How We Got Here

The carpet in the foyer was fitted today. The carpet for the main hall has to be bound first before it can be fitted, to prevent fraying. Our thanks go to the carpet fitters!

And just so the other rooms don’t feel left out…!

Work is going on preparing for additional electrics to be put in the community hall:

… even though Garry and Mark don’t appear to be talking!

Blinds were fitted in the community hall as well:

A new seat was fitted on the disabled toilet:

… and work continues outside too:

There is ongoing progress in the main hall, and more to come!

This week we’ve seen the floor varnished again:

The carpet tiles from the foyer were removed in preparation for the new carpet being fitted there:

Blinds have been fitted. These were needed because the projector screen will be in front of the windows and the sunshine might make song words difficult to read.

The door plinth was revarnished:

Hopefully this weekend the carpet will be fitted and there will soon be photos of a nearly completed room!

On Tuesday 25th May, new windows were fitted in the main hall. The difference this has made to the appearance of that room is remarkable!

This is what the windows in the main hall looked like.

Here, the fitters are removing the old windows.

No glass in… no windows at all!

New windows:

The windows viewed from the outside (note the small windows by the main door):


The small window from the inside:


and from the outside:

This week, I have been away from the flurry of activity going on at the new building (which I am studiously refraining from calling St Mark’s in deference to its emerging new identity!) This is potentially one of the busiest weeks for ‘professional’ input since we began the renovation process, with new windows, blinds and a carpet being fitted in the main hall (after the floor there has been re-varnished!)

This week at work, life is decidedly calmer as the exams’ season has started and much of my time is spent in the silently peaceful haven of an exams’ room, where my job is invigilation, ‘watching over’ the candidates taking GCSE exams. The contrast between this calm silence and the buzz of activity at church is startling.

Jesus reminded his disciples to ‘watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation’ (Mark 14:28). Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us of different times for different activities. There are different seasons in our lives when we are able to do different things, yet for each one of us, the need to pray is paramount. Whether we are busy working or feel unable to do much, we can all pray for the ongoing work and ultimately for God’s kingdom to come in Goldthorpe.

In between all this, I have been involved in writing risk assessments, trying to document how all the work at the new building is carried out efficiently and safely. The Message version translates Mark 14:38 as ‘stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it.’ As I watch over candidates taking exams or endeavour to assess risk to ensure people’s safety at church, I am very aware that prayer is our best protection from whatever ‘danger zone’ or temptation we may face and that in Jesus, we have a great high priest who is, thankfully, interceding for us.

One of the main jobs has now been completed: the sign on the building announcing who we are (Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church) has now been firmly attached to the brickwork on the outside of the building!

When this was originally discussed, we got various quotes from signwriters to do individual lettering on the front of the building and were somewhat shocked by the prices quoted. We are a resourceful bunch who know how to make the best use of the things we have and who are very conscious of the number of jobs still to be done and the amount of money we have available to do those jobs! The lettering, therefore, ended up being done by members of the congregation, painted gold and attached with painstaking care and attention to detail.

The letters were arranged on paper and measured out (as always, the detail matters!):

Then the scaffolding had to be erected outside the building:


Using paper ensured that holes were drilled in the right place and so the letters could be exactly where we wanted them:

The paper was removed and the final thing looks amazing!

Our thanks go to all those who were involved in making and erecting the sign. They joked that they were like ‘the men of Issachar’ who ‘understood the signs’, a rough translation of 1 Chronicles 12:32 which says ‘men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command’. There are plenty of relatives in our church (and we’re all in God’s family!), so there is a lot of truth in this! May we all understand the times and know what we should be doing, in our individual situations, to spread the glory of God’s name wherever we go and wherever we are.