(1099) Interesting way to fund a building project

My son and I attended a small church in north east Borneo. Interestingly this church produced 43 pastors and missionaries over the past 40 years or so.

They are very fortunate to own two pieces of land, on one stands a church with two sanctuaries which functions as a vibrant kindergarten on weekdays; the other is a bigger tract of land with a preaching point. Two years ago they made some plans to build but found the estimate too high. This year they talked about building something more modest on the second site with bigger land.

Listening to that brought to mind what I heard maybe eight or nine years ago. A speaker during my church camp shared about his church's adventure in building. This actually happened to his church north of Ipoh. I may be vague in dates and figures but the essence is there. After forming the building committee, the entire church was mobilised into fund raising. A year later, the committee had $13,000 in hand. It is not a miserly figure, lots of work went into it. They baked lots of cakes to sell to church members, friends, relatives, neighbours, contacts ... The youth cleaned and waxed hundreds of cars. The building committee prayed, they felt it was impossible to reach the 6-digit goal. Everyone was tired and much discouraged.

People who prayed seriously often heard unexpected replies, there many of them heard clearly God telling them to donate the money away. They took it literally and fasted, listening to details on whom to give and how much to give. Once they came to a unanimous consensus, they wrote the cheques and mailed them. The building committee ceased meeting. Strangely enough, once the dream was allowed to die, money came from every direction. Always just enough and timely to pay for the next stage of the building project. When the four-storey building was dedicated, it was all paid for. That church does not owe anyone one cent. The strange thing is: no letters nor appeals were made for funds. It is a clear cut case that God builds His church His way if we listen  to Him and let Him.