City Church Manchester: one year on

City Church Manchester was launched last September (see October 2014 en).

The city is probably best known for its millionaire footballers, early 90s Brit Pop, and its status as the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution. But little known facts about Manchester include: having the second fastest growing population in the country; being ranked as the most competitive place to do business in Europe by KPMG in 2012; having over 200 languages spoken in it by long-term residents; the student population exceeding 90,000 and being ranked the fourth most deprived district in the country.

So it was with a mixture of great excitement at the gospel opportunities and great trepidation at the challenges ahead that City Church Manchester launched on 7 September 2014. The church started with a core team of 27 members gathered from ten churches across the country.

Eventful months

The church, led by Ralph Cunnington and Matt Waldock, was the fruit of nearly two years of prayer and intensive planning, having been originally conceived in a small Liverpool coffee shop while Ralph and Matt were assistant pastors, at Aigburth Community Church and Christ Church Liverpool, respectively.

The church is almost a year old now and it’s been an eventful first few months. The vision of the church is to reach the large numbers of people in the city who are currently unreached by pre-existing gospel work. The core team have been delighted to see non-Christians regularly attending both the Sunday services as well as the midweek groups. In fact, over the past nine months, there have been three students who have come to faith, as well as four baptisms.

Lateral thinking

The church’s prayer has consistently been that they would see a greater diversity amongst the church family, and this has been wonderfully answered as a number of people from a variety of nationalities have joined the membership of the church.

In seeking to reach those who live, work or study in Manchester city centre, the church has sought to ‘think outside the box’ in running events. For example, at Christmas, members of the local community were invited to join a scratch choir that rehearsed and performed at a carol service over the same weekend. In the run-up to launch, the church sought to engage with the city’s vibrant artistic community by exhibiting an art installation at a local art gallery. This installation consisted of over 500 Post-It Notes collected from members of the public – each Note containing a sketch or sentence describing the person’s favourite thing about Manchester. The installation contributed to the arts scene, helped the church and the viewers to understand the city better, but also publicised the church among those who live, work and study in the city.

Walking in off the street

On reflection on the events of the last year, Matt Waldock said: ‘We have been surprised by how many people have walked in off the street simply because they saw a sign or flyer for the church, and we’ve been surprised by many people’s willingness to join an unfamiliar church culture simply because they heard the Bible taught clearly here’.

Three times the size

The services at City Church Manchester started with a series teaching through the Book of Ephesians and the declaration of Ephesians 2.22-23 that Jesus is head of the church has been testified to by God’s provision over the year despite various challenges.

The leaders and membership of the church go into the term ahead excited about what God might do in and through the church. Before the summer break, regular Sunday attendance was at 80–90 people – three times as many people as at the start. The church is praying that they will continue to grow numerically and spiritually as more people are reached for Christ, and it is prayerfully preparing for the hard yet rewarding work that lies ahead as the church enters its second year.