Building Le Rivage

In the last few days I've had several people ask about our building project in Aix-les-Bains, so I thought I'd take a bit of space here and share the latest.

For now, we are at a bit of a stand still.  

Basically, my understanding is that if the funds are available (about $300,000 in all), we can have the building.  I’m sure it’s not that simple, but that’s the bottom line.  

To back up a bit, in September our team moved out of the rented office space that we'd been using for the last 2 years.  It was no longer meeting our needs, so when our lease ended, we packed everything up and said goodbye to the space without knowing where we'd be moving to.

We've been looking at buildings from the beginning of our project, as it's really important in France to be recognizable and prove credibility in the community; with a history of cults, the French are very suspicious, so we want to do all that we can to eliminate suspicion.  Though we've looked, there has never been a space that seemed to meet our criteria (visible, in the center of town, with a large space for Sunday gatherings and at a reasonable price).  

Then we came across a former dance studio.  

This dance studio seems to meet our criteria and is the best price we'd seen.  As we moved forward in the purchasing process, a large hurtle was (of course) the finances.  As a new church, we do not have many funds available, however, we moved forward in faith, hoping for about $95,000 in cash for a down payment (through individual donations) and a bank loan of about $200,000.

This is where we find ourselves stuck.  

In France it is nearly impossible for churches to obtain loans from banks.  There simply is no category for churches in the French system, and therefore they don't even know what to do with us (perhaps this gives some insight into the spiritual state of the country).  Rather than seek to find a category for us, most banks simply turn us away.  If our church - or any other church in France for that matter - is to receive a loan from a French bank, it is a miracle.  Fortunately, we know the God of miracles.

With this in mind, we have been encouraged to seek out both loans and special gifts from individuals rather than banks.

The good news is that France-Mission (the organization with which we are planting this church) has now made us a top priority, and they are doing what they can to help our specific project move along.  Hence, we’re at a bit of a stand still as we wait on them.  In the mean time, we continue to receive donations from individuals and churches from around France and beyond - which has been really encouraging!

We continue to pray that the doors for this particular building would either be clearly opened or clearly closed.  Would you pray this with us?

Since September we've been renting the local Bridge Club for our Sunday celebration services.  Last week we learned that the Bridge Club will no longer be renting their facilities to the public; however, with some negotiating by our teammate, they have agreed to let us continue renting from them through June.  We really need a long-term solution.

We desire to see a community of people living out the Kingdom of God in this city. This does not require a particular building, but we recognize that a building can be used as a great tool in connecting with the people of Aix-les-Bains - particularly young families.  Please join us in praying - for a building, and for the people of Aix-les-Bains.

If you'd like to support the building project, you can give here.  

If you're interested in giving a loan to our church, to be paid back in the future, please contact Jordan.

If you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask - we're happy to share as much as we understand. :)