The answer to an 11-year prayer: new church opens
Milla Ling-Davies
On Saturday 6 January 2024, Dan James had an encouraging answer to the prayer he’d been praying for 11 years: a church was planted on his council estate in South Leicester.
In 2013, primary school teacher Dan and his wife Jamie moved into Eyres Monsell council estate and their hearts were gripped by both its physical and spiritual needs – there was no gospel church there. ‘Convinced that God’s primary mission strategy is a healthy local church, we started praying for one to begin,’ Dan shared with en. Just over a decade on from those first prayers, after plans, bold initiatives and setbacks, 100 people gathered on the estate this January to commission Eyres Monsell Community Church and Dan as its pastor.
Bible sticker leads to church plant
Iain Taylor
A car bumper sticker can change your life. Ask Matt Viljoen. Born in South Africa where he trained as a vet, Matt moved to Broadstairs in Kent with his wife and two young children in 1999. But on his way to work one morning, he saw a bumper sticker with the name and frequency of Christian radio station TWR.
Matt was intrigued. Having grown up regularly attending church, he and his wife had already committed themselves to that way of life, as ‘cultural Christians’. But shortly after they arrived in the UK, the Viljoens met another South African couple, one also a vet, who had come to faith in Christ. Their new friends led them to Christ.
Moscow via the US to Wales...
Dave Gobbett, Lead Pastor, Highfields Church Cardiff, writes: It is a great thrill to report the launch of a new gospel congregation in South Wales.
November 5th will be the date to remember as the first meeting of Penarth Evangelical Church (penarthchurch.org.uk), planted by Highfields Church, Cardiff. With a core team of around 30 led by three elders, between 70 and 80 people, young and old, mature believers and interested enquirers, are now gathering together each week, committed to Bible-believing, cross-preaching, soul-reaching, and community-creating life together.
Revitalising a dying church: what's the secret?
Of making many strategies there is no end, and many training sessions weary the body.
As I have re-entered the Presbyterian ministry in a small church, Scots Kirk in Newcastle, New South Wales, I have been reflecting on my two previous ministries and on answering the question: how do you revitalise a traditional church, which is nearing the end of its life? It’s a situation I have faced before.