Over the last couple of years Giles Arnold, Church Growth Trust’s Chief Executive, has been working with a number of newly formed independent evangelical churches that previously had connections with the Methodist Church. A few of these have been in Lancashire, including in the village of Wray. As Andrew Wright of Wray Chapel states “it is probably once in a lifetime that as a church you get involved in buying your own building and so everything is new, with all sorts of legal complications. It has been a real blessing having Giles advise us on our various options and walking with us through this process.”
Wray Chapel have now agreed the terms for purchasing the old Wray Methodist chapel, school rooms and car park and are committed to continuing their evangelical witness in the village and the surrounding area.
Giles Arnold comments, “In this day and age where many traditional churches are closing and properties are being lost for the Kingdom, it is so heartening to see new and established evangelical churches growing, taking on new (and old) buildings and having such a level of commitment that they can raise the funds to do this without having to take a mortgage! We are looking forward to helping other churches in similar situations across the country. In many ways we are already doing this, by matching up buildings that are vacant with evangelical churches that need a building in order to establish a base for their Gospel work in their localities.”
