A Church Plant Experience

The Story of our little church plant in Market Harborough, UK

By Sinead Henderson, GCI UK

When you hear the call of Jesus to plant a new church community, you answer. You don’t have all the details, how it will pan out, or if it will even work, but you just step out in faith trusting Jesus to guide you and you begin at the beginning.

We had travelled to church for many years outside of our hometown of Market Harborough before seeing how important it was to join God in the work he was doing in our own community. And it became clear he was calling us to plant a church

We began as these things always do, soaked in prayer. As it says in Psalm 127:1, “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain.” So we waited for the promptings of the Spirit and for the right opportunity. The opportunity came when a local organisation who had previously hosted a community Christmas meal for those on their own ceased serving, and we stepped in and hosted our first community event — which was wonderfully successful. This endeavour helped us cement our core team, a crucial step before embarking on planting a church. A strong team provides encouragement, support, ideas, and accountability, as well as spiritual and doctrinal integrity.

From this community event, we began a weekly meeting with the core group. After advice from a church planter in our GCI family, we met for a few months on our own without making known our existence. This was a precious and fruitful time as we established our rhythm, the style of worship that resonated well, the format of our service, and the roles that people wanted to try out in a safe environment. And it provided time for me as the newly appointed congregational lead to find my feet. We also used this time to prayerfully discuss and establish the vision for our little church. Of course, the overall vision of any church is the same — to share the wonderful news of Jesus Christ with the whole world, starting with our neighbours. However, we believed it was important to have a vision that was particular to our faithful little group.

This vision came from the local events that we started doing regularly. Several of our regular attendees likened us to the family they didn’t have. That resonated with us! We wanted to grow a church that wasn’t just like family but was a family to anyone who wanted to join. We wanted to be a safe place, where people can come as they are. We recognize that all are broken and we acknowledge that only through Christ can anyone be redeemed and restored.

So, we began. It wasn’t that long ago as I write this and yes, we have had a couple of new attendees, some visitors and others showing interest and asking questions. If I’ve learned anything on this relatively short journey of church planting to date, it’s that it requires great patience and even greater trust. These things, I know, I am completely lacking and so I seek God daily for more of both.

Other things that have happened on the way is connecting with the wider church community. We are all brothers and sisters and belong to the same body of believers, the church of Jesus Christ. So, we share ideas, support each other’s community events, and pray for each other’s outreach initiatives. This alone speaks volumes to a society that sees churches as groups who are often in-fighting and competitive. One man we had witnessed to ended up going to another church, but he shared that he was grateful for having started out with us. We celebrated with him that he had found his church home, because his home is with Jesus and not any one denomination.

Recognising and resting in the truth that it is God who calls people, God who equips, God who inspires, and God who builds the church does lead to a modicum of peace while on this journey of discovery. So much is out of our hands and in his and we are so very, very glad that it is. God is making things happen; he is opening doors, making introductions, and drawing people up from unexpected places; he is at work! We just want to come alongside and join him on his mission to the world.

If you are reading this testimony, then please do pray for our church plant in Market Harborough. Please pray that every day we can let go a little more of ourselves and depend even more on our Lord Jesus. Please pray that we would be blessed with wisdom, discernment, and courage as we step out in faith. Please pray that our outreach, participation, endeavours, and weekly gatherings are all witnesses to who Jesus is, and that we become the image bearers that we were made to be to those he draws to us. God willing, we eagerly anticipate those days we can rejoice and celebrate with those who may be drawn to the Father through our little church as they give their lives to their Saviour. What a beautiful day that will be.