Rob and Theresa Finking's Story 

With their young family, Rob and Theresa Finking have struggled to attend the Sunday evening meetings at Central Hall during this season. But looking back on the last six months they are glad they made the effort. Diana Moss interviewed them to find out why:

Until January 2007, the Finkings set aside every Sunday evening to spend time together as a couple after putting their children to bed. However, when Billy announced that the usual services would be replaced with a gathering at 7pm each week they realised their routine was about to be disrupted.

Theresa explained: "When we first heard the plans, we had strong concerns, but Rob felt that we needed just to trust that God knew what He was doing and be loyal to the church. We realised that our relationship with God had to be our responsibility not the church's.

"To lose this particular night, which we set apart for us, was difficult, but we realised going to Central Hall was more important. When it came down to it, for us it was simply about following Jesus. If we can't stick the relatively minor inconvenience of Sunday evening meetings for a few months, we have to ask ourselves if we really mean it."

Normally the couple attend the meetings separately so one of them can put the children to bed, but one Sunday Rob's parents offered to babysit while they were visiting for the weekend. "It was really refreshing to be able to worship together again for an evening! We had thought of asking people to babysit but didn't want them to have to miss out on the meeting themselves," said Theresa.

On Sunday mornings the family have been going to their local United Reformed Church and the Thornhill cell group. "Although this is quite a juggling act we feel it suits our family as we get different things from both groups," said Theresa. "As a couple, our main anchor has been the group meeting at Mark and Ali Robin's house. The girls on the other hand particularly enjoy the URC, which has been very welcoming and supportive. The hardest thing about Sunday mornings has been supporting the kids. Bethany in particular wanted to know why the church was all meeting together at a time when she couldn't go - it's been hard preventing her from coming to the conclusion that she has been left out."

Despite the difficulties, the family have insisted on a policy of 'no moaning!' And have grasped a message from an evening service: ask not what your churchcan do for you, but what you can do for your church. They have learnt to depend on God more instead of relying on the structure of the church.

"Because of this we have seen God's provision, which has been more than worth the difficulties," said Rob. "A lot of what has been going on in the evening meetings has been confirmation of what we've been hearing elsewhere and fulfillment of things God has put on our hearts. Recently
a preacher at Bitterne URC church was talking about the tendency of the Church to either go for social action or worship but that we need to keep both in tension - almost exactly what Billy was saying only a few weeks ago."