If you’ve read our articles about Narnia Elementary School then you know that we’re excited about its potential for ministry in Banská Bystrica. You may have even prayed for our congregational meeting when we decided to commit to purchasing property for the school. Well, now we’re at the next stage of the saga and we need your prayers once again.
The Back Story
Our little congregation has decided to move ahead in faith and has committed to the purchase of the property where Narnia Elementary is currently located. We are sharing a campus with a public elementary school that the city administration wants to close. They need the money and this school has been dropping steadily in enrollment for some time now. So the administration approached us to see if we would be interested in purhcasing and we said yes. But, so far it is only the administration that has decided, the whole thing needs to be approved by the city council.
Petitions and Petitions
As you can imagine people in the area who send their children to the school a block away don’t want to send their kids to the school 5 blocks away. So they have petitioned to keep the school open.
You also might imagine that our little congregation doesn’t have a lot of money. Certainly not the 2 million euros (2.7 million dollars) of the official appraisal. You might also imagine that since the school is located on prime property, there might be some wealthy and influential people who might use their influence to petition certain voting individuals to decide in their favor.
If these are the things you imagine then you have a pretty good feel for what’s happening in our town this week. The city council votes on May 29. Our pastor has asked us to focus on prayer this week for the city council meeting next Tuesday. Narnia has a great reputation in Banská Bystrica and it’s possible that the city council could decide to 1) close the public school as planned and 2) give us first dibs – even at a lower than market price because we are currently on the property using it according to current zoning. I hope you’ll join us in praying for this important decision.
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