Deuteronomy 8:18 urges God’s people to ‘remember the Lord your God.’ It’s so easy in the hustle and bustle of life, in the everyday busyness which surrounds most of us, to forget what God has done for us, and if we forget, we become impoverished spiritually.
This Saturday we are making a conscious decision to remember. It’s 15 years since our official opening as a church in Market Street. Prior to that, from 1964 until 2010, Goldthorpe Elim Church was based in Beever Street, but in 2010, after many months of praying and working with funders, we moved into the former Methodist church building (St Mark’s) and spent from February until July refurbishing the run-down building. Every Saturday and every day during school holidays except Sundays we spent time painting, plastering, rewiring, refurbishing the building so that we could move our base to the more central Market Street.
It was a journey of faith, for the church had £7,500 in the bank, and the building cost over £150,000. We saw God provide miraculously through a grant of £160,000 from Coalfields Regeneration Trust, but then the twists and turns of the journey meant the Methodist Church HQ preferred a higher offer from a builder and we had to give the grant back. Much heartache and confusion followed, but that was not the end of the journey.
The deal with the builder fell through… we were asked if we still wanted the building. Of course we did! – but we now had no money. Tentatively, we approached CRT again. They ‘didn’t know how this has happened’, but the grant had not been re-allocated and so we were given the money again (without having to change a word on our original application.) Then we were told by the Methodist Church HQ that they would like the additional £20,000 offered by the builder. We were unable to provide that… until the local Methodist circuit offered us that money, because they wanted the building to remain a place of worship. God provided the money; we got the keys in February 2010.
As we approach our anniversary, it’s hard to believe that fifteen years have passed since those action-packed days in 2010. We’re all older; some of the congregation have died; it continues to be a journey of faith. Do join us on Saturday as we remember the Lord and all He has done. We’re open between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. for light refreshments, crafts and a lot of photos!
