should be looking to gather a team over the next year to go with us. Everything seemed a go at this point.
The home church was struggling by the autumn. Unfortunately two great opportunities happened almost at the same time. The first was a revamping of the small group system from a nurture base to a very evangelism focused structure that was not well received. The second opportunity was acquiring a building for full time use. It is strange how people can pray for a facility for years, and then when it comes about, they get upset and leave. The church was feeling very shaky and uncertain. We felt to take a team out would be misperceived and a tipping point to disaster for the church. We asked if the other couple would prefer it if we postponed the plant until the next year. They accepted the offer.
So, we prayed some more.
In October of 2004 it was announced that we would be gathering a team to plant a church in Kensington in the spring of 2005. We started to meet in our house in Chelmsford to pray and plan. On April 10, 2005 the church had a commissioning or sending service for our team and we were released to start the great adventure.
So, we prayed even more!
