The power of partnership has been demonstrated by churches in St Helens and Widnes.,,,
“Are you sitting down?” Elim’s Regional Leader James Glass asked Craig Lawrenson. That unnerving question always comes before big news and this time was no exception. James was phoning to ask if Craig – pastor of St Helens Christian Life Centre – would take on the leadership of New Life Christian Centre in Widnes too, which was struggling during the pandemic.
Rob Case, the previous pastor of Widnes, had been called to New Hope Church, Driffield, and the Widnes elders felt a collaboration with St Helens was the best option for them to pursue.
Fast forward 18 months and the two churches have forged a hugely successful partnership, but Craig admits he was cautious at first.
“I’d taken over as senior leader at St Helens in January 2020, then James asked me about Widnes 12 months later. Leading one church through a pandemic was challenging enough. Did I really want another one?” he says.
Another consideration was whether the Widnes church would want to adopt the culture, values and identity that were core to St Helens.
Would they want to join them on the journey God had been taking the church on for the past 15 years?
“We had a prophetic word about St Helens becoming an apostolic centre. As a result, we have an apostolic identity around pioneering new ways of reaching people and sending them out to express their faith,” says Craig.
“That has been key to our journey and our six values – the kingdom of God, the presence of God, the prophetic honour, family and joy – lie at the heart of our church.
“God has also spoken to us about influencing our city, so we’ve built strong links with the council who are very open to the faith community.”
JOURNEY
With this in mind, Craig and the St Helens team initially said no to taking responsibility for Widnes. Instead, they committed to journey with them to discover what God was saying and whether St Helens should support and resource Widnes or whether the two churches should join forces.
Twelve months later, both were convinced that partnership was the way forward.
“The relationships we’ve built are really good and the fact God was joining us together became increasingly obvious,” says Craig.
The relationship culminated when Widnes asked to adopt the Christian Life Centre name, but instead, Craig and the team opted to rename all three elements of CLC.
“We switched to become CLC St Helens, CLC Widnes and CLC Online. It was a no-brainer because Widnes loves our values and what God is doing, and wants the same identity. We also have an online facility that everyone can be a part of whether they’re from St Helens or Widnes.”
The churches are now establishing how to work together.
“St Helens has a team model of fivefold ministry and we want to introduce that in Widnes. Our team is basically spread across two sites. We send preachers and worship teams over because Widnes didn’t have a live worship band.
“Now I’m looking at how you join two churches in terms of finance, policies and procedures.”
Since the CLC partnership was formed, Craig has seen its congregations grow.
“We’ve had new people join each week and held several baptisms. We’ve heard some amazing stories about people finding God too, like the man who found Jesus through watching Covid-19 videos on YouTube and, after 20 years living as a recluse, asked us to teach him to evangelise. From that, his sister came to faith and he’s brought his nephews and nieces to church.
“There’s a lot happening. God has journeyed us to this point and we’re trying to accept the pioneering things he’s given us and pursue the kingdom culture he is birthing in CLC.”
From Direction Magazine issue 237
