Tuesday, 20th January, 2009
Building Towers
Luke 14:28-30 says "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'" (ESV)
In their context these verses are talking about salvation and the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. However, the imagery is quite stark and makes you pause when considering things like building projects and thousands of euros. I wonder whether Jesus used this image because someone, maybe a well known someone, in the locality had started to build some wonderful edifice and then failed to see it through to the end.
In thinking about our project in Libramont we've given some thought to these verses and how it would look if we got started, got the walls up, got a roof on and then... ran out of money. Someone may be willing to take the building off our hands but the damage done to our reputation would be incalculable. In Belgium protestant churches are already looked on with some suspicion. The country is, at least historically, Catholic and allegiance to the Catholic Church runs deep even if people say that they are non-practicing. So, we already have a certain handicap. We have no desire to add "right bunch of idiots" to people's preconceptions.
When the building and surrounding land were bought in 2002 most of the money came from the UK, thanks to many generous people who had caught the vision for a church in Libramont. We had some money left over after the purchase - but not enough to renovate or build a church.
On the 19th of October 2008 I preached a sermon on having a biblical attitude towards money. French readers can download a PDF copy of the sermon here. For those that don't read French the six points were:
- God owns everything.
- God provides.
- Don't seek riches.
- Don't despise riches.
- Be content.
- Be generous.
Note: these titles originally come from a sermon preached by the pastor of our home church in the UK. The content is different though. At the end of the sermon I set a challenge for the church: Give 20,000 euros for the building project over the next two months. A few jaws hit the ground. To be honest I was a little uncertain myself - even after praying whilst preparing what I was going to say I wondered whether I was doing the right thing. Part of my thinking was that if we were going to seek finances elsewhere we had better show that we believed in this project enough to dig into our own pockets.
I emphasised that despite setting the challenge there was to be no pressure on people to give a certain amount, or even give anything - each person was to decide for himself or herself.
Within the week almost 20,000 euros had been given. Now, at the beginning of 2009 church members have given nearly 42,000 euros. We have enough given and promised to complete the first phase of the works - renovation of the current building and construction of a new hall (including roof and doors). The rest will be done as "pay 'n' go". We'll do what we can using our own skills and as we raise money.
By God's grace our 'tower' will not be left unfinished.
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