Welcome to the Family (Spring 2024)
Six independent churches and five church plants were welcomed into FIEC last spring.
2024 was a very encouraging year for new FIEC church affiliations. 27 churches joined FIEC during the year, and six new church plants were recognised.
These churches reflect the diversity of FIEC, being of all different sizes and from all parts of the country. They are united in affirming our Doctrinal Basis and Ethos Statements on Gospel Unity, Same-Sex Marriage, and Women in Ministry but adopt their own fuller confessional positions which shape their specific ministry practice.
We are delighted that they have joined FIEC because they see the value of standing together with other independent churches and want to be part of our vision to be ‘independent churches working together to reach Britan for Christ.’
It is our conviction that the work of growing God’s kingdom is done by faithful local churches, and the tasks of the FIEC central staff is to support and encourage them in their ministry.
New affiliations
We welcomed six churches to the family that joined FIEC in March 2024.
Grace Baptist Church Halifax
Grace Baptist Church in Halifax is a long-established church, founded in 1839. It now has a regular congregation of around 70 people with church members from twelve different nationalities.
They are led by two elders, Andrew Binns and Luke Jenner, and have seen three professions of faith in the last year. Their mission is ‘Honouring Jesus Christ, Teaching the Bible, Serving the Community.’
We asked why they joined FIEC:
“We presented four main reasons to our recent members' meeting, which the church has embraced:
1. FIEC provides a coordinated means of supporting gospel work across the UK by prayer and finance, which we want to invest in;
2. FIEC provides us with a sense of identity shared with 600+ other like-minded churches, expanding our vision of what God is doing elsewhere;
3. FIEC has a level of recognition as a national body in the UK, and can help us in our relationships to our society and to those in authority over us, without undermining our independency;
4. We can fully retain our Grace Baptist distinctives and our global mission interests if we join.”
Lampeter Evangelical Church, Mid-Wales
Lampeter Evangelical Church (LEC) was planted in the small university town of Lampeter in mid-Wales in 1981 and now has a congregation of 90. It holds its services in Welsh with translation into English.
Their mission is: ‘To proclaim the good news of the kingdom. To evangelise and teach, baptise and nurture believers. To respond to human need by loving service.’ They work in association with an excellent café in the town called ‘The Mustard Seed’.
They are also affiliated to the Associating Evangelical Churches of Wales and the Evangelical Movement of Wales.
Their reasons for joining FIEC as well were:
"LEC has recently been blessed with a new purpose-built church building, and our congregation is growing week on week. This growth, although welcome, brings with it challenges that the church has not had to face in the past.
LEC needs help with these challenges with regards to policies and procedures that we do not have the expertise to draw up ourselves. We also hope that through membership of the FIEC, LEC can help spread the gospel further."
Living Hope Church, Inverness
Living Hope Church was established in Inverness in the north of Scotland in 2015 and now has a congregation of around 95. They are led by a team of three elders and are part of the Acts 29 network. They were blessed by three conversions in the past year.
Their reasons for affiliating to FIEC were:
“We are passionate about seeing the gospel being shared across the United Kingdom. We’re particularly passionate about church planting. The FIEC’s vision and increasing emphasis on planting is something we want to be part of and support.”
Llanishen Evangelical Church, Cardiff
Llanishen Evangelical Church was founded in 1953 and is led by five elders including full-time pastor Eirian Davies.
They have a regular congregation of 65 people and saw two professions of faith in the last year, and have four baptisms lined up for early this year. They’re coming to the end of a major building project, extending the church premises and improving the facilities to better reach out to the community to which God has called them.
They are already members of the Evangelical Alliance, but wanted to be part of a closer family of gospel churches:
"We believe that through the gospel we are united with all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. After a season during which the church became isolated from other gospel churches, we’d now like to reflect the gospel unity we share with all true believers better through fostering closer relationships with other gospel churches.
FIEC offers a way in which we can belong to a family of likeminded gospel churches. We hope that those relationships will be mutually beneficial as we pray for one another, encourage each other, and share resources in order to honour the unity Christ has won for us, and to better reach this nation with the gospel, together."
South Park Chapel, Ilford
South Park Chapel in East London dates back to 1906. They are led by two elders with a congregation of around 50 from a very diverse range of backgrounds, including French Caribbean, Romanian, Indian, Dutch, Ghanaian, Nigerian, Pakistani, Iranian and English.
They love to share the hope they have in Jesus with their neighbours - for example at a monthly games night, a weekly parent and toddler group, a cafe and English class, and visiting door to door.
Their reasons for joining FIEC were:
"To signal clearly to prospective attenders our evangelical beliefs and practices.
"To contribute to the health of independent evangelical churches in the UK.
"To benefit from practical support in relation to being in a wider pastoral network, including being part of a wider network (eg. for recruitment purposes), and access to resources (eg. legal, policy etc)."
They are also members of the Evangelical Alliance and the East London Gospel Partnership.
Westgate Evangelical Chapel, Pembroke
Westgate Evangelical Chapel in Pembroke, South Wales, was established in 2006 when it became an independent church after leaving the Presbyterian Church in Wales. There are relatively few other evangelical churches in the area.
They have a congregation of around 45 and run a variety of adult’s and children’s ministries. They are led by an eldership and do not currently have a pastor.
They explained:
"Since becoming an independent church in 2006, it has become increasingly clear that we need to be linked to a larger body of like-minded churches. We are living in increasingly difficult times for evangelical churches and we feel that we would benefit from links with a larger body of churches.
"Pembroke is a small area of population located on the South West corner of Wales and we feel that we have experiences of the Christian witness between local churches, the local population, and visiting Christian holiday makers that perhaps other churches in more populated areas do not experience."
Recognised Church Plants
In March 2024 we also recognised five new church plants which we hope and expect will become fully affiliated FIEC churches in due time.
‘Church Plant Recognition’ enables us to provide practical and financial support to the formation of a church in its early stages.
Life Church Lutterworth, Leicestershire
Life Church is a new church for Lutterworth, a Leicestershire town just down the road from the FIEC office in Market Harborough. It was where John Wycliffe ministered and translated the Bible into English.
The church is led by five trustees. Their reasons for seeking FIEC recognition were:
‘We are in agreement with the beliefs and doctrinal stance of the FIEC having been members of an FIEC church for many years. We believe that being under the umbrella of FIEC is the best way forward for Life Church Lutterworth having considered and prayed about this matter.
Under the FIEC umbrella we will have the support, resources and fellowship to continue an evangelical witness in Lutterworth.’
Penarth Evangelical Church, Glamorgan
Penarth Evangelical Church in Glamorgan, South Wales, is led by three elders sent out by Highfields Church in Cardiff. They already have 40 members with more than 70 people attending a Sunday service. They said of FIEC:
‘We desire to fellowship and cooperate with churches who affirm the fundamental truths of the faith in order to reach Britian for Christ. We need advice and support from FIEC's Directors. We would like evangelicals moving to the Vale to be able to find us on the 'Our Churches' section of FIEC's website, with a link to the plant's website. We would like assistance in getting governing documents in place through Edward Connor Solicitors. With time, we want to be fully affiliated with the FIEC.’
Turkey Street Community Church
Turkey Street Community Church is a church plant in Enfield, London, established by ‘Together for Mission’ (TFM) which is a network of FIEC churches in the Enfield area. It is led by Gareth Skyme. Their reasons for seeking FIEC recognition were:
‘The church plant is a gospel initiative coming out of the TFM church partnership. One of the conditions of being part of the TFM churches is to be affiliated with FIEC, as well as the pastor sharing the same gospel convictions that FIEC adheres to. I have been a member and pastored in FIEC churches since 2004 and have greatly appreciated the support that being part of FIEC brings.’
Emmanuel Baptist Church
Emmanuel Baptist Church was planted in September 2024 by Jonathan Worsley and a small core team, who were looking for a FIEC church in central Exeter. The church has been supported by a number of other churches, including the nearby Scott Drive Church, Exmouth (the nearest FIEC church to Exeter before summer 2024).
Emmanuel is in partnership with the FIEC because:
“It is one on the most faithful biblical and gospel-centred partnerships in the UK, and because it seeks the greater good of likeminded evangelical churches across needy Devon and beyond.”
Grace Church Kidderminster
Three Worcestershire churches (two from FIEC, one Anglican) partnered together to plant Grace Church Kidderminster. A leader from each church has formed an eldership, including lead pastor Duncan Cobbett who has moved from Woodgreen Church in Worcester.
Their reasons for seeking recognition were:
“Having the recognition of FIEC helps other people to understand something of the kind of church we are planning to be. Being listed on the FIEC website (at the appropriate time) and being able to mention on a website for the new church that we recognised by FIEC can be very helpful in communicating that we are not a church without connection to other churches.
We have valued the help and support of FIEC staff/directors as we navigate the journey from planning to being planted!’
As well as new churches joining FIEC, there were some church closures and resignations.
- Bishopstoke Evangelical Church, Liss Evangelical Church, and Tuckingmill Baptist Church each closed.
- High Road Baptist Church in North Finchley resigned from FIEC to be fully committed to the Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East). As a small church with a limited budget, they did not feel they could continue to justify dual affiliation.
- Avenue Evangelical Church, Woodbridge, resigned because they felt that recent changes to the FIEC Women in Ministry ethos statement and Doctrinal Basis agreed by the churches at our annual assembly were an undue interference with the independence of local churches.
We are thankful to the Lord for the growth of FIEC and especially a number of new churches and plants in Wales.
It is clear from the existing connections of many of these churches that FIEC is not an exclusive identity equivalent to a denomination, and that they can belong to other local and national gospel associations.
If you would like to find out more about joining FIEC, we’d love to talk with you or arrange a visit to meet with the church or its leaders to share more about FIEC.
Visit our 'Join us' page to find out more and get in touch.
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