Dare to dream

We all have dreams. Things we aspire to, things we want to achieve, things we want to see become a reality. And dreams can change over the years. Over the years I have wanted to be a teacher, a psychologist, to open a Bed & Breakfast, to go on tour with a theatre company - none of which I've actually done (yet! - I would LOVE to open a Bed & Breakfast!).

Anyway, the next part of our story is about daring to dream.

Tim and I went out for dinner shortly after I returned from The Netherlands and we discussed Maurice's advice. What are our dreams? What do we feel passionately about? What things do we feel God has given us a heart for? What excites us and makes us tick?

As we talked about the various things we have been involved with in church life, it became clear what our main passion was. We both agreed that we have a heart for those in the 18-30 age group. We looked back at the time we led an 18-30 church small group together and how much we missed having younger(!) people in our home. It's a time in people's lives when they are settling on who they are and we have such a passion to see people fully realise their identity in Jesus. It's a time when there are often lots of 'future' decisions to make and we have a heart to see people make Godly life choices full of wisdom and integrity without regret.

But you see, this kinda left us with a problem..! Currently at Aylsham Community Church, there is a gap specifically in this age group. There are lots of children, youth, families and over 60's but really really not many, if any who are aged 18-30. And we have to recognise that Tim and I aged around 40, are unlikely to attract those in that age group to be part of ACC - like usually attracts like. (Though it is a little depressing realising that one has moved into the next age bracket!!)

We knew that a new vision was being put together at ACC which would be articulated in the New Year (Jan 2016) so we figured that maybe we just needed to get stuck into that. We briefly floated the idea of 'maybe we would move at some stage but definitely not yet' but didn't consider it seriously.

Two other things happened towards the end of 2015 as well, which we can see now was God preparing our hearts for what was to come next.

1. Adventure

So, Tim began to feel God speak to him about the prospect of turning 40 in 2016. He felt God say to him that there were adventures to be had as a family.

As an aside here, just so you get the full picture, Tim has lived in Aylsham all his life, well, apart from a brief stint in Marsham as a child, but as that is a mere half mile down the road from Aylsham, it really doesn't count! He has lived here for 40 years...

So, as well as feeling a sense of adventure beginning to grow in him, Tim also felt that he didn't want to be a boring middle aged man (because 40 is definitely very close to being middle aged!) who never leaves Norfolk...(no offence to middle aged men living in Norfolk intended!)

2. Testimony

I was asked to share part of my testimony at ACC on a Sunday morning and for one reason and another I didn't feel able to. I really felt God speak to me through this and say that my testimony wasn't for here.

By the end of 2015, we had started to pray and ask God what He wanted us, as a family, to do, what was next for us and we had asked Him if He wanted us to move...

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