Over the past three years a fledgling church plant has taken shape in Wakefield, a northern English city of around 100,000, proud of its rugby league, its rhubarb triangle and its working-class roots.
Wakefield had long been recognised by other local church leaders as in need of a new gospel church. The neighbouring towns of Dewsbury and Pontefract and the city of Leeds are all blessed with faithful ministries.
Small window
In 2013 the leadership of Dewsbury Evangelical Church (DEC), six miles from Wakefield, saw a small window of opportunity to address the situation. A prayer group was formed and in 2014 Ian Goodson, an elder in the church supported part-time to do Christian ministry, his wife Lydia and young family moved to Wakefield. A recently married couple, a man in his twenties and a family who had arrived from Romania joined them and formed a Wakefield-based home group as part of DEC, ably supported by Graham Heaps (then co-pastor of DEC) and his wife Sue.
In early 2015 a Sunday afternoon meeting began in Ian and Lydia’s living room, enjoying studies in Luke’s Gospel. Two other Christian families moved to Wakefield – without knowing about the plant – and joined the team, along with another family sent from Dewsbury.
Local café
To have a more accessible meeting place, the move was made to a local café space, then at the start of 2016 a large hall was hired on the Lupset estate for Sunday mornings. The numbers of Christians attaching themselves to the work has slowly grown and at present there are 16 adults committed to the plant, with a small number of others in discussion with us. We also have 16 children, most under seven, so we are seeking to build a Sunday school ministry.
The aim is to have a core team of 25 and establish a busy Sunday morning service at the centre of which is careful and contemporary exposition of the Bible. There is an opportunity to reach children and families, given the age profile of the team. We are placing an emphasis on the church being a community: the church meal at Ian and Lydia’s home after the Sunday service is keenly anticipated each week.
DEC struggles to keep young members after they move away for work or study, but five young families and two individuals have been sent, and Ian (who works part-time, as does his wife Lydia) is currently supported part-time by the church. Elders from the church take it in turns to visit the meetings and support Ian. Surely this kind of risky, daring and ambitious approach is a model for other churches to follow. The plant may yet fail. But it is better to try than do nothing. Please pray for mature Christians, a trainee, and further finances to be added to this work in Wakefield.
