OUR CHURCH businesses have been a vital part of the growth of the Jesus Fellowship. 'We're here to help you build' is our slogan and you could just as easily say, 'We're here to help you build the church!' because of the important role that TBS (Towcester Building Supplies) plays in providing jobs and creating income for the Jesus Fellowship.

Many a visionary project hasn't been able to fly because of lack of funding. Through businesses like TBS we can make spiritual dreams -like our planned Jesus Centres, places of worship and social care -actually come true in practical reality.

Our original depot opened in Towcester, in 1978. A second depot opened in Daventry, twelve miles away, in 1981. It aimed to be a 'one-stop shop' for builders large and small - which it still manages to be, even though products have obviously changed in that time. We now sell everything from tonnes of gravel and block-paving stones to a small box of carpet tacks. And yes, we do sell kitchen sinks.

From its 1978 turnover of £46,000 to last year's turnover of £4.47 million, we have seen TBS grow- weathering the general building recession of the 90s to the increasing competition of the 21st century. We're now more profitable than we've ever been and our vision is to open new depots.

It is certainly a fertile discipleship training ground for employer and employees! Reps from other companies are intrigued (and go misty-eyed at our idealism) that we all, from yard-sweeper to general manager, earn the same salary - thus eliminating the scrambles of ambition. We explain that we ARE ambitious to further the work of the church and that our joint vision enables the kind of teamwork not always seen in outside businesses - and not just confined to swopping our least-favourite sandwiches either!

Challenges rain thick and fast in a builders' yard. One summer day a goods-in fellow arrived in Reception to ask if I spoke French. A driver (with no English) needed to be told he was carrying the wrong lorryload and must return it from whence it came, across the Channel.

I stood in horror, remembering the word for 'forest', while the word for 'wood' refused to materialise in my memory bank. Thank God for the international language of hand signals.

In between the hard graft and the moments of frustration, I have continued to thank God for the privilege of working at TBS with the finest colleagues in the world - and in an ethos that genuinely stands for equality and justice. May our little (bayonet-fitting-candle-bulb,60w, located-to-the-left-of-the-counter) TBS light shine for the Lord and for the next 25 vears!