As the political turmoil in our nation continues, Mark Howson gives his thoughts on how we, as evangelical Christians, can respond.

In his recent blog post titled A Fertile Land Inhabited by Cowards, David Robertson said he was sitting in Glasgow airport in tears over the state of parliament, and claimed our country was being “governed by a parliament led by incompetent, dishonest, clowns.”

I confess that I despair of the situation, and that, even as one who trusts in our sovereign God who has promised to “work all things together for good, for those who are called according to his purposes” (Romans 8:28), I find fear lurking just below the surface.

I suspect I’m not alone, and if we who are looking forward to a better country feel this way, what is the state of mind among those around us who have no hope?

What should the church’s response be to the situation when our nation seems to be teetering on the edge? And what should our lost, fearful society and our neighbourhoods, see us doing in response to the situation?

People of God

Unlike other pressing issues like the question of gender fluidity or same sex marriage, taking a stubborn position either way on the Brexit debate will only add to the tension. Neither do I have any intention of debating the rights or wrongs of our politicians’ arguments. But I’m sure you’ll all agree that such a time as this calls for faithful prayer rising from the redeemed people of God.

This article therefore is simply a call to prayer, and I humbly want to state why I think it’s so important that we pray especially at this time.

1. Because we are called to pray for “kings and those in high positions…” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

When Paul instructed Timothy to pray for the government of the day, he was fully aware of what that looked like in 1st Century Ephesus, where the worship of the goddess Artemis was the order of the day.

It would be easy for us to simply dismiss our seemingly godless politicians, and to pray instead that they be replaced by some who resemble more closely our ideals. But I’m reminded of Cyrus, the king who was used by God to enable the return of the exiles to Jerusalem in 539 BC, and facilitated the rebuilding of the temple.

The way God speaks of Cyrus in Isaiah 44-45 is remarkable: “He is my shepherd, and shall fulfil all my purpose” (44:28). And yet he was a pagan king of whom God said: “I name you, though you do not know me… I equip you, though you do not know me…” (45:4,5).

The fact that many of our politicians seem to pay no regard to the things of God is no obstacle to God using them to bring about his purposes.

2. Because fellowship with God and each other in prayer quietens our hearts in the midst of turmoil

The Psalmist’s words “Be still, and know that I am God” in Psalm 46:10 have been a balm to many of God’s children in stormy times. The words of verse six provide the context: “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter…”. There are no surprises in God’s court room! There is nothing new under the sun.

I’m reminded of David when he returned to Ziklag only to find it a smouldering ruin, and the families of his men taken captive by marauding Amalekites. As we read about David’s deep sense of despair at the loss of his family, and with his men threatening to stone him, we’re told: “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6).

What a lesson to us in these tumultuous times! Let’s strengthen each other in the Lord our God as we bow our knee in submissive prayer. Our eternal home will then be seen more clearly with the eye of faith, and our role to greater gospel endeavour will take a more prominent place in our thoughts.

3. Because our neighbours need to see that we really do believe our God is the answer

I’m often ridiculed by my farming neighbours for not farming on Sundays, especially on a sunny Sunday morning after a wet week. Our harvester stays in the barn while our neighbours watch us from their tractors as we make our way to church! They get the point, as our claim to trust God for seed time and harvest is played out before their eyes.

We are those who believe that God provides a life that goes beyond our earthly existence, and that we are part of a kingdom that is not restricted by the boundaries of political incompetence. But does the world see that in the ways in which we worship?

I think it’s important that our nation begins to hear of and witness God’s people doing what they claim to believe. Prayer is an expression of our dependence on God, so let’s let the world know that our reaction to the turmoil is to pray to, and put our trust in, God. Let this call to prayer be known by the society in which we live.

David Robertson’s blog is online at theweeflea.com

A church on a deprived housing estate is increasing its community impact with the help of American missionaries. Mississippi graduate Daphney Byrd explains.

I first got involved with Earlesfield Community Church, Grantham, in 2015 through the Baptist Student Union at Mississippi State University, where I was studying.

There had been a link between the university and the church for several years through an initiative, Connect for Growth (formerly Churches in Partnership), facilitated by FIEC and the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

Each year, a group of students visited the Earlesfield estate to help with mission projects for a fortnight early in the summer.

While the Grantham area as a whole is relatively affluent, it’s estimated that 30% of children in Earlesfield are living in poverty (that’s more than twice the national average).

For me, joining in with the visits to Earlesfield seemed like a brilliant opportunity, and I have since been blessed to see how that partnership has really impacted people from Mississippi as well as people here in Grantham.

Outreach

After taking part in the visits, I moved to the UK in 2018 and now serve as the church’s Community Outreach Worker. This longer-term placement fits perfectly with the continuing short visits to Earlesfield by the American students.

It means that I can help to maintain the momentum of our community work throughout the year, and carry forward the boost that the short-term student visits bring.

In May, a group from Mississippi came to help us run several projects, including children’s clubs and neighbourhood barbecues. They also gave talks in local schools.

What stood out to me, during their visit, was how they got alongside people in the community. They talked openly, built relationships, and spoke about who Jesus is. They were able to point people to the Bible’s messages in ways that we, as a church, may not have otherwise done.

‘Seeds’ were planted that are already beginning to grow, and we are very excited about continuing to watch that growth.

Cultural differences

Being part of both the American and British side of things has really opened my eyes to different aspects of ministry.

My eyes have also been opened to our cultural differences! I believe I am finally over the mistake of saying ‘pants’ when I mean ‘trousers’, but of course I still say things in a way that my British friends find amusing.

Being on the American team allowed me to see how beneficial short-term mission work can be, while living in England longer-term is showing me that Christian work is often about being God’s light in the daily grind.

It’s about talking to someone in line (in Britain you call this a queue) at the school gate, or taking someone to a doctor’s appointment. It’s listening to people who are hurting, and visiting elderly people who feel lonely.

It’s through these everyday moments that God opens-up conversations and circumstances to allow the team and I to share his hope with people in Grantham.

Everyday lives

There are days when life as a foreign missionary can be lonely. I don’t know many people here in Grantham who are my age, and sometimes I find it hard to relate to my friends back home because our worlds are now so different.

But through these difficult times, God is showing all of us here at Earlesfield Community Church what a huge difference we can make to our community when we work together.

Please would you pray for me and the team as we continue to work here on the estate? Pray that the Lord would really open the hearts and eyes of the locals so that they come to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Daniel Howson, Team leader at Earlesfield Community Church, said:

“Our annual Mississippi team visits have made a massive impact on our church and wider community.

One of the many positives is the return to us by some of the students, including Daphney, to minister for a longer period.

We enjoy a lasting, warm and treasured relationship with the Mississippi State University’s Baptist Student Union, which prepares the students in prayer and guidance before they arrive.

I would recommend other FIEC churches that are looking to grow to get involved with these kinds of partnerships.”

More information about Connect for Growth is available from FIEC’s office team. Contact them if you’re interested.

Would your church consider joining with others in your community for a weekend away? Christchurch in Newport did, and is now celebrating stronger links with five local FIEC congregations. Senior Pastor Pete Greasley explains.

“Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133). This is the text from which Jonathan Thomas preached at the opening session of The Gathering – six churches from South Wales, who’d never met before, getting together to enjoy the gospel and share fellowship.

Meeting at Aberystwyth University over the August bank holiday weekend, we packed our time with singing, playing, listening to excellent preaching and eating (far too much) delicious food. We loved it all, and we can’t wait to do it again!

When I first discussed the idea of doing this, with my fellow friends and pastors Steve Levy at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Swansea, and Jonathan Thomas at Cornerstone Church, Abergavenny, we thought it may be a long shot. But we decided to go ahead anyway, and – by the grace of God, and a lot of hard work from church members – we pulled it off!

Why do this?

Over the past few years, God has been kind to us as pastors. He has given us a number of meaningful friendships with each other as we look to serve the churches in our care. We love our local churches and have wondered for some time if our personal friendships could be extended to our church members.

We considered getting the churches together for an evening or a full day, but, in the end, agreed that three days away together would be the best option. This would look like a church weekend away, but with several churches taking part.

We put the word out to other pastor friends in the area. These were Neil Tallamy at Baglan Community Church, Lee Jones at Gabalfa Baptist Church, and Jonny Raine at Pontrhydyrun Baptist Church. Everyone loved the idea and wanted to join in. So, without really knowing what the holiday would look like, over 700 people from six churches, including a lot of children, booked their places.

What happened?

We arrived on the Saturday in the baking heat, and, over a period of a few hours, everyone arrived and picked up their accommodation keys.

Later that day, everyone headed over to the university’s huge dining rooms for a meal before the first evening meeting.

Neil Tallamy and Jon Roberts, from Christchurch, led us superbly in sung worship over the four meetings with a team of excellent musicians. In the practice beforehand, I had been concerned that the band was too loud. Well, I need not have worried. When the singing began, the band was almost drowned out by the hundreds of voices singing with passion and joy! Many of the university’s staff commented on the singing, and some couldn’t resist taking a peak at what was going on.

The four times we all gathered together were a delight. Along with Jonathan Thomas, Steve Levy preached from Luke 18, and our guest speaker, Mike Reeves, thrilled everybody with the gospel.

But it was all that took place on the university campus that really made the weekend so special. Eating together, children playing and enjoying their own sessions together, teens meeting others from different churches, and our older folk (the most enthusiastic of all!) spending time together was a real joy.

There were inter-church sports events, and lots of opportunities to share stories and start new friendships. In the words of many who attended, it was “the best time I’ve ever had on a church weekend or conference.”

For me personally, watching how everyone was serving one another was a moving experience. It was a few days of encountering Christ-like service and grace from so many, to so many. I was particularly touched by seeing young men from different churches pushing some of our older saints in wheelchairs between the venues and activities. What a glorious demonstration of what the gospel looks like.

What’s next?

Suffice to say, there is a lot of enthusiasm to do this again, maybe with some more local churches that weren’t able to attend this time. We don’t want to wear out the planners and workers, so our current thinking is that we’ll give them a rest next year, and holiday together again in 2021.

In the meantime, friendships have been formed, interest in each other’s churches has been developed, and prayer for other churches is more meaningful. And there’s a desire to connect in smaller inter-church groups.

Despite the fact that The Gathering took six months of planning, we feel that it was definitely worth all the hard work, and we would do it again without hesitation.

Grace abounded. Christ was glorified. The churches were built up in their faith and love. What a pure delight. Soli Deo Gloria – Glory to God alone.

At the end of September, we’re delighted to be launching a brand-new FIEC website. It will make it easier to discover and access a wealth of resources to help you and your church.

One of our great passions at FIEC is to help churches and leaders with their real-world ministry. Our website at fiec.org.uk is a vital part of this work.

That’s because it’s the best way for us to reach as many people as possible with helpful resources. Our ministry team isn’t big enough to offer one-to-one support to all 600 churches affiliated to FIEC, but our website can offer you day-to-day advice whenever you need it.

The current FIEC website is over eight years old, and we’ve learnt a lot over that time about how people use the site and what we could do better. What’s expected from a website has also changed massively – especially with regards to accessing content on different sized screens. So for the past 18 months we have been planning and building a brand-new website that we pray will be a greater blessing to you as you serve your church.

Accessibility

The new site will be easy to use on phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers. So whether you’re in a café, at your desk, or lounging on your sofa, you will be able to benefit from our ministry resources in a way that’s convenient for you.

We’re also putting the focus on our most used facilities so they’re always at your fingertips – highlighting leadership resources, our church directory and job vacancies. But that will be complimented by a robust search function so that you can always find what you’re looking for.

Discoverability

Over the past eight years we’ve had a wealth of excellent contributions to the website, including all of the talks from our conferences. But a big archive means it’s difficult to find the most relevant resources amidst all of the other good ones.

The new website will be much better at displaying and linking resources to allow you to access helpful archived content long after its original publishing date – as well as seeing new content when it’s published. It will also be much more enjoyable for browsing when you want to be blessed but don’t have anything specific in mind.

Connectivity

We have also focused on better connectivity between resources, news, people and churches. This isn’t just to give you more ways to access content, but to give more attention to our member churches.

The Churches section of fiec.org.uk is one of our most visited pages and you’ll now be able to customise your own church’s page in far greater depth. This will mean that you’ll be able to connect with anyone who uses the “church search” to tell them all about your work and ministry.

In practice, that’s a great opportunity to use good photography and up-to-date information to enrich your church’s page on our website. On top of that, any articles or videos featuring your church will be linked from your page. That means that people will be able to learn more about your ministry and churches will be better able to connect with one another.

So now’s a good time to update your church’s details on our system before the new site goes live! If you need help with logging in, please get in touch with us.

Looking ahead

We’re aiming to launch the new site on Monday 30 September – and we’ll make a bit of noise about it when we do! But we’ll be keen to get your feedback so we can continue to develop and improve it. It’s our prayer that fiec.org.uk will be a place where you can read, listen, watch and engage with resources to aid your work and mission. FIEC is all about Independent churches working together to reach Britain for Christ. We hope our new website enables more of that to happen across our family of churches.

How do you resource a church with sung worship when there are very few (or no) musicians? Adrian Reynolds reviews a tool that offers a solution.

One of the questions we’re asked a lot is whether we know of any resources to help provide music in smaller churches. It’s an important question, and not just for smaller churches, as it happens. I served in a church of 350 where I was regularly the only musician.

There is a longer-term answer, which is about raising up and training musicians, something that others are contributing to well. But what about in the short term? Here’s my favourite solution – it’s a piece of software called iSingWorship. I’ve recommended it so many times, that were I on commission, I could afford an early retirement.*

How it works

Anyone who has sung along to a music track knows it has severe limitations. Most significantly, you’re stuck with their arrangement, so when the band on the YouTube channel drifts off into a screaming guitar solo, you have to join them, whether or not you want to. Album (and sometimes live) versions of songs are never quite what you want them to be.

The value of this software is that is gives you some control over such factors. I particularly like iSing – it seems head and shoulders above other solutions. The control software is free and available for any platform; moreover, the licence allows you to use it on as many multiple devices as you like, providing you don’t use more than three at the same time.

So, for example, we use the software at our smaller conferences (where it has been very popular). Johnny and I could be using the same song on the same day in two different locations: no problem. Or, at church, where we have three small groups, we could use the same licence to serve each one.

Once you have the software, you buy a song. Currently each song costs £2.99 and there are about 200 available. You’ll recognise most of them, even if you wouldn’t use all of them. There’s a mix of old and new, with most focus on newer songs (which is where many musician limited churches struggle). There are one or two free songs, for you to try the concept out.

Once you’re inside a song, you can either play it right through, or you can use it manually to select the next component to sing. Here’s a screenshot from my iPad to give you an idea.

On the left are a list of the components I can click on to come next. At the moment, it’s set to repeat verse 1, but if I didn’t want to do that and instead wanted to go straight to the chorus, I could line that up instead. Equally, if I didn’t want a repeat chorus at the end, I could just click on ‘End’ whilst chorus 4 is playing. All the joins are wonderfully seamless. iSing are adding songs all the time.

Excellent music

The quality of the music is superb. I can’t be too positive about it. It’s not electronic, nor amateur, and those seamless joins are, to me – a musician – things of beauty.

You’ll see that – if you’re into that sort of thing – there are some further options below for instrumental interludes (turns out you can have that screaming guitar solo after all if you really want). The fader button on the bottom right allows you to fade vocals and guitars in and out depending on your preferences (I tend to use a tiny bit of vocals to make a good start to each verse).

If you connect your PC, tablet or phone to a screen and have entered a CCLI number, then the app will also project the displayed words.

Drawbacks?

There are, naturally, some limitations, which an honest review needs to make clear.

First, if you project the words, you are stuck with these words. If you prefer modern words to hymns (as I do), there are no options to change them. Second, as the music is real and not synthesised, there are no options for a key change. You have to sing in the recorded key. Personally, I’ve never found this to be a problem.

Lastly, the website (from where you buy the songs) is a bit poor to navigate around, links to links and so on. But you don’t to go there very often and, whilst not brilliant, it’s perfectly manageable.

It’s a great resource and worth a look.

*Just for the record, I’ve no connection with iSingWorship and am definitely not on commission!

Hannah Langley reflects on the final service at Magdalen Road Church’s former chapel in Oxford. The congregation has now moved into a new building which the church hopes to call home for generations to come.

Change is never easy.

It’s especially tough when you’re leaving the place that’s been your family home for 140 years. But that’s exactly what we’ve just done as a church family, as we said farewell to the chapel building that’s been home to Magdalen Road Church Oxford for generations.

It’s a bittersweet moment for us. We outgrew the building about ten years ago, and we’ve been meeting in a local school on Sunday mornings as a ‘temporary’ measure whilst we looked for a new place to call home. God has generously provided for us in the form of an old primary school building, which by his grace we were able to purchase last year and we’re now able to move into.

We’ve been working hard to raise funds and we’re slowly transforming this building into a new home for our church, and a hub for our local community. It’s an exciting project – please pray for us, and check out oldschoolhouseoxford.org for more details.

A fond farewell

All this exciting change comes at a cost. Moving to a new place meant that we needed to leave our chapel building behind. As with any move, it follows a difficult season of decluttering and packing, which is tricky when there’s 140 years’ worth of stuff in the loft. I’ve been amazed by the way the church family have pulled together to make this move happen – the most memorable moment surely being the team pushing the huge fridge down the road to our new premises!

But the hardest part was the emotional impact of leaving our former home. It’s been in the family longer than living memory, through every season of our lives. It has seen countless dedications, baptisms, weddings, and funerals.

So, in early August, we all squeezed into the chapel for one final Sunday service. As part of our commemorations, older members of our church family shared special memories of holiday clubs and Christmas celebrations in the chapel, of ministries born in this building, faithfully reaching into our local community. Even more encouraging than that, they shared of answered prayers and of those who have come to know Christ through the ministry of Magdalen Road.

We thanked and praised God for his wonderful provision of our chapel, before symbolically walking round to our new building together. Whilst it was painful to leave, it was such a joy to be together in the new space, praising God there as we hope to do for generations to come.

Growing through goodbyes

Personally, although I’m excited about our new home, it feels difficult to move on. Good friends were the last to get married in the chapel, and we celebrated the dedication of both my daughters here. Perhaps it’s especially hard to leave as a member of church staff, when my job is so tied to the physical space of church.

However, celebrating and reminiscing about a building can make it easy to lose sight of what church really is – not a building (however precious it is), but the body of God’s people in this community.

So, as we say goodbye to our beloved chapel building, our prayer is that we would move forwards in faith, trusting God to sustain and grow the real Magdalen Road Church. That is, not the chapel building – or indeed our new building – but the people faithfully committed to him and reaching the people of East Oxford with the good news of the gospel.

During the Bank Holiday week at the end of August, we will be moving house. John Stevens gives thanks for God’s generous provision – not just for a new building, but for his generosity to FIEC over many years.

2022 will see the 100th anniversary of FIEC. As we look back over a century of supporting and serving independent churches, we are immensely thankful to God for all the ways that he has met our needs and provided for our ministry.

In the last ten years, as the work of FIEC has expanded, we have experienced numerous examples of God’s unexpected generosity. We have been able to recruit gifted new staff to serve our vision to be “independent churches working together to reach Britain for Christ” and our churches have significantly increased their annual donations to meet this cost. We have been given over £1.5m to support our training fund, which has helped to provide gospel workers for our churches, and a generous gift last year means that we have some £800,000 to distribute to our churches to support their mission initiatives.

Office Capacity

I am delighted to report that we have also enjoyed God’s wonderful providence in the provision of a new office for the FIEC staff in Market Harborough.

This has been a pressing need for some time, as our current office premises have been inadequate to meet the need of the central staff team. FIEC purchased its current office at 39 The Point when it moved from Croydon in 2005. When I joined FIEC in 2010 there were nine staff based in the office. Over the last decade the FIEC staff team has increased, and law firm Edward Connor Solicitors – set up by FIEC in 2018 – is also rapidly growing. There are now 21 staff based in Market Harborough, and others who use the office on a regular basis.

We were able to solve our space shortage by renting a small unit on the same business park, but this meant that the team was divided, and we have outgrown even this additional capacity.

Whilst the need for a new office was pressing, we were very conscious of not wanting to ask our churches for considerable additional money. Our priority is to invest in gospel ministry, not premises. After many months of searching it also seemed that there were no suitable premises available in Market Harborough, except for the option of a new-build office which would have been a huge cost of some £1.5m.

We had been praying for some time and should not have been surprised when an ideal office came on to the market which is almost adjacent to our current office, but twice the size. The price was reasonable, and the Lord provided a generous donor who was prepared to loan the additional money we needed for the purchase at a low interest rate. We were able to secure the property the day it came on the market, and after extensive renovation work FIEC will be moving into its new office at 41 The Point at the end of August.

We are deeply thankful to God for this amazing provision. It will enable the FIEC team, both ministry and support staff, to be based in the same building for the first time in four years. We are confident that this will bring significant benefits to our team dynamics and enable us to work more efficiently together.

The growing team at Edward Connor Solicitors will be able to take over the lease of our smaller office and we can sell 39 The Point to enable us to repay most of the loan we have received without having to increase church donations for this purpose. Even after the final refurbishments are completed, the total cost of our new building will be in the order of £850,000 – far lower than a new-build alternative.

The Building Challenge

We are encouraged that many FIEC churches are growing and facing the challenges of buildings that are too small. When the Lord provides a new building, it enables the ministry to grow. This is exactly what we have experienced at FIEC, and we are thankful that the Lord has done more than we could have asked or imagined.

We are very conscious that it is our churches that fund our work through their donations, and we remain committed to ensuring tight control of our central costs. The vast majority of church donations fund the salaries of our staff, and I am glad that this new office will not detract from our frontline support of your gospel work.

Please do join with us in thanking God for our new office, and pray that we might be good stewards of it for the service of the gospel in our nation.

We look forward to welcoming you to our new home in Market Harborough.           

PLEASE NOTE – This office move means that it will be harder to contact us during the week commencing 26 August 2019. We will be fully moved into our new home by Monday 2 September. Our new address is:

41 The Point
Market Harborough,
Leicestershire
LE16 7QU

We’ve been privileged to have Phil Walter serve alongside us as Church Revitalisation Co-ordinator for the past three years. Now he’s staying in Market Harborough but moving into a new role – as Adrian Reynolds explains.

In recent years, we’ve made significant progress in the area of church revitalisation. Much of this has been down to the hard work, dedication and wisdom of our revitalisation co-ordinator, Phil Walter.

Phil is nearing retirement, but wants to spend the last few years of his paid work serving in his local church, and we’re delighted that from September he has been appointed Interim Pastor of Harborough Community Church, where he serves as an elder.

This is an important time for the church and Phil’s appointment is critical as the church adapts and plans for the future. It might seem strange to say that we’re ‘delighted’ to be losing Phil, but whilst we will miss both him and his contributions, we believe that the local church – in God’s economy – is where all the action is. So, we’re truly pleased to affirm him in this ‘promotion’.

Next steps in Revitalisation

His appointment clearly leaves a hole in our revitalisation work. For some time, we’ve wanted to refocus this work to be a broader strategy to stand with and support smaller churches. For some this will be an issue of revitalisation, but a smaller church support network needs to be much more than this, and together with Phil, we will be planning what this looks like over the rest of the summer and into the autumn.

Phil’s role has, in large part, been generously funded by those outside of the FIEC family, and we also want to express our enormous gratitude to God for their generosity and vision in supporting us through this season.

Please join us in thanking God for the last few years. There are churches thriving now which owe much of their health – humanly speaking – to Phil’s wisdom and input. Please also join us in praying for Phil and Ruth in this new venture, and for FIEC as we think and pray through how we will fill the gap Phil leaves behind.

What does church planting look like on an inner-city housing estate in England’s capital? Sam Gibb introduces us to Hope Church Vauxhall, a partnership between FIEC, London City Mission and the Co:Mission family of churches.

The Hope Church Vauxhall journey began with a conversation in a coffee shop.

My wife and I had left Bible College in 2017, buzzing with excitement and expectation. God had given us a passion to see the gospel transform and unite divided urban communities around Jesus, through the local church. So, with this vision engrained in our hearts and minds, we were heading back into Central London where I would begin leading a planned church plant.

However, within a few weeks the project had fallen through. So, broken and confused, I walked into Café Nero to meet with Jonty Allcock, my former pastor at The Globe Church, ready to have a bit of a moan and seek his advice.

But another story was unfolding in Vauxhall, one that began more than 50 years ago when London City Mission (LCM) established a ministry to the Vauxhall Gardens Estate. Since then, faithful missionaries have been reaching out to local residents with the same desire - to see the least-reached in Vauxhall hear the good news about Jesus.

That work led to a church plant being set up five years ago. However, the work struggled, and it came to an end in summer 2017. It was at this point that Jonty and The Globe Church were approached to help to fulfil this vision for a Vauxhall plant.

God’s timing is (as always) perfect and my coffee shop catch up with Jonty ended with cautious(ish) excitement about the possibility of leading a church plant in the Vauxhall Gardens Estate.

The next few months flew by. In January 2018 I was appointed by The Globe Church to lead the plant, and by March we had moved into the area.

Gathering a team

Over the following months we began to get a team together. Kevin Croft, the LCM Team Leader in Vauxhall, his wife Rebecca and his two children began the motley crew, along with the other LCM missionaries. Before long we were joined by others who had a heart for Vauxhall and who lived locally or were willing to move to be part of the plant.

Our little team of twenty adults and four children spent the summer throwing ourselves into the local area, eating food, watching football and just hanging out. As we opened the Bible together, we began to put flesh on the bones of the planting plan: God grew our heart for the lost in Vauxhall and together we began to shape what a ‘Vauxhall’ expression of local church could look like.

I originally wanted to call our church ‘Sanctuary’, but Kevin (thankfully) refused. He knew the name had to be straightforward and clear (and not sound like a Hipster Coffee shop). And so, on 2 September 2018, Hope Church Vauxhall met for our first church gathering – there were just over forty of us.

Steady growth

Since then, by God’s grace, our family has steadily grown. We have seen some people come to know Jesus, but others walk away. We have seen local Christians without a church find a home with Hope, and we are joined every week by many who don’t yet know Jesus but feel welcome here.

Our family is now made up of (to name a few) Brits, Americans, South Africans, Nigerians, Ugandans, Zambians, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, a scattering of Welsh and a growing group of Eritreans. Our family crosses classes, and races and cultures because the gospel crosses classes, races and cultures.

Together we are bringing Jesus, the message of Hope, in the heart of Vauxhall.

What does it look like?

To the community, it should look familiar. The red, white, blue and yellow of our logo are unashamedly nicked from the local fried chicken shops (if you’ve never been to a Tennessee Chicken or Chicken World then you haven’t lived).

On Sundays, we do properly church stuff in a properly Vauxhall way. We’ve studied the beatitudes with the help of ‘the Hamburger of Happiness’ (don’t ask) and our weekly ‘liturgy’ involves learning awesome things about God in a slot we call Lyrical Theology, where we rap along with Shai Linne.

But it also looks different. Very different.

Grieving together

A week before Easter and not even eight months since our first Sunday, one of the couples at the heart of our church family died in an incident while on holiday. Toby and Milly Savill were loved in the community, and our neighbours knew what they meant to us.

And this is where we have shown that we are like, and yet unlike, the people around us.

Though we have mourned, our mourning has been different. We have not stopped preaching Christ crucified. As we’ve walked with friends, we have held out the hope of the resurrection. We continue to weep and yet are able to proclaim that we do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess 4:13).

In the face of yet another unexpected providence, we continue to pray that more and more people in Vauxhall be able to say the same.

That is Hope Church Vauxhall.

Graham Nicholls explains to Phil Topham why Christ Church Haywards Heath started a weekly podcast called “Ordinary”. Is it something your church could consider to help disciple your congregation?

First of all, what exactly is a podcast?

You could describe it as a digital audio file that you make available over the Internet. But that doesn’t really do it justice. It’s more like a series of episodes of a radio programme but available any time. People can listen to podcasts from websites but more often they listen from a podcast app – like Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If they “subscribe” they get a message when a new episode is available.

So why did you decide to do a podcast?

We realised that lots of people, especially young adults avidly listen to podcasts and we thought it would be a great medium for training and equipping people to live the ordinary Christian life. We recognised that especially for new Christians there are so many issues to think through that in Sunday sermons and a midweek group we didn’t have time to address.

Listening to a podcast on your way to work, at home whilst doing other jobs or walking the dog, could be a good way of redeeming time and using it to grow in godliness. So, we saw podcasting as a way to extend our communication and connect with our own church and also with other Christians in cyberspace who might want to listen in on our conversations. It’s just a different way of engaging with people to encourage them in their Christian faith – a means of pastoring people in our modern world.

Why did you call it Ordinary?

We call it Ordinary because it’s two very ordinary pastors (myself and Mark Ventham) speaking to ordinary Christians about living for Christ in everyday life. The Christian life might not seem exceptional as we live it, but Christians have an extraordinary opportunity to speak and live the gospel and we wanted to talk into people’s everyday situations. We also wanted to do some teaching but also share our own lives life and be honest about our own challenges.

Once we got started with the idea, we thought “Let’s make it so it’s not about our church – let’s make it available so it can work for any Christian”.

What is the format?

Each episode lasts 30 minutes with myself, Mark and Josh Bannister. Josh acts as a kind of host to keep us on track. So far, we’ve covered topics like what is the church and why join, evangelism, Bible reading, anger, God’s sovereignty, pornography and a mini-series called Ordinary Apologetics beginning with the moral argument for the existence of God.

Would you recommend other churches to create Podcasts?

In principle we would absolutely encourage any church to consider it as another way to disciple your congregation, addressing issues that you don’t always have time to do in other settings. Technically it just requires some basic digital recording and editing equipment and a quiet room!

I would say it does mean a commitment to planning the episode and the sit-down time to do the recording. We had to commit to the long haul for this as it’s something that takes time to build and you need to keep adding new episodes to keep the momentum going.

How can we listen to Ordinary?

You can catch all the episodes on our website but you can also subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or just paste this link into your podcast app: http://bit.ly/OrdinaryFeed

Do contact us about issues you would like to hear discussed. If it is an issue in your church it will most likely be one in ours!