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(*please skip if you have not been following this story). Oh, the months of turmoil between the summers of 1985 and 1986. Even recalling milestone meetings gives me a headache. Eventually, in October 1985 another crunch vote was taken: 'the Church Meeting accepts the existing plans which have received planning permission from the City Council and instructs the architect to proceed with the detailed drawings immediately.
Because so many new members were joining us we kept on retelling the story. Day Conferences were a boon. Fresh ideas kept popping up. One of them focused on working with the unemployed. Some were unemployed in our own fellowship and it was suggested that we should support them and others in the city. Could this be a God idea?
Months and months of working through details, agonizing over decisions large and small moved on through 1986. Nothing much seemed to be happening. Of course not! We still hadn't said yes. Meanwhile the church continued to grow rapidly with newcomers enthusiastically joining in.
After three splendid years of ministry, Martyn and Margaret Travers moved onto ministry in Ipswich, with our gratitude ringing in their ears. Their time with us accompanied some extraordinary growth. To our joy another leaving student and his fiancee, Nigel Manges and Sarah were seeking a church placement and accepted the call to Cambridge. This turned out to be a further time of great happenings. Part of Nigel's brief was to focus on church mission at home and abroad and he really impacted this dimension. And, as you will see, arriving Summer 1986 he was to play a larger role than first envisaged. At the same time we were able (courtesy of a gift from the US) to appoint a part-time Music Director - a wonderfully gifted musician Brian Astell who was also going to have a very positive impact.
Though progress on building plans was slow church life was bubbling. I can read in the prayer book the excitement of living through these months.
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