The temptation to settle is enormous. The status quo feels both comfortable and desirable. We like our house, our commute is easy, our friends are close. We have a lot of treasure and it surely shines bright. But a man - the greatest man - once told a story about a bloke with treasure... and how he gladly sold it old for something buried in a field.
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." Jesus (Matthew 13:44)
We want to emulate that man. We've looked at all we have - all the stuff we have accumulated and built - and then we've looked at all He has - all that Jesus has prepared for us and is calling us to - and we have realised that they really don't compare. We would be crazy not to swap our few pennies for his monstrous, magnificent caverns full of gold. So with joy in our hearts (and, admittedly, a bit of fear in our stomachs) we are selling our house and moving our boys from their school and leaving our jobs so that we can follow Jesus' call to Croydon; that we might plant a new Vineyard church there.
Over the next few weeks we will use this blog to tell you a bit of our story - of how we came to believe Jesus wanted us to do this ridiculous thing and what sort of church we think he is asking us to build. We will use it to share information about our progress and to be honest about what we've messed up. We hope it will be fun. We hope it will be inspiring. And we pray most of all that it will encourage more and more people to sell all they have to buy some stuff buried in a field.
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