Welcome to the Family (Autumn 2024)
We were delighted to welcome seven new churches to FIEC from across Great Britain last Autumn.
FIEC is a growing family of over 665 churches across the UK.
The seven churches below, each of which affiliated in September 2024, reflect something of the diversity of the FIEC family in terms of size, age, location, and theological heritage.
Two are in Scotland, one in Wales, and four in England, spanning from 1662 to the establishment of a church plant in 2017.
They all have an evangelistic heart, and most have seen conversions and baptisms in the last year. Many also belong to other associations or networks of independent churches - perhaps with a more local, regional or national focus - and yet want to be part of FIEC because of our UK-wide gospel vision.
New affiliations
Seven churches joined FIEC in autumn 2024.
Bruntsfield Evangelical Church, Edinburgh
Bruntsfield Evangelical Church has been meeting since 1967. They have their roots in the open Brethren and are located just to the south of the city centre of Edinburgh.
The church has a membership of around 115 as well as 53 other regular attendees and 35 children, led by six elders including pastor Graeme Shanks.
They are an intergenerational church family but have reported a surge in the number of students who have joined over the past year given the proximity to both Edinburgh & Napier universities. They encouragingly had four baptisms and five professions of faith in the last year as well as welcoming a number of non-believers to their services.
They are also members of the Evangelical Alliance.
They said:
“There are three primary reasons why we have prayerfully concluded that now is a good time for us to officially affiliate ourselves with the FIEC:
Theology: Given the cultural times that we find ourselves in, we see the huge benefit of being part of a network of like-minded churches who are seeking to compassionately and clearly stand for biblical truth.
Mission: We believe that Bruntsfield can make a meaningful contribution to and will holistically benefit from the work of FIEC throughout the UK. We have been involved in supporting a number of smaller churches in central Scotland in a church strengthening/partnership capacity. The most recent of these was Peebles Evangelical Church where our former Pastor in Training (Archie Winnington Imgram) is now working full-time.
Practical: We see the benefit in having access to the financial and practical support/experience that FIEC has. We have benefited from the network of friendships, training, as well as receiving a generous grant for training.”
Liberty Community Church, Bellshill, Lanarkshire
Liberty Community Church is a Brethren led church that was planted in Motherwell in 1989. In 2004 they were given a building in Bellshill and relocated. Bellshill is a post-industrial town with a population of 20,000 and is ranked amongst the more deprived towns and areas in Scotland.
The church has a regular congregation of around 50 adults and children and has seen two professions of faith and a baptism in the last year. They are led by three elders and two deacons.
Their reasons for joining FIEC were:
“Affiliation with like-minded churches will promote unity of agreed values and support the protection of biblical truths. FIEC can also provide strong, proven documentation when faced with crises and ongoing fellowship in evangelism.”
Malpas Road Evangelical Church, Newport
Malpas Road Evangelical Church is a long-established evangelical church in Newport, South Wales. It was founded in 1897 and has a congregation of about 170, led by pastor Dafydd Cunningham and a team of elders. They reported six baptisms and 15 new members in the last year.
They are also affiliated with the Associating Evangelical Churches of Wales (AECW) and have good links with other evangelical churches in the area.
Their reasons for joining FIEC were:
“With God’s help, to partner more meaningfully with similar gospel churches to reach Britain for Christ. We trust that being part of a larger, UK-wide fellowship will encourage, inspire and challenge us as we hear of how God is at work in other communities beyond South Wales. We are very grateful for the local and Welsh-wide partnerships we enjoy but we also want to extend our horizons to serve fellow FIEC churches across Britain, through prayer, giving, and mutual encouragement.”
Pontefract Congregational Church, Yorkshire
Pontefract Congregational Church is one of the longest-established churches to join the FIEC, formed in 1662. It is located in a historic market town in West Yorkshire with a population of 30,000. In 2010, it planted Christ Church Xscape (also affiliated to FIEC) in a leisure complex in nearby Castleford.
They have around 100 members and are led by pastor Richard Myerscough, an assistant minister, and three further elders. The church is also affiliated to Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches (EFCC) and a member of the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership.
Their reasons for joining FIEC were:
“We believe we would really benefit from the wisdom and support of FIEC and be strengthened through fellowship with its churches. We value its doctrinal commitments and its determination to serve the Lord faithfully and winsomely with the gospel in our present society and culture. We are so thankful for its commitment to church-planting and its revitalisation efforts and see that as something we wish to support and encourage.”
Thundersley Evangelical Church, Southend-on-Sea
Thundersley Evangelical Church is located in Benfleet, Essex, to the west of Southend-on-Sea. It is a Brethren background church that was founded in 1926, with a congregation of around 55 and led by two elders. They are also seeking to appoint a pastor for the first time in their history. In the past year, they held two baptisms and saw three professions of faith.
They also belong to Mission Essex, a collection of churches that seek to serve a network of gospel-minded churches in Essex and plant 10 healthy churches in the next 10 years.
They shared:
“The church is undergoing a period of change with new elders being appointed and the decision to seek a pastor for the first time. Part of this change is to seek closer ties with like-minded churches, and affiliation with FIEC will help us to do that. We are seeking to build a support network for our new pastor and hope that he will be able to benefit from and contribute to the FIEC Pastors’ Network going forwards.”
The Village Church Greenwich, London
The Village Church Greenwich began as a plant in 2017 when it took over the premises of a Grace Baptist Church that had shut.
It is led by pastor Rodrigo Rampazzo and has a regular attendance of around 30, half of whom are form an ethnic minority background. They have held two baptisms in the last year and report one profession of faith.
They have been seeking to connect with similar churches in the local area and have built some good relationships already. They are also members of the Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East) (AGBCSE).
Their reasons for joining FIEC were:
“To join churches in announcing the gospel in our locations and to partner with like-minded churches. To contribute to evangelism partnerships and connections when members move to a different area. We want to grow with other churches that existed before us, as we are still a church plant.”
Western Way Chapel, Dymock, Gloucestershire
Western Way Chapel is a small Brethren background chapel in Dymock, a village with a population of about 590, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
They began in a “tin-tabernacle” mission hall in 1921 and now meet in a converted railway engine shed. They are led by three elders and have a congregation of around 25.
They said:
“We are a small rural chapel in need of fellowship from like-minded churches. The churches in the area are very large and increasingly adopting practices such as women in leadership, with which we are not comfortable. We feel much more aligned with the FIEC Statement of Faith, especially with the ethos statements on same-sex marriage and women in ministry.”
Although the church was already a registered charity, FIEC is helping them to put proper governing documents in place, and this was a prerequisite for their affiliation.
At the same time that these seven churches joined FIEC, two churches left the Fellowship:
- Christ Church Loughborough resigned because they wanted to focus on their association with other churches that subscribe to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.
- Stonebridge Evangelical Church did not sign their annual renewal and so ceased to be affiliated.
We are delighted to welcome these new churches and pray that we will be able to serve and support them well and that they will be a blessing to FIEC as they help us to fulfil our vision to be ‘Independent churches working together to reach Britian for Christ.’
If your church would like to consider FIEC affiliation, you can find out more on our affiliation page. We would love to talk with you.
