Why we still need people for church plants in hard places

So here we are a little over 3 years into planting Rochdale Evangelical Church. We're fully independent (charitable status, constitution, finances etc.), we're in good financial shape and we're doing the type of things churches do - Sunday services, Bible study, payer meetings, outreach. And we're struggling because we don't have enough people and by don't have enough people I mean we're on the edge of being viable (we're probably around the same size or smaller than your home group!).

We were always small, but actually until Christmas 2022 we felt quite healthy. We were growing gradually and were beginning to get a little over 20 people most Sundays. A good number of the people who were coming looked like being members. We had potential people for leadership.

As is the way (especially in hard places and especially in new church plants I'd venture to say), stuff happened and 2023 was a year of decline for us. We knew we were too focused on the mechanics of setting up, but it had to be done. We were less prepared for problems in the fellowship. That was probably naïve, but often what you initially attract doesn't stay for better and worse reasons.

And then I re-read a post I'd written a while before we planted churches that was trying to encourage people to come and help in the work of planting church in hard places.

Here's a quote from that post on ways of planting in hard places:

1. Don't plant churches is hard places. I'm not so keen on this one!
2. Start plants with very small teams - perhaps of only one person. This will probably also mean some kind of tent-making. If it was good enough for Paul...although most of us aren't Paul so...
3. Christians in the UK (or from beyond the UK of course!) start to buck the culture and come to hard places to help.

If I knew how to make solution 3 happen, I would. I'm writing blogs to try and get it to happen I guess, but I haven't honestly been very effective for the last few years. It seems like most of us trying to get it to happen aren't. Maybe you could help change that?

I'm not entirely surprised to be back where we are (my thinking from that post hasn't really changed). I still think most plants in hard places really need the help from solid Christians from outside and I still see the issue that people rarely come. Surprise, surprise, no-one from outside Rochdale has come to join us and help us. Probably

People pray and give (and we're grateful for that), but people don't come and help.

The town of Rochdale has hit the news again recently with the debacle of a by-election we've just had. My friend Steve Kneale blogged about that and then we podcasted about it as well. I'm not going to lie, those sorts of headlines (and they are far from the worst we've had in Rochdale in my 10 years here) hardly give the impression of Rochdale as a desirable place to live.

But I really wish we could get to a point in the church in the UK where that very reality made it desirable to come to live here to share the gospel.

We believe that what Rochdale and places like it need more than anything is faithful churches to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We are persuaded that there are nowhere near enough of those churches. The reality is that nicer places have far more churches on the whole and so that a key priority for Christians and the church in the UK is to invest not just prayer and money in hard places, but people.

I want our little church plant to survive. We think it could be a really good thing for Rochdale. Could you help?