Leicester is in revival. This is the story of Jamie and a new church plant called Anthem:
In early
2022, my wife and I were making plans to move from City Church Bristol to
Leicester to begin the process of planting what would become Anthem Church.
I was excited about the mission, the city and the opportunity. But to be honest
I was also pretty tired, burned-out and spiritually running on empty. I was
crying out to God for a fresh touch from Heaven because this was hardly the
state I wanted to be in as we were about to embark on the adventure of church
planting!
Out of the blue, a friend in Bristol heard that we were heading to Leicester
and suggested I get in touch with a couple called Ralph and Roh who had been a
huge help to him in the past. He also sent me links to a blog Ralph had been
writing, chronicling a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit that had broken out
a few weeks before at Chroma Church.
I'd barely heard of Chroma and I didn't know who Ralph or Roh were, but since I
was travelling regularly to Leicester to get to know the area and network with
other leaders, I thought I'd drop into their Tuesday night Revival Prayer.
After a couple of minutes of worship, I remember thinking, "huh, this is
pretty good." After half an hour of worship, I was thinking,
"actually this is powerful, God is really moving among people here."
I wasn't prepared for what God did next though. God's glory began to intensify
in the room. There was a real freedom in people's worship as they danced, knelt,
wept or poured out their hearts to the Lord. I remember experiencing many waves
of the glory of God hitting me just as I saw others expressing their worship.
Some of the team were really gracious in praying for me and for our church
plant, although to be honest, I'd been so overcome with the presence of God by
that stage I don't remember very much of it!
The Lord dealt with me in many ways that night, giving direction and
encouragement for our church planting journey, but more than that just
breathing a deep joy into my walk with Him again. I told our church back in
Bristol that I hadn't seen an outpouring of the Holy Spirit like that in a
public meeting in the UK for probably 20 years.
I knew that God had brought me into a new season, both in ministry and in my
own relationship with Jesus. Suddenly there was an overflowing joy and
anointing when I led worship again. There was a fresh power in my preaching
that certainly didn't come from me!
A few months later and our family had finally moved to Leicester along with
another couple from Bristol to begin planting Anthem Church. We were privileged
to spend some time at Chroma while we began the process of gathering our small
planting team in our front room. We were super grateful, not only by the
refreshing of God there, but how supportive the church were and happy for us
just to come along and be blessed. It does you good to be around a church where
if a service goes by and someone doesn't get saved, we laugh and say how weird
it was.
I've learned a lot of lessons from the church and the Leaders Gathering that
have served us very well in the early days of our church plant. I've been
provoked about the value of always sharing testimonies, pursuing healing and
always expecting God to be at work.
Our little church plant is gathering speed now. In the autumn, we moved out of
home and we've been gathering every Sunday afternoon at the Newarke Houses
Museum. God always shows up and it's been a joy to see every single person grow
as disciples and really embrace what it means to be 'sent' as ambassadors of
the Kingdom in their workplaces, universities, schools and neighbourhoods.
Church planting is an adventure with God and great fun - I recommend it to
anyone - but it's hard work too. The Lord gave what we needed when we needed it.
He knew that I needed a fresh touch of revival to ignite my heart for the
journey ahead. And I’m grateful.
Pastor, Anthem Church, Leicester
