Bringing the gospel to England – The story of Trinity Church Scarborough
from The Revd Lee McMunn, Gafcon:
In April 2016, I announced to my church family in Hull that God had given me a burning passion to plant a church in the English seaside town of Scarborough. In fact, God has given me a gospel ambition to see many churches planted in this country. This land is full of people who are worshipping and serving created things rather than their glorious Trinitarian Creator. They are robbing God of his glory and robbing themselves of his infinite joy. England is in desperate need of the old gospel story that can bring new life from the dead. We need countless numbers of new and revitalised churches all over our land. I felt compelled by God’s Spirit to use the skills and talents he had graciously given me to play my part in this mission endeavour.
At the time of my announcement in Hull, we had a very small core church planting team. It consisted of me, my wife, my three children (plus all of their toys!) and a young man who I had persuaded to join as an Assistant Minister. The plan was for him to learn how to plant a church and then in four years go and do the same thing. We didn’t have any money, any more people and no building. But we did have the gospel and we did have confidence a God for whom nothing is impossible.
Our first task was to gather a team. While we did want to evangelise a church into existence we also wanted more gospel voices to be involved in reaching out to lost people. Therefore, we prayed to God and had many conversations. God was incredibly kind. Some decided to relocate their life and move to a new place. New homes, new jobs, new schools – everything for the sake of the gospel! Some did this from Hull; others joined us from a variety of other places. People came from different contexts but all had a common desire to sacrifice so that others could hear about Jesus and be rescued from hell. Others got in touch from Scarborough, families who were longing to come to the type of bible centred church we were planning to establish. Over a few months, our team had grown to 24 adults and 13 children.
Next, God provided the money. The core team pledged their giving, and individuals, other churches and Trust Funds gave generous gifts.
And then God gave us an incredible building for us to meet on Sundays. It was perfect for our needs and it was so obvious that God had arranged it for us.
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