The congregation at Rediscover Church in Newton Abbot has grown close to 90 people per week

New church plant in Newton Abbot

A brand new church plant is taking root in Newton Abbot. Could this be the first of a wealth of new Elim churches in the South West? Chris Rolfe reports

“It’s in a church planter’s DNA to be opening new churches,” says Phil Daniels. Phil is telling us about the past seven years, during which he and his wife Esther have helped launch congregations near Wigan and in Newton Abbot. He is also considering the future as Elim looks to expand its reach in the South West.

The couple’s first foray into church planting, he says, was with a new Assemblies of God congregation in the tough northern mining town of Golborne. This was after serving in a large AoG church staff team in Widnes, Cheshire, for almost 20 years.

“I remember driving around the place and seeing a burned-out car on a council estate. I thought, ‘Why would you want to plant a church here?’

“Then it struck me – who else is going to do it?” he says. “We went ahead and saw God do amazing things there over the next five years. The church grew from nothing to 100 people and 50 people got saved.”

After this time, the couple began to sense it was time for a change. They had no idea what this might involve, until they came across Mark Pugh’s Church Planting Academy at Rediscover Church in Exeter. “We got in touch with Mark to say we sensed our time in the north of England was coming to an end and had been asking the Lord what was next for our lives.

“Having been invited on to the Church Planting Academy it was during this time that we felt a stirring and a ‘yes’ in our hearts to be part of what God was going to do in the South West.

“Before the course had even finished, we sold our home in Cheshire and moved our family – Reuben, 16, James, 14 and Heidi, 12 – to Devon!” For their first year, Phil and Esther helped to run Rediscover Church’s kids work. During this time they also readied themselves to plant a new Elim church in Newton Abbot.

“There are some wonderful churches of many different denominations doing great things here already and we are looking forward to partnering with them over the coming months.

“But we sensed there was a great need for a Pentecostal expression of church in Newton Abbot.

“We also felt there would be Christians who had maybe got out of the habit of meeting after the Covid pandemic and were looking to return to a local church.” The first move was to buy a property. With funding from some local Christian businessmen, a former shoe shop was bought in Newton Abbot which, as “a real boat to fish from in the town centre” will eventually function as a ministry centre and coffee shop with a kids play area.

A former shoe shop has been bought that will become a ministry centre and coffee shop for outreach

Then, with work still underway on this building, the fledgling church rented rooms for adults and kids to meet on Sunday mornings. It opened its doors in the Courtenay Community Centre in the first week in January.

Nine weeks in, as Phil is speaking to Direction, the congregation has grown to between 65 and 90 people per week.

“We’ve had people with a real hunger for the Holy Spirit join us. We’ve also seen God bring people in.”

As their congregation grows, Phil and Esther are focusing on various activities to build and get to know their new church family. “We’ve started men’s and women’s ministries which meet in the room above the coffee shop now that’s been refurbished,” he says. “We’re also passionate in prayer, holding prayer meetings every other Thursday night. One thing we’ve done during prayer is put up a big fishing net and put the names of neighbours or family members who we’d like to come to know Jesus in it.

“Each meeting we pull names out and pray together for these people. We feel we’re going to start seeing names coming out the net for good one by one because they’ve come to faith.”

Another priority is launching life groups in villages around Newton Abbot. Over the past few weeks, ‘Cuppa and Conversation’ evenings in various homes have been held to help people get to know each other. As Phil was speaking to Direction the church was preparing to develop these and launch life groups after Easter. “It’s especially exciting to know there will be smaller expressions of church carrying the light of the gospel into these areas that are often small, unknown, and unreached.”

The church attracts people of all ages

Phil had initially planned to open the coffee shop in January but refurbishment ran over, delaying its opening to June. He is grateful, however, for the opportunity this has created to focus on building the church’s community of believers through ministries and life groups during the first few months.

Now, with the coffee shop getting ready to open, he is also excited for the new business’s future.

“It feels like the coffee shop will be missional in the town and a great addition to a church that’s already being established. I’m excited to see what God will do! We feel with the church, the coffee shop and our different ministries that we’re on the edge of a great new church here in Newton Abbot.”

This article first appeared in the May 2023 edition of Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

Enjoy this article? Don't forget to share