Standing Together In Gospel Partnership

Peter Baker | 21:12, 4th November 2012

SaRang Community Church in Seoul, where I spent an unforgettable week recently, has increasingly become part of our thinking and praying. Our desire as a Church to train people for Christian ministry and renew the Christian faith in Wales has brought us together with the theological college, WEST. SaRang is playing a large part in resourcing WEST and as a consequence they want to work with us. 

A plan is emerging, with many details to be worked out, which will see significant investment in the Valleys and our Church Planting strategy with Dai Hankey at Hill City Church in Trevethin. 

Other things may develop between SaRang and Highfields, but the core business will be to work together to train and deploy workers for ministry in Wales. 

Scottsdale Bible Church, Phoenix, has long been searching for a Western European church with whom they can work and from whom they can learn lessons about mission in a secular society.  A conversation which began with their Senior Pastor in May has taken us on a journey together as we seek to understand how we can co-operate and serve in the cause of Christ. 

The third example is Sully Christian Fellowship. A Macedonian phone call last year (read Acts 16:9) has evolved into the possibility of beginning a second Highfields satellite congregation there next year. A district of 5000 people, planning permission for a new Church Community Centre on the site of the existing church and the willingness of the existing elderly congregation to invite us to lead them forward, means that we can be gospel partners with them. 

The model of church will be similar to the one we are using at Pontprennau. Sully will be one of our congregations resourced by our preaching team. Phil Bushby, one of our elders, has agreed to provide oversight cover and we aim to appoint a trainee minister as the campus Pastor. We will be directly encouraging Highfields people and families who live around Penarth or the Vale of Glamorgan to commit to it, but proximity need not be decisive. We hope anyone interested in being part of such a congregation, whereever they live, will sign up.

Our hope is to have between 25 and 30 people from Highfields joining the 15 who are already there from Sully. If you would like to find out more or wish to express an interest, then please contact Phil Bushby (p.bushby1@ntlworld.com) or contact the Church Office. 

Pray for clarity to emerge as we seek God’s leading through these challenging opportunities. We have been blessed by God in so many ways and have the responsibility of being a strategic church in Wales during days of spiritual decline. 

Churches around the world have grasped the importance of the role we are playing in the cause of Christ and want to help us. And a small, struggling church, just down the road, is looking to us for help to renew the church and proclaim the good news. Please pray and support in whatever way you can.