Joel Murray of the FIEC describes how God has been answering the prayer of a church in Leatherhead:
How often do we really pray Ephesians 3:20, asking God to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine?
Christ Church Fetcham was without a pastor between 2017 and 2019. During this tough time, FIEC London Director Trevor Archer, Richard Perks from Co:Mission, retired pastor John Ross and a group of other local leaders gathered to help the church pray through their future plans.
There was a growing sense that Christ Church should consider relocating to nearby Leatherhead to start a new gospel work, and more effectively reach the surrounding Mole Valley area. Jon Herring was appointed as the pastor to lead this new gospel vision.
‘It was my prayer that the Lord would bring us people with a heart to join us in our gospel vision, willing to serve’ Jon said. ‘The church had also been praying for some time prior to our arrival for the Lord to bring children, as there were only a handful in Sunday school.’
Those prayers were answered!
Families and young couples began to join Christ Church – some new to the area, some looking to serve in a church closer to Leatherhead. An encouragement but also a problem: ‘We were no longer short of children, but instead faced with the much better problem of finding enough Sunday school leaders to provide for them all,’ Jon explained.
The tentative move to Leatherhead began to fall into place when a local school offered them use of the building rent free. But the following week lockdown was announced.
A spanner in the works? Not for the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
While physical gatherings ceased, pre-recorded services and Zoom coffee time encouraged the church and gave opportunities for some of the new attendees to get involved.
12 people were welcomed into membership in the first weeks of lockdown, and a new home group was started online as people got to know each other better.
Then, with the relaxation of lockdown in July, the church began to meet at the school in Leatherhead. So, less than a year since the church was in Fetcham with no pastor, Grace Church Leatherhead gathered together for the first time – and all of this during a global pandemic.
Since then, God has continued to work wonderfully. Jon explained: ‘After our first in-person service I was called by one of the dads in the church to say that that morning his 14-year-old daughter had given her life to Christ. What an encouragement having prayed that we would see conversions in our move to Leatherhead!
‘In our wildest dreams we didn’t think we would be meeting in Leatherhead before September, but the Lord exceeded all our expectations, and through means we couldn’t have guessed at.’
