'Well, God has brought us here' 

The small congregation at New Baptist Church, Burton on Trent, wondered if it should close... Ann Foster shares an encouraging journey of prayer and waiting

When I first joined NBC in 1991, there was membership of over 80 with a regular 60 on any Sunday morning. But, like so many churches, we have slowly declined, people have moved away, or just left for various reasons. We declined so much that on some Sundays, we only just made double figures.

We somehow survived the pandemic without losing any more members, and when we starting to meet again we just didn’t know what we were going to do. To be honest we were deflated, despondent, and sad. We came very close at times to closing, but you know, there was just that niggle - it just didn’t feel right.

My husband and I discussed it at home, and he was all for closing. However, I just said ‘No, not yet.’ I didn’t think people were hanging on for hanging on sake.

As a church we did pray, and I know I prayed for some sort of sign from God if we should close. I only ever felt that I got one word. Was it from God? It was quite loud. Wait.

While we waited, the ladies of the church went to a Ladies Day in Leicester run by East Midlands Baptist Association (EMBA), called ‘Refresh’. It was so uplifting and empowering with 200 women singing and laughing. There were amazing speakers at each session, so we went to one session, then the next and the next!

The main thing we were hearing among all the stories and worship was 'pray'. Well, we knew that! We were doing that. Weren’t we? One of our young trustees said to everyone, 'Let’s all pray at 8pm on a Thursday night, wherever we are (if it was at all possible) and pray just for NBC.' She has sent a reminder every Thursday morning ever since, usually with some amazing words of encouragement to pray.

While all this was going on, it was becoming difficult to ask people to come and preach. When you’re a small church, it feels a bit uncomfortable and a bit embarrassing, so we cancelled our Sunday service on the last Sunday of the month. In its place another member suggested we still meet, but just for prayer. Does that sound a bit pious?

Well, we did meet and we struggled to get more than three or four people. Being totally honest, probably three out of the four of us were there because we felt we ought to be, not because we wanted to be, and it wasn’t easy with just two or three. We also had a zoom prayer meeting twice a month, again attended by the same three to four people.

So what happened? We did have a local minister we could contact occasionally who was sure we would soon be closing. We didn’t see much of him as a church, because we couldn’t pay him much, but he was working with the trustees. Nothing happened for 12 months, but we stuck at it and the communal praying got easier with one or two more people joining us at the Sunday prayer time. (People still find it hard to pray out loud). On Thursday evenings people prayed wherever they were.

Then people started to come on a Sunday, once, but then they didn’t come again. This happened over several weeks, and we didn’t understand, it was frustrating. I know we were praying for people to come, but we wanted them to stay! What is going on God? What are we supposed to be doing? Where are we going wrong?

Feeling somewhat despondent, we carried on, then one day David and his wife Christianah arrived. I was talking to him after the service, and I said that we as church were not sure of our future. David looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Well, God has brought us here.'

Oh OK... And they came the next week and every week since. A couple of weeks later a young couple arrived, then another with a baby, then a family of four, a gentleman on his own, another couple with a baby, another lady with two children.... and so it goes on. Nearly all these new folks are from abroad, none of them knew each other before they arrived.




It was and still is, glorious. So exciting!

We have seven new members and another three to four interested. We have had two babies dedicated, one adult baptism, two more young people being baptised soon, and our congregation is now over 30. You may think that’s not so impressive, but God knows our limitations and is adding to our numbers gradually, because we would have been overwhelmed had they all come en bloc!

We have a group of very young children and few older ones. We have a healthy Brigade of 20 to 30 children. We still pray on a Thursday for NBC and for those who meet in the building. We have our Sunday morning prayer meeting, often with 15 - 20 people and our Zoom prayer meeting once a fortnight, and we have just started to meet on alternative Thursdays at 7pm for prayer at church.

I read a quote the other day which said, 'You know how popular the speaker is by the number of people at the Sunday service. You know how popular Jesus is by the number at a prayer meeting!' Wow!

We still don’t have a minister, but the EMBA are our back-up, keeping a watchful eye on us, and if we struggle, they are there to advise. More people from the body of the church are speaking and leading services.

So, why did we need to wait? Well, only God knows the answer to that. During that time the original core of the church became much closer, so was this the reason we needed to wait? Over those lean years, we all learnt to appreciate what a strong bond we have. After all, we are a family and we can’t just go and join another family. We are growing, we are stronger, we are evolving and learning to embrace other cultures.

We share our building with The Salvation Army, and over the years they have been with us, we have grown so much closer, sharing services like Easter and Christmas, and any other celebrations. At the moment, they are without a Major, so we are also helping with some of their services.

Besides The Salvation Army, there is The Asian Calvary Church, The Seventh Day Adventist Church and The Romanian Church. We also have PHAB club during the week and Boys and Girls Brigade. Well over 100 people worship in the building each week. We are becoming expert jugglers! My prayer is that one day we will all just worship together and that is in God’s hands.

God has blessed us greatly over the last 12 months or so, He has brought these people to us, extended our family and filled the building with God’s love and grace. We know the joy of just being together, and we have learnt the value of prayer.

 

Ann Foster is a church member at New Baptist Church, Burton on Trent