A Cambridge God Adventure* 47) It may be the will of God

(*please skip if you have not been following this story). After all these years it is easy to gloss over the difficulties and complexities involved in whether we would go ahead with a church financed scheme or with commercial help - unsafe or financially safe.   Personally, I had already gone through two grave learning experiences.  One was a major building project in my previous church which we managed to avoid dominating ministry but it added much controversy and gobbled up energy.  Also, in 1982 the leadership thought it would be good to refurbish the pew cushions which were hard and uncomfortable.  I thought this would be a simple project. However, giving for the targeted sum by a Love Gift from church members fell considerably short.  It was humbling to see the limits to generosity.  Much made me hesitate.

Yet, conviction grew that God was calling us at this was a time in our history that we take a major step of faith. In preparation for the decision a month later the deacons met and agreed a positive proposal to bring to the church.  It read: Believing that it is the will of God that we redevelop our premises along the lines of the church financed scheme, we recommend that we ascertain the response of our fellowship to the financial development by Easter 1984, 

The meeting shared honestly their fears and their faith.  At the end, they agreed this proposal with one change.  Instead of 'Believing that it is the will of God'  church members said: 'Believing that it may be the will of God.'   This major note of caution was introduced to rightly respect the tone of our prayers and thought.  We were not to presume!  And it gave time for concentrated prayer and thought with a specific end-date when the faith responses of the congregation would make the future clearer.  If it mirrored the pew cushion response any faith vision would go straight out the window.