“Please pray that God will provide a church building for us to meet in,” Teacher Pov requested again. It was Sabbath morning, and our in-town group was gathered to worship in a rented house. Every week, Pov made the same prayer request. We were moved by Pov’s burden to have a church building, but how could such a small group of impoverished people take on such a huge task? This sentiment of inadequacy was reflected in Pov’s weekly prayers, but so was his belief that God had the answer to the problem and would provide in His own time.

Several months after Pov began making this prayer request, Jonathan was asked to have the sermon. As is his custom, he prayed about what topic to share. As Sabbath approached, he felt impressed to talk about the story of Joash the boy king.

On Sabbath morning, Jonathan brought the My Bible Friends book with the story of Joash to church to help keep the attention of the kids. Everyone seemed to enjoy the pictures as he started sharing the story. When he got to the part of the story where Joash sets out a moneybox to collect coins to pay for temple repairs, Pov jumped to his feet. “We could use a moneybox to collect money for a church!” he nearly shouted in excitement.

Throughout the next month, we heard various church members talking about Joash’s moneybox.

Then one morning in Sabbath School, the lesson was about stewardship and saving money for things that are important. Soon the whole group was talking about how to save money for a church building. Some were concerned that if we tried to save money for a church, there would not be enough for other expenses. But as the discussion continued, everyone decided they wanted to do what they could to save money for a church building.

The next Sabbath, a blue metal box with a slit in its lid was presented at the church service. So far, about $200 has been collected in the “Joash Box.” I know that doesn’t sound like much, but for people who make less than $200 a month, it’s not too bad! We feel so blessed to be part of this church group. Instead of letting poverty be an excuse or asking for outside help, they are taking action to build a place where they can worship God together. Taking responsibility for their place of worship is an important step in their spiritual maturity and ability to continue a multiplication process that does not depend on outsiders.

Please join Teacher Pov and us in praying that God will supply a permanent place of worship. I can’t wait to see how God honors our faith!

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