Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh is Elim's most northern church in the UK situated in the north-east of Scotland.  Neil and Pauline Passmore lead a great team and there is  a fabulous atmosphere in this growing church.

Though there are only 12,000 people in this picturesque fishing town no less than a thousand people pass through the doors every week via the church services, luncheon club, and children's ministry that is lead by David and Elizabeth Ritchie and which attracts over 200 children per week.

The latest incursion into the community is a top-of -the-range gym  that is open five days a week. There are no facilities to equal it for many miles around and it is just the latest expression of a church that has chosen to live without walls and embrace the environment in which it is situated.   I arrived on the Saturday and visited the back-to-back events for children and young people before having a meal with the pastors.  Sunday morning I was able to be with the main church and Sunday night saw the church packed for a baptismal service.

Blackburn

The Elim Church in Blackburn is in one of the most prominant positions in the town - adjacent to the main shopping area. Buts its not just location that has been the reason for its growth. A great team led by Bob Clarke for the past eleven years has brought the church to the place it is in today. The morning service was packed to capacity.

Ealing Christian Centre

My reason for being in Ealing was to speak that their training centre which is lead by Chris Ragg. After three hours with the students, senior pastors Richard and Rajindark Buxton (pictured) took me on a tour of the new extension to the building that has cost three quarters of a million pounds. The suites of offices and rooms make the facilities among the best of any church in London. However already they are looking for further expansion as the growing 1400 Sunday congregation needs increased space for the ministries run by the church on every day of the week.

Wrenthorpe

Peter and Julia Clothier came to Wrenthorpe just over two years ago. It is a long-established church and its style is perhaps a little more traditional than the average Elim church. I enjoyed my day with this warm and friendly congregation. This church will flourish in direct proportion to its ability to transition and change to become even more relevant to the culture in which it is placed. I look forward to visiting the church in the future and witnessing for myself the strides that it has taken towards an anticipated growth.

The Gathering

Around one thousand five hundred young people attended the 2008 Gathering from around the country.  A full report is in Direction magazine.  Tribute must again be given to the Mark Pugh and the Serious4God team whose months of planning went into make the weekend such a huge success.  I was there to take two seminars - one for the 18+ group and and the other for the 200 youth leaders who were present.

Mountain Ash

The past four years have been very difficult for the Mountain Ash church. At one point Glesni Cunningham (the pastor) and her husband Micha were simultaneously undergoing chemotherapy. Glesni recovered fully but in January of this year Micha passed away. The story is told in the March edition of Direction under the title of "How to say goodbye"

My visit to Mountain Ash was the first since the funeral and also the first time when Glesni participated fully in the meeting. It was a great service and I cannot pay a too high a tribute to Glesni for the courage and fortutude that she and her teenage daughter Leona have shown during this trying time. It also must be a great source of strength to them to be surrounded by such a caring church family.

Castle Douglas

Ronnie and Irene did not commence their ministry in Elim. They worked for the late Bob Gordon's ministry prior to planting a church in the beautiful Scottish town of Castle Douglas.

I had the opportunity of meeting seventeen of his leaders/spouses over a fine meal prior to an evening of teaching and interaction.

Ronnie and Irene have worked sacrificially to bring this Elim church to the place it is in today with its own building in the centre of town. This, together with the acumen of the men and women that I met, gives me every confidence for the future of this great church.