Life As It Was
Hemel Hempstead Community Church (HHCC) has been deeply affected by the fresh move of the Holy Spirit that began in 1994. We are forever changed because of this renewal and are now part of 'Partners in Harvest' - a group of churches affiliated to TACF (Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship). These last few years have been particularly thrilling for us and we have seen a fire birthed in the church which has an ongoing consistency to it. However, one problem dogged us for years.

Since 1986 we had been without our own premises. Like many similar churches we hired either community centres or school halls for our meetings. Each week we had to transport equipment to and fro and this became something of a burden. Over the years we had attempted to get our own building but were always thwarted somewhere down the line. Eventually we gave up trying - twelve years is a long time to keep being disappointed.

Encouragement in Prayer
During 1996 we began again to pray about our need for a building. We had become so frustrated about not even having an office. My husband, Bob (the Pastor) was fed up with using our house all the time and our administrators also needed some office space. In the prayer group we began having some interesting prophetic words and pictures, and in 1997 someone had a dream about a situation that would occur prior to faith being conceived for a building. One of these visions was of a building in a photograph but the photo was in its negative form. We wondered if this could mean that there was a building already somewhere in Hemel Hempstead that would be ours, but things needed to develop for a while. Obviously pictures and insights like this need to be held lightly. Nevertheless we kept it in our hearts and often as we drove around we would scan the horizon for this hidden building. We never saw one. The prophetic dream was also significant. The dream showed that a certain young Mum was going to have another baby. The baby would be a little girl with a shock of black hair and deep dark eyes. This baby would also be born in the month of May and the point of all this was that when that baby was born the church would conceive faith for a building. Again, we kept this dream in our hearts and only a handful of people knew about it. The couple in question had only just given birth to their second child and were not planning for another anyway so it hardly seemed likely that the dream would be fulfilled.

Glorious Imaginings!
Throughout 1997 interest grew in finding our own premises. Not only that, the Holy Spirit was so moving amongst us that great fire and vision were being imparted to us. Different people were being inspired to serve the Lord in various areas of work and it seemed there was no end of creative ideas popping up all over the place. We felt and believed that God had great plans for the church and we were longing to have scope to do things. We felt in the spirit that something needed to happen because we seemed to be stuck without anywhere to even to begin to fulfil our dreams.

As we thought about a church building we began to throw caution to the wind and say what we would really like if there were no limitations. The children' workers said they wanted plenty of rooms - loads of space - that would be their own, that they could decorate with bright colours, animals, etc. The young people said they wanted an area designated to them alone where they could chill out with their friends, play games, listen to music - all the things teenagers love with an opportunity for outreach. Those who loved catering wanted a well equipped kitchen with a friendly dining area for different functions. Some wanted a resource room to provide tapes, CD's, videos and a lending library. We all wanted a spacious meeting hall that could hold at least a few hundred. Bob wanted an office; the administrators wanted their own office, and while we were at it why shouldn't the other elders have their own office! We went wild with ideas and simply enjoyed the fun of it.

Things Begin To Happen
Around August 1997 the young mum featured in the dream discovered she was expecting again and her due date was 26th April 1998. Those of us who knew about the dream gasped and waited to see how events would turn out. We still kept quiet about the dream because the young couple had a lot on their plates now!

Breakthrough Begins
1998 was our breakthrough year. It happened like this:

January 1998 - Along with two other leaders, Bob and I attended a Pastors conference in Toronto. Frank Houston was speaking about "containment". He said it was like being held in an invisible box. Whenever you tried to progress or expand you found yourself up against an invisible wall that kept you in. The devil didn't have to bother with you too much because he had got you contained - you could go so far but no further. We recognised our situation and the four of us prayed for a release. It was like a revelation to us.

February 1998 - Bob and I bought a satellite dish to receive the God Channel. This became another life-changing experience. To our surprise, we grew to love the teaching of Kenneth Copeland. Every day we watched him and Creflo Dollar and our whole outlook began to change. For the first time we heard the teaching on 'Sowing and Reaping' and 'Seedtime and Harvest'. We realised how inherently prejudiced we had been over the years without ever actually listening to such subjects. Now we listened with growing respect and faith. We also came across an Englishman called Clive Pick whose programme was called 'Money Matters'. He spoke about tithing and integrity in financial matters. His ministry also impacted us greatly, so between these three men our thinking changed dramatically. We are so grateful to them for the understanding they threw upon the scriptures.

Things Hot Up!
March 1998 - The church had an unexpected guest speaker. Dianne Sloan arrived from USA to minister at a conference along with Ken and Lois Gott. She had a free evening and was passed on to us. We didn't know her and she didn't know us but she came anyway. She was a powerful little lady. "This church is great with child and is about to give birth!" she boomed. We loved it . We believed it. We waited.

April 1998 - This was the month that the baby was due. The dream had specified May. We waited to see what would happen. Maybe it would be a little boy with blond hair and blue eyes.

Bob had heard of a warehouse that was up for sale belonging to British Gas. In the last week of April, as we passed the area where it was we decided on impulse to drive up to the gates and peep in. To our surprise the gates were wide open so we drove in. The caretaker saw us and came out. He said we were lucky to find him there, he only came for half an hour each week.

He showed us round the massive warehouse, then he said "Do you want to see the rest?". We swallowed. Feeling like a couple of frauds we let him lead us from one huge room to another. One enormous room could perhaps hold three to four hundred people. There was a wonderful social club area. There was an industrial sized fully equipped kitchen and a large newly refurbished canteen with adjoining rooms. There were ten offices (Ten!). Last but not least there was an excellent foyer. We were dumbstruck. It could have been made for us.

Delighted? Daunted?
The place was massive. We were only a smallish church - a hundred and sixty or so. It cost us about £800 per month to hire a school hall on Sundays for 2 hours morning and evening. This would be a different ball game altogether. While we had been having fun imagining having every room we wanted, we hadn't actually put all those rooms together in our minds. If we had we would have realised what a huge place we'd need! Bob and I went home a bit daunted. We switched on the God Channel and Jesse Duplantis was just saying "At what point do you choke over what God can do for you? Take off your choke collar and let Him provide!" We decided not to choke over the idea that the Lord might be wanting us to use the British Gas site as our spiritual home.

May 1998 - Two things happened in early May. A number of people from the church came with Bob and I to view the buildings. Everyone was excited by what they saw but also a little scared. "What we need is a sign!" someone said. There was a lone scrap of paper on the floor and Bob stooped to pick it up. It was an advert for something and it said: "PLEASE CONTACT FAITHFUL LTD IF YOU REQUIRE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PRODUCT."

We threw back our heads and laughed. We had already decided to contact FAITHFUL so back at our house we prayed earnestly for wisdom and courage to step out in faith and do what we felt God wanted us to do.

The second thing that happened in May was that Caroline gave birth to her surprise baby on May 6th, ten days later than expected. Her little baby girl had a shock of thick black hair and deep dark eyes.

Cooking By Gas!
After prayer, we decided to inquire about possibly leasing the property. The agent was amazed when we rang. Minutes before he had just re-negotiated with British Gas to lease the buildings rather than sell them. He seemed to like us and smoothed the way. Over the next few months negotiations for change of use, rateable value, rental costs, practical adjustments etc were arranged. It seemed that all the doors were open for us. We could hardly believe it but we did believe it! Within six months of discovering the buildings we were given the keys and we moved in during early November 1998. The gasworks was our church. Don't look out for a steeple - look out for a huge gasometer! We named the premises Haven House and we are now in our third year after initially being given two years, on a three month rolling lease. We now have another three years on a six month rolling lease. Yes, its a walk of faith. British Gas can ask us to go at any time. Bob says it is like walking through the red sea - the walls of water could come down at any time but it is God, our Faithful God, that decides how long they stay up, and we are trusting in Him. British Gas have been more than helpful and seem very positive about our use of the buildings. We have big dreams which seem to get bigger each year. Our lease doesn't include the warehouse yet, but we'd love to have it and faith is a growing thing.

We hope this report will give others great encouragement as they seek to find premises themselves. On one of his programmes Clive Pick declared "God is releasing buildings to the Body of Christ!". We chose to actively believe that statement and look what we received - a building that is more than enough for all our present needs. Only God could have done that for us, and if He did it for us He will certainly do it for you.

As for how we manage to pay for such large premises with all that entails, as well as having more than enough to sow generously into other ministries and needs - well that's another story!