A Divine Exchange
It’s not every day that a set of chairs tells a story. But that’s exactly what happened when Michelle, our Administration Manager here at Ashtead Parish, posted 261 of the St George’s chairs for sale on eBay.
George and Peter—shop fitters working in the UK and members of a Romanian church congregation—spotted the listing. Their community had just finished building a new church back home and needed chairs to furnish it. Our Church Warden, Phil Marlow, met with them to negotiate the price and arrange collection, and the connection was made.
One of their fellow church members, a lorry driver, was heading back to Romania with an empty truck on Saturday 16 August. He arrived with a group of helpers, and—alongside a spirited team from SGSG—we had the chairs loaded in just 40 minutes. Earlier that same week, we received our delivery of 320 brand new, stackable chairs.
It was more than just a transaction. It was a moment of shared purpose, of generosity across borders and of faith in action. These chairs have served our parish well, and now they’ll continue their journey in a new spiritual home. Their legacy lives on, and the timing of it all could be described as ‘divine’.
Back here in Ashtead, we’ve welcomed 320 new chairs into our church. They’re lightweight, stackable and beautifully practical—giving us the flexibility to adapt our space for worship, community events and everything in between. It’s a fresh chapter, and we’re excited to see how these new chairs will support the life of our parish moving forward.
