Dear Flood Family,

When it comes to priorities, we believe that God’s mission for our church in the city of Lilongwe is to facilitate the transformation of young people’s lives, not to pay rent for a building.  As you know, we can no longer stay here at City Mall due to an increase of rent to 1 million kwacha per month.  By moving to Crossroads Hotel from May 2015, we will save 30% on rent and invest those resources in opportunities to tell young people about Jesus and show them how to live the life he offers.

Even so, the forced move to Crossroads Hotel is only the latest example of the vulnerability we face as a church in a city where we have no facility of our own to work from. You will remember that prior to our tenancy at City Mall, we were forced out of our tenancy at the Green Restaurant where we went after being forced out of our tenancy at the College of Christian Ministries. Thanks to Jesus, the church has never been left stranded and on the streets, and each move has strengthened our faith in Him.

Notwithstanding, moving the location of our services and the base of our operations four times in seven years has been very hard in ways that no longer make sense for a church that wants to leverage all its resources to transform young people. It no longer makes sense to tell Lilongwe’s young people that Flood Church is here to walk beside them for their transformation over the long-haul when we cannot even tell them where they can find and connect with us next year.  Secondly, it no longer makes sense to claim we want to see lives transformed when the only buildings available to us are ones we can only occupy once a week and ones not designed to give young people other kinds of help apart from church services on Sundays. Thirdly, it no longer makes sense to say we want to use our resources to change the lives of a generation when renting facilities requires us to regularly set up and dismantle equipment, thus limiting its capacity to go the distance we need it to go in the service of young people.  Above all, it no longer makes sense to claim we are here for the transformation of the city’s young people without an building a facility that adds value to their lives and contributes to the peace and prosperity of the city they live in, study in, marry in, get sick in, work in, die in, and get buried in. After 7 years of serving young people from rented buildings, it no longer makes sense to say with a straight face that we have been sent here to seek and find young people who have wandered away when we ourselves are a church that is wandering around.

Therefore, just over a year ago we took a bold step of faith together to purchase a plot of land on which we could build a multipurpose facility to meet the spiritual, social, economic, cultural, and relational needs and challenges young people face in this city. We stood on God’s promises together and believed him to enable us to Walk On Water (WOW) by helping us raise 35 million kwacha to purchase a prime property beside the Lilongwe River in the very heart of the city. This is why now that the land has been fully paid for and the building plans have been duly received by the Lilongwe City Council, the time has come for us to begin building for the future. We will build in ten different phases, and we will complete one phase before the next phase begins, but our hope is that we can complete all ten phases by January 1, 2019. The total cost for the building project will be approximately 450 million kwacha (1 million dollars), but the cost for each phase is indicated in the table below. Raising all the resources for this project and bringing it to completion will require no small amount of faith that it can be done, perseverance to see it done, sacrifice to give the money for it to be done, and creativity to raise money beyond our means so that it is done. One thing is for sure, it will not be done if even one person among us decides to be a spectator. If there ever was a time we needed to stand together as a church for the sake of future generations of young people, it is now, knowing that Jesus promises us that God’s arm is moved by the faith of those who stand together in agreement.

I therefore invite and ask you to pray about and make a decisive faith pledge of the most sacrificial and best monthly donation you can make for each phase. Before each phase, we will also be giving you opportunities to suggest other sources of funding we can pursue and to invite other people you know have the means and the interest to see Jesus change lives. So it is with faith in the power of Jesus to fulfill among us that promise in which he declared, “I Will Build My Church”, and it is with fear and trembling at his guarantee that, “Without Me You Can Do Nothing”, that I declare the launch of what we’ll call OPERATION PHASE 10. 

 

 

PHASE	PHASE NAME	OBJECTIVE FOR THE PHASE	ESTIMATED COST	STATUS
Phase 01	THE ABRAHAM PHASE	Possess the land for the facility	35,000,000.00	Completed
Phase 02	THE DAVID PHASE	Secure the plans for the facility	6,500,000.00	In Progress
Phase 03	THE JOSHUA PHASE	Clear the land for the facility	500,000.00	Launching
Phase 04	THE NEHEMIAH PHASE	Build the wall-fence for the facility	1,500,000.00	Launching
Phase 05	THE ZERUBBABEL PHASE	Lay the foundation of the facility	20,000,000.00	Pending
Phase 06	THE SOLOMON PHASE	Construct the facility	100,000,000.00	Pending
Phase 07	THE HAGGAI PHASE	Build the roof of the facility	40,000,000.00	Pending
Phase 08	THE MOSES PHASE	Furnish and fitting the facility	20,000,000.00	Pending
Phase 09	THE NOAH PHASE	Enter the facility	500,000.00	Pending
Phase 10	THE ADAM PHASE	Cultivate the grounds for the facility	1,000,000.00	Pending
		ESTIMATED TOTAL COST	225,000,000.00