Churches partnering from across the pond

A longtime center of the Christian movement, the United Kingdom is now a picture of a rapidly deChristianized society. In one generation, those who identify as Christian have dropped by nearly 50%. Meanwhile, the number who identify as non-religious or practice other faiths steadily inclines. 

Around the UK, however, there are pockets of church leaders who believe these trends can change. Through intentional outreach, leadership development and discipleship, their churches are steadily growing. The pastors of King's Church Chessington and Danbury Mission Church are two such examples.

The pastors of King’s Church have a desire to raise up and train workers and send them out to the harvest field, and they’re eager to collaborate with church leaders.

Pastor Simon Medcroft of Danbury Mission Church has launched a group called Mission Essex, which seeks to plant 10 healthy churches in the next 10 years through intentional mentorship and practical support of church planters.

These churches come together with Converge through Steve Bialy, the leader of the UK-Ireland Initiative. Steve has helped connect pastors across the country and across the ocean to partner with and learn from one another. One American Converge church excited to partner with these British leaders is Rock Point Church in Queen Creek, AZ.

“A really big focus of what we've been doing the last four years, is just building relationships with people and saying, ‘How can we help?’ And I think that's gonna be a key going forward is, building relational equity with people and saying, ‘We're not here with an agenda, but we're here to help you reach more people for Jesus.’” – Jeff Larson, UK-Ireland Partnership Engagement Leader 

These pastors collaborate through regular Zoom meetings and visits to one another’s churches to share their expertise and learn from each other on church planting, leadership development and reaching people in a post-Christian culture. A sense of humor, a deep desire to see people follow Jesus, and commitment to learning together have bonded these pastors.  Steve Bialy said, “You couldn't write this script. If I were to describe to you the number of relational connections between our churches and Converge, you can’t make this up. It's just too coincidental to be anything other than the Lord's hand.” 

At Converge, we are partnership-driven. We value working together in relationships with individuals, churches, or groups who are like-minded in strategy and theology. As varying members of Christ’s body, we are better together than alone. We are eager to see how God brings more churches into global ministry.

If you’re interested in joining a consortium or partnering with the UK-Ireland Initiative, we'd love to connect.