Unrealistic Expectations for Council Estate Ministry

What’s the primary cause of distraction and discontentment for pastors and ministry teams serving on council estates?

After reflecting on my time as a church planter and pastor on a council estate in Middlesbrough, and now that I am supporting other pastors in similar contexts via Medhurst Ministries, I think the answer to that question is unrealistic expectations.

These expectations are often born out of a good place and are usually godly ideals or ambitions for the future. However, they are not benchmarks or necessary for successful gospel ministry.

Let me take them one at a time and explain why.

Having all members live on the estate

I always encourage church members to live as close to where the church meets as possible. This way, they can enjoy daily fellowship with other members and have more opportunities to build local links for evangelism.

However, having members living outside the locality can also be beneficial. Several members lived outside the community at New Life Church in Middlesbrough, but they were still massive supporters, friends, and prayer partners, and generous when sharing their time and finances.

Interestingly, some members who drove into our community for the church were even more present, dedicated, and invested in the church's ministry than those living a short walk away. It's important to remember that the location of our members’ houses has less impact on the church than where their hearts are.

Recruiting indigenous leaders

It is fitting that our churches seek congregations and leadership teams that reflect our local community. However, when we see converts who are unchurched, biblically illiterate, and dealing with complex issues, discipleship may be long-term, and, for many, ministry will not be an option. This is why it is essential to also spend time investing in the children and grandchildren of the recently converted.

We hope these children and young people brought up in the church by newly converted parents will have the blessings and biblical grounding their mothers and fathers missed out on. However, youth groups and Sunday schools aren't enough; if we want to see these children become future leaders and gospel workers, we need our present leaders and gospel workers to invest in them – not just through church activities, but in the home and recreationally.

Following Titus 2:2-5's example, our churches should always seek to provide spiritual mothers and fathers to our young people while praying that they will be spiritual mothers and fathers of the future. This becomes much easier when our services, Bible studies, and events are multi-generational.

Having a building

When we first planted New Life Church, we would have a service in my living room every Sunday, and we would regularly have 20 people join us to sing, pray, and listen to God’s word preached. The service was always followed by Sunday lunch, and people would often stay until late afternoon.

Those attending were predominantly unchurched, first-generation Christians who had come to faith through our evangelism. A few migrants and local Christians who had heard about our church and decided to join us were also present. Many of them would also attend our mid-week Bible study.

I was desperate to move into a building for the Sunday service mainly because I mistakenly believed it would add legitimacy to what we were trying to do, and just over a year after planting, we began renting the local Methodist church hall.

Sadly, many original church attendees began to leave almost immediately after moving into the church building. For many, their only experience of church was the informal, relaxed, family, and homely atmosphere of our living room. Now, they faced a formal, organised, anonymous, school-like atmosphere that appealed to the mature Christians who had recently joined us yet repelled those who had first attended.

The ministry that we have done from our homes, local community buildings, and even local hairdressers has always been more fruitful and appealing to the local people. We have struggled to have the same fruit when using a church building. This has led me to prayerfully consider whether a building is even necessary and how a house church may be a more suitable method for church planting in our community.

Growing the congregation

For many years the church I pastored had, on average, 15 members. Then, during the pandemic, we merged with a small Baptist church. Immediately after the pandemic, a large group of West Africans joined us, swelling both our membership and weekly attendance. I had always dreamt of seeing the church grow and presumed that more members would mean more workers when, often, it just means more work.

It is a blessing to shepherd the flock, and we trust that God is sovereign in who he brings to our churches.

But we need to remember that he is also sovereign in the community where he has placed us and it can be challenging to get the balance between discipling the church and reaching the lost - especially when many of the members don’t live in the local community.

It is wise to have godly ambition and plan for the future. However, it is equally important to enjoy the "day of small things" (Zechariah 4:10), so let us guard against unrealistic expectations, trusting that the church’s fruitfulness is "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty" (Zechariah 4:1).