I was saved when I was about six years of age, brought up in a Christian home mum and dad were both saved, and I was sent along to Ardmore gospel hall. There were seven of us at home and I was the last. Iit wasn't until I was about eleven that I started to get a real passion for God, and to know more about God. I can remember coming home one day from school, and I found myself between two hills, and I know that God was calling me, into something, but I didn't know into what. I know that I had got the message right but I had 27 years to wait. I thought that it was going to be the next day. As a family we were involved in the Gospel hall, but there came a time, when I was sure that God was calling us, and the time was right for us to move on, but we didn't know to where or to what. We left in 1991, and attended the Pentecostal church for a while, but this still wasn't right, I knew that there was something else that God wanted me to be involved in. There were no flashing lights, just an awareness of people's need; I had found that there was a lot of good people out there who were suffering from brokenness and hurt, people with real problems. I thought that we as a family could reach out to these people and help; we had been through some horrific problems financially, so we could speak from first hand experience. In 1996, we stepped out in faith. It was the 8th September. I wish I could say I heard God, but I knew that there was a need a real need. There were lots of times that we wondered if we were doing the right thing, was this of God or us, we questioned ourselves, but, we continued on, and by Christmas we had 30 people coming to our home on a regular basis. Some of those folk who attended we were able to help, and see them through difficult times. So in the January of 1997, we started to look for premises. The saying goes ‘One door closing and another one opening', but with us one door closes and another bangs shut. We looked at everything, we searched for over a year, place after place, we got built up so many times, people would come along and say this is the place, this is the reason that God wants us here but nothing. Every door closed. In Spring 1998, Jill and I decided we would go away to Donegal for few days. We wanted to spend a bit of time together, but we wanted to see what God was saying to us. So we decided to spend the days with God, we wouldn't speak to each other, and we would the nights with each other. It was then that God spoke to powerfully, it wasn't from my daily readings, or by opening my bible and finding a verse, it was through systematic reading Deut 2. He spoke me about my job, career and where He wanted the church to be. The door opened to Lurgan. It was really strange, but after we came home the Lord opened the door for Donacloney, this was completely in opposite direction, and it was hard not to be confused. But it was at conference that I found the answer. Rosemary McAuley was speaking at this conference, 'there is somebody here tonight, and God has taken you in a different direction to that you have been called.' My ears picked up 'And the reason he has taken you this direction is like Moses how can you hide a baby in the bulrushes for three months without him being noticed, without him crying, its impossible unless it's by the hand of God. God has taken you and hidden you in the bulrushes because He doesn't want you to grow wide, or numerically, He wants you to grow deep'. I knew that this was for me, I just started to weep, I knew for sure that god was speaking in our lives. So we went to Donacloney, there was about 40 of us, and by the time we left three years later we had over a hundred. The hall held 90 people comfortably, so there were 10 uncomfortable people, again we had to look for new premises. The saints had been good to us at Donacloney, we had no rent to pay - we just had to cover the electric. Once more I was before God asking Him where we were to go. God came to me in a dream he told me about Union Street , in Lurgan. One of the elders came to me the very next day and told me that there was a place in Union Street for sale, it turned out to be the old Gospel Hall, we bought it, and stayed there two years. By this time our members were still growing, and now as we leave we have between 25 - 300 members. We moved to our current premises in Castle Lane on 21st September 2003. The move has brought new opportunities, and new challenges. But God is faithful, and as the needs have increased, so has His grace and provision. We are excited about seeing growth in the church, both in terms of numbers and spiritual maturity. We praise God for where He has brought us, but we are not content to stay here. We believe He is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” ! He is a big God with big plans. Our mission statement reflects our desire and direction … “To be a Bible based church dedicated to making disciples, reaching the lost and influencing the world.”
Philip Emerson |
