Church Planting Update
Hope Church – Deeside
We’re Hannah & Andy and we’re the leaders at Hope Church in Deeside which is in North Wales, and we’d like to give you a quick overview about the church. We started meeting as a community group and were part of Freedom Church, Chester but during the midst of the pandemic the Welsh Government kept closing the border so we couldn’t travel across to England and couldn’t take part in any of the in-person services at Freedom Church when they returned. So, we started to meet in our garden, we would take part in the Zoom services that Chester hosted altogether and then we would pray together as a group.
During that time, we really felt God start to stir us about doing something here in North Wales. There was very much that definition of the border, that we were in a separate country and that God was wanting to do something in this area. So, we looked for a community centre, which was a little tricky at first as many places hadn’t reopened again but managed to find a little community centre that would allow us to begin meeting on a Sunday morning. So as a community group we started meeting there and we’ve been meeting since then – that's how we got started.
So, there are now about 20 – 30 of us and we’re just really passionate about seeing Jesus’ name proclaimed over North Wales. Keith asked us to share a couple of prayer points with you.
Points for Prayer
- We are currently looking for a new venue – where we currently meet has been an amazing provision from God to allow us to get started but we aren’t able to use it at any other times. We are currently running a community coffee morning, we’re going to be doing a CAP course next month in another venue. What we’re really like is to have them all in the same location – so prayer that God would provide the right place for us would be brilliant!
- To continue to see lives transformed – through the coffee morning, we’re meeting some of the elderly people in our community, the CAP Course and other things that there will be real opportunities to share the gospel with people and how good Jesus is
- To see people added to the church – as their lives are transformed that we’d see them give their lives to Jesus and be added to us
If you or anyone else is interested in church planting or is looking to be involved in church planting, you’d be more than welcome to come and join us.So, if you’re feeling stirred to come and join us in sunny North Wales, please do get in touch!
Gateway Church – Epsom
We’re Rob & Abi and we’re from Gateway Church down in Epsom. Epsom if you don’t know is a town just outside London but which is within the M25 motorway. So, we find that we’re a busy commuter area where people will be going into London for work but enjoy coming back out and into the lovely Surrey Hills and so our church has some people who have a real heart for Epsom and this area and to reach those who don’t yet know Jesus.
Prayer Points
We’d love it if you could pray for us and for all that God is doing through us here in Epsom. There are a few things we’d love you to join us in prayer for:
- That we would continue to see salvation here at Gateway Church – we have had a couple of people give their lives to follow Christ last year and we’re really excited about that.
- For musicians who could play alongside those already leading worship on guitar and build our worship team
- Youth Leader – we have a group of young people who are heading off to Newday this summer but we don’t really have anyone at the moment who can help lead that team and take it forward after the summer break – we'd love you to pray for God to lead someone to us who can help take that on!
- Community – we want to continue to build our church community, so maybe you have a heart for the area we are in or maybe you feel God calling you to something new but also please pray that God would bring more people into our community.
Thank you for taking the time to pray for us – we really appreciate it!
Chemnitz Church Plant
We are the Webers here in Chemnitz and we’ve been in the city for about 6 months now and we really want to thank you for praying for us today!
So, we’ve got four prayer points we’d love to ask you to pray into for us:
- Church Brunch - we’ve now started gathering a group of people for what we’ve called church brunch, we have lunch together, worship together and study some scripture together as well. Please pray that this forms into a great core group of people who come consistently and start feeling part of what God is doing in our church plant here.
- Team – we’d love to have some more people on the team with us here – please be praying for people to be nudged by God, that actually Chemnitz is a great place to come to! That people will be able to get through all the visa things and be able to join us in taking responsibility for what God is building here in Chemnitz.
- Finance – we've got growing financial support team which is great, we’ve raised about 70% of what we need as a family income every month, a great start but we’re still lacking about €1800 per month. So please pray that we can find that as well, so that we can continue full time church planting rather than having to find some other employment as well.
- Salvation – pray for our next contacts, the people that God has been preparing already, for people of peace who will be part of this church plant in the future, in what is a very atheistic city, that God would start calling people right now.
We also have an opportunity 25-27th October 2024 for people to come and join us for our prayer weekend. Get in touch with us early so we can help you book flights and arrange everything.
City Valley Church – Aire Valley
Hello from the beautiful Aire Valley, we’re Naomi and Viv and we lead the team here in Airedale which is one of three sites that make up City Valley Church. We’re the valley part of City Valley, here on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales between Keithley and Skipton.
The Airedale site was planted just five months before the pandemic, which made for an interesting start. We’ve been really encouraged that as we began coming out of lockdown, new people have joined us here.
The last 12 months or so have been a time of putting down roots, beginning to mature and so we’re really excited to baptise 9 adults and young people last year.
We have a wonderful group of really faithful and mature people here, mostly aged 50 plus, so our main prayer request is to see some younger individuals, couples and families to come and join us here.
If you know anyone who is interested in this area, looking for a church then please do let them know where we are! Or if you or someone you know would be up for coming to join us in this lovely part of the world, in God’s Own County, then we’d love to hear from you!
To get in touch with our church planting teams or for more information about church planting please visit: christcentralchurches.org/planting