We had made a mistake. In the preparation for the Bible Summer School, Hanneke and I assumed that we would have to charge the same entrance fee as last time. And we also limited the age of the prospective students to 15-20 years old. We communicated it widely and contacted more than 200 people for sponsorship. However, no one signed up for the school and we didn’t get a cent. What went wrong?
A week before the Bible Summer School, Hanneke and I did a Bible study together. We read from Micah and we both felt that God wanted to teach us something about the school. Then we read Micah 3:11: ‘You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the Lord is here among us.”’
Of course, Hanneke and I understood that Micha wrote this in a completely different context, but we still felt immediate conviction. We had asked the target group for money to teach. People who often don’t have a cent. Although our intention was good and it was only about covering costs, this was not what God wanted.
Well, what do you do in such a situation? The flyer had already been sent.
We chose to ask for forgiveness, create a new flyer, invite everyone who wanted to come, stop charging an entrance fee and then wait…
After one day we had covered six registrations and approximately 500 euros in costs. We started the school with 16 students, mainly young people from 12 years old. By the end of the week we had over 20 students of different ages and all costs were covered. What a wonderful blessing and what a good lesson. It just shows that our Father is the best Teacher.
