On Church to Church Partnerships

For almost 5 years, Banstead Community Church has been in partnership with New Life Church in Middlesbrough, and it was a joy to add Spen Valley Church in Cleckheaton to this partnership between churches in the last year.

Why are we as a church keen to have these church partnerships?

The first reason is because we want as a church to not be inward looking and only be focused on our ministry and the local community we are in.

Another reason is because we are part of the same family of churches (FIEC).

One more reason is because of the great gospel need there is in the North of England and especially amongst those serving on and seeking to reach those in hard places.

For a few years, prior to these partnerships beginning, as church we became aware of how great this need was, but had no clue as to what we could do. But what started to happen at our weekly prayer meeting (yes we do have one of them!) was that members spontaneously began to pray for the spread of the gospel and the growth and strengthening of the churches in this part of the UK.

In the Lord’s providence, the opportunity to partner with New Life Church in Middlesbrough came about (there’s a longer story), but we had no idea what this might look like. Five years on, in God’s goodness it has been a joy to see how it has progressed and developed, and we are thrilled to partner with Spen Valley Church too (how that came about is another story).

From the start, we’ve been keen to emphasise that these partnerships are between churches not between their pastors, so that they might continue if the pastors were to move on.

So, what does a church to church partnership look like in practice?

Interest

The churches take an interest in one another by constantly sharing news with each other, both the joys and sorrows, and also the progress and the setbacks.

Prayer

There is a commitment between the churches to pray for one another. But not just for one another, with one another. This takes place monthly at a Joint Prayer Meeting over Zoom.

Visiting

The pastors visit the other two churches in the partnership once a year. But where possible, we’ve encouraged members to visit the other churches in the partnership. Several members from Banstead Community Church have visited New Life Church over the years, and a couple visited Spen Valley Church last summer. These visits have led to friendships forming between members of the different churches.

Serving

The obvious way the churches serve one another is by releasing their pastors to preach elsewhere (which they’ve done). But other opportunities have arisen with members providing help at Holiday Bible Clubs or evangelistic Christmas events at a partner church.

Giving

Banstead Community Church has been a position to provide financial support to New Life Church, and we’ve been grateful for opportunity to do so in a meaningful way.

Singing

At Banstead Community Church we want to sing psalms, we want to sing best old hymns, and we want to sing best new songs (recognising that we might only sing them for a season). We also want to sing songs that the churches we partner with sing, as a way of drawing us closer to one another by praising God using the same words they do. We’ve sung songs that we’ve learnt from our involvement with and visits to both New Life and Spen Valley Church.

Supporting

One final way, the church to church partnership has been seen is through myself and Graham, the pastor at Spen Valley Church functioning as a kind of remote elder for New Life Church as Nathan, their pastor, is the sole elder. Though not ideal and limited, a fortnightly Zoom meeting has been a way for us to provide support from a distance.

Through this little partnership (of interest, prayer, visits, service, financial giving, singing, and support), we at Banstead Community Church are no longer just making disciples in Banstead but in Middlesbrough and Cleckheaten too, and the same is true for other churches as well.

It’s also been encouraging to see other partnerships form like this one through the work of Medhurst Ministries, and one of the regular prayers at our joint prayer meeting is that there will be more!

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