| In anticipation of the transfer, in October last year we identified some fifteen contractors and invited them to submit tenders for the construction of the new campus. We had done our initial costing some twelve years ago and so had no idea of what the current cost would be. After assessing all the tenders and choosing our preferred contractor, we can confirm that the cost of the project at present will be R30 million. At present we have R10 million in our building fund, leaving us with a shortfall of R20 million. You will appreciate that as a leadership, we were initially somewhat overwhelmed by the size of the shortfall and consequently, we began looking at alternative ways of making the project “more affordable.” We had not however communicated the tender outcome with the church, and we knew that early this year, we would need to do that.
In preparing to share this with the church, God convicted me about our lack of faith and trust in Him to provide for the shortfall and so easily defaulting to finding a more “affordable” solution. He also convicted me about seeking alternative solutions before we had shared the challenge with the church. In the light of this, God led me to preach the sermon “Creating Capacity for God” last Sunday. At the heart of the message was an invitation by God that in 2024, in the face of this financial shortfall, we were to create space for Him to do far greater things than we can imagine, even more than just meeting our immediate needs. He highlighted three people in Scripture to demonstrate what He could do. Firstly, He invites the barren woman at Isaiah 54:1-3 to sing for joy and to extend the size of her tent in anticipation of God’s promise that she would bear many children. Secondly, God invites the widow in great financial need at 2 Kings 4:1-7 to collect as many empty jars as she could, and as she collected these jars in faith, the little oil she had multiplied and only stopped flowing when she ran out of jars. Thirdly, God invites Jabez at 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, a man who lived in constant pain from birth, to trust Him to extend his territory and influence. In each of these three people’s lives, God invited them to trust Him for far more than meeting their immediate need and to take a step of faith. God honoured their faithful obedience by blessing them more than their immediate needs because of their faith and trust in Him.
The elders of Valley Church believe that this is a word in season for us as a church. In the light of this we believe God is asking us to reaffirm our belief that He is both able and willing to provide the shortfall for the new campus, but also at the same time, we reaffirm the fact that God will provide us a new campus in His way and His time and that this may well look very different to what we expect. We invite our Valley Church family to continue with us on this faith journey. We ask you firstly to pray with us for Jehovah Jireh to provide what we need for this shortfall and to pray for discernment and wisdom for the elders should God desire for us to look at alternative options. We also invite our church family to contribute financially to the church building fund should you be so led by the Lord. We thank God for the nearly R15 million rand that has already come into the building fund, R5 million of which has been used for the purchase of the land and the installation of services, and we are trusting Him for the outstanding amount.
Throughout this long and frustrating process, God has time and again, in many ways, reaffirmed the original vision He gave to us for this new campus. It will happen in His way and His time. We count it such a privilege to be a part of this exciting journey. Should you have any queries about this project, please do not hesitate to contact myself or the elders in this regard.
Blessings,
Grant Baston
PASTOR |
