Our History

Written by Michael Kane

"Do you know any Christian ceiling fixers?"

This was the question asked of Gary Moore on a building site one day. “Not the usual run of the mill building site enquiry!” he thought. “No, but I will ask about” was his response. Later that evening Gary was telling John Purse about the strange request put before him that afternoon, and the reason behind it. After hearing the ins-and-outs of why Christian ceiling fixers were required, John suggested that he and Gary, despite having no ceiling fixing experience could get the general gist of what it takes and do the job themselves!

The next few months was breathtaking with everything falling into place the way only God can do it. They had training on how to fit a suspended ceiling, funding came in, time was given off work and the support and encouragement they received from families, friends and their church was remarkable.

At the end of November 1997 they headed off with another six members on a team to Guinea Bissau, West Africa, a country they had never heard of, until now. The team were to work in a church that had taken local Christians seven years to build. Another team had went out in April to put the roof on the church - Gary and John’s task was to install a suspended ceiling, working alongside electricians who were installing lights, fans and a P.A. system.

This is how Gary and John summed up their time in Guinea Bissau” It was truly a wonderful experience. We had seen God working in both the church there and in our own personal lives. We learned very quickly to trust God for everything; we lived by faith and He never let us down. We really did feel God’s presence all the time and the sense of achievement in completing the project was truly remarkable.“

Being involved in this project has been so rewarding to our own church and us as individuals. We believe that the Christians of the Guinea Bissau church and the WEC missionaries, who we went out to, also gained so much from our time together.

On returning home and after much prayer, we felt God lead us to form LIFT “Labour In Faith and Trust” so that others may share the experience and benefits of serving in God’s work overseas as we had done.

LIFT was launched in March 1999. During the first year much time was spent promoting the services of LIFT at exhibits in local churches and in Christian publications. We also met with many Missionary organisations who where very supportive and encouraged us greatly.

The time for talking was over and in April 2000 the first LIFT project was upon us; now was the time for action.