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Church Grows In One Of UK's Toughest Areas
Stoke-on-Trent is a city that has definitely known better times.
Located in England's West Midlands, halfway between Manchester and Birmingham, it was once a thriving mining and industrial centre. Now, it is one of the areas hardest hit by Britain's recent recession.
Even before that, it was in a region that contains some of the worst unemployment in the country, and Stoke itself has been cited as a city with some of the worst local authorities in the UK.
Is this the place to build a great church? Pastors James and Becky Galloway think so - and they're proving their point, with the growing Bethel City Church.
In just a short time, Bethel has grown to 500 people every weekend, and now has several campuses operating across the city.
Mal Fletcher recently visited for the first time, speaking to a session for local church and business leaders, and to the church.
'I like to give a certain number of weeks in a year to investing in pioneer works that I believe are going somewhere long-term,' said Mal after his visit.
'Bethel is the kind of church that's led by a team of strategic thinkers who're serious about not just building a church but - and I think this is more important still - changing a city for good.'
For the leadership session Mal spoke about 'Leadership in the Digital Age', investigating some of the challenges facing leaders as digital media technologies change the way people interact, and their expectations of the leadership process.
It was a typically 'mind-bending' session by all accounts, with people buzzing about the content and the inspiration they received.
'I've no doubt,' adds Mal, 'that if James and his team keep heading in this direction, you're going to hear a lot more about BCC in years to come - not just as a great church, but as a really influential body in the region.'
For more on Bethel City Church, visit bethelcitychurch.com.
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Keywords: bethel city church | stoke-on-trent
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