When God first spoke to us about getting a venue of our own in 2018 (in a very clear and spectacular manner – more on this later), we started a building fund. Over about a year, this grew to around 23K€. From late 2019, we stopped talking about it, and then of course during Covid there were more pressing issues.
Occasionally during our elders meetings, we would bring it up. We wanted to revive it, but it just never felt like the right time.
So the balance remained at 23K€ until November 2022 ! It was stagnant and dormant for 3 years!
In November 2022, at a small pastors gathering in the Netherlands (a group of 4 couples), we spoke about the challenges in Europe for churches – venues and buildings is clearly one of the big challenges. So we decided to pray. We spent close to an hour (totally unplanned) in fervent prayer for buildings and for the release of finances for buildings for churches.
This was just after we saw the announcement of the property we now call Paris Epicentre for sale. We were very intrigued and somewhat excited at the prospect, but it was totally beyond us.
The morning after this unplanned prayer meeting, I woke up to a message from one of our church members called Gwen. She is Vietnamese and was visiting her family in Vietnam at the time. She is also part of the story of how God spoke to us in 2018. She wrote to me saying she made a bank transfer to our building fund. This was the very first movement to that account in 3 years! And this after our prayer meeting. What timing!!! But what was even more amazing is that it was for an amount of 0,51€ (yes, 51 cents!). Her little five-year-old niece (completely unchurched) wanted a bigger house and shared that with her aunt (Gwen). So Gwen shared the story of the young boy with his lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish, and the multiplication of food. This really inspired this young girl. She went to get ALL her savings and asked Gwen to put it in Jesus’ hands by giving it to our church for our building (there was no building at the time, nor did Gwen know about the announcement we had seen). So she transferred 51 cents and revived our building fund.
The timing and persons involved (and the amount) inspired us hugely. Was this the cloud the size of a man’s hand that the prophet Elijah saw and knew the rain was coming (1 Kings 18:44-46)?
Let’s now fast forward to March 2025 (2 years and 4 months).
This gift of 51 cents has been transformed to close to 1M€ in donations that we’ve received for the first 2 down payments for our building. That alone is amazing.
But it turns out that God so blessed the mother of this little girl in her business, that she was able to build a new house. On the 11th January 2025, on her 8th birthday, Minh Châu (this little girl) moved into her new home, a bigger house.
And to top it all, she has become a believer.
Our hearts overflow with praise and wonder at this story. What can seem foolish to us is sometimes God very much at work in His perfect wisdom. We are so grateful to be part of this adventure. We are so grateful for Gwen, for Minh Châu her niece, and for the many for have now followed her example and placed their lunch boxes in Jesus’ hands.
Let’s never say that what we have is not enough!
Partner with us!
At PARIS EPICENTRE, we recognise that no one of us can change the world alone. Our project is bigger than us, and we need your support to make it a reality. We are looking for partners who share our vision and are committed to making a positive difference in the world. Your donation will help fund our renovations and community initiatives.
We want to see far further than where we are today and carry out this project for the generations to come, for Paris, France, Europe and beyond.
We are looking for investors to partner with us in this adventure.
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