Our members wanted a place of worship they could call their own. For over a decade, our Christian Science Society, and then church—Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Lagos, Nigeria—had been holding services in the Christian Science Reading Room belonging to First Church, which had its church edifice 25 kilometers from the Reading Room. Both of our churches staffed the Reading Room.
The building housing the Reading Room is an extension of an apartment First Church owned, which had not been in use for quite some time. While cherishing the desire for our own church building, we were led to ask First Church to cede the apartment to us, so we could convert it for use as a church hall and Sunday School. They lovingly granted our request, and for this we remain very grateful. This occurred in May 2005.
Some months later, the board of our church conducted thorough research on the project to convert the apartment. They suggested that the project be financed with internally generated funds. Most of our members were pleased with the suggestion and felt it was the right thing to do. But our church’s savings were just enough to seed the building project. How the funding for the major part of the project would unfold was left with God. The fear expressed by a small minority was that we didn’t have a fat bank account, or any high-net-worth individuals among us, so we would lack the necessary resources for a structure of high quality. For these members, the best option was for our church to apply for a building grant from The Mother Church.
