In Depth:  Emily Pollok

Emily Pollok

A new website, pastapastor.org.uk, has been launched, providing access to more than 50 digital booklets and blogs by former pastor and en editor John Benton.

After serving in these roles, Benton worked for the Pastor’s Academy at London Seminary providing one-to-one advice and help for pastors. Through this work he gained great insight into the practical challenges that pastors face.

Emily Pollok

Lansdowne Church’s School for Discipleship in Bournemouth is launching a new resource to provide a flexible, accessible theology course to those who might not be able to commit to formal, in-person study.

The ‘Bible College in a Box’ contains core textbooks and relevant study material from the School for Discipleship’s existing training programme, but is a self-led programme that can be completed at the individual’s own pace – whether over a year or longer.

Emily Pollok

By bringing God, Bible study and gardening together, Hazelnut Community Farm in East Bristol is pioneering an innovative approach to living out the Christian faith that reaches their neighbourhood with the gospel while combating the climate crisis.

Located in the grounds of St Anne’s Church, the farm is both a Christian community and a community garden, a space for outdoor worship and a thriving vegetable plot.

Emily Pollok

Since the early days of Christianity, churches have used catechisms to teach and recall foundational truths from Scripture.

Now, following this tradition, Tim Hayward of Deeside Christian Fellowship Church in Aberdeen, has created the inclusive “All Together Catechism” to support churches in teaching and enjoying God’s truth “all together.”

Emily Pollok

Since 2007, Reach South has planted four churches in the south of England, and now another is planned to launch in Chichester this summer.

Reach South, a collection of Fellowship of Independent Evangelical (FIEC) churches, is committed to reaching Hampshire and its surrounding counties with the gospel by strengthening, equipping and planting evangelical churches in the region.

Emily Pollok

Four years since its inception, a pioneering initiative to bring the gospel to economically disadvantaged and ethnic minority areas is bringing transformation across the UK.

The Sychar Gospel Fund was established in 2021 with a vision to support local churches in the poorest areas of Britain – it has distributed more than £1.4 million in grants to 125 men and women from 40 different churches to date.

Emily Pollok

Through the faithful preaching of God’s word, prayer, and community outreach, several churches in Wales are seeing God “doing more… than He ever has before” and lives being transformed by the gospel.

Mount Elim Church in Pontardawe was founded in the 1980s and underwent a revitalisation project 13 years ago. Since then, the church has outgrown its current building and is now in the process of constructing a new home to accommodate their thriving ministry.

Emily Pollok

Church leader David Sims is taking back ground for the gospel on social media – sending Bibles to strangers and seeing people find faith.

“We’ve got to reclaim this back for the Lord,” said the Walsall minister, who hosts live TikTok church on the platform each week. “I think we should be using it and take every opportunity to give reason for the hope that we have.”

Emily Pollok

Congregants of Trinity Church Aberdeen are hoping to be using their newly restored church building by the end of this year.

Five and a half years after purchasing Queen Street Church, a redundant Church of Scotland building in Aberdeen’s city centre, the ambitious renovation project is in its third and final phase.

Emily Pollok

After a decades-long journey, Moorlands Church is nearing the completion of their ambitious building project.

The venture, which includes three historic buildings in the heart of Lancaster, aims to create a space that will expand and multiply gospel ministry for many years to come.

Emily Pollok

After moving around a lot over the past few years, most recently landing at a church in Nashville, Tennessee, Jonathan Worsley decided to come home last year.

Prompted by a longing for England and a conviction of the spiritual need in the UK, Worsley and his family joined with other Christians from Exeter and beyond to plant an FIEC church in the South West.

Emily Pollok

You almost couldn’t get two more different places than the bustling metropolis of Moscow and what Ricky Wilhelm describes as the ‘sleepy seaside town’ of Penarth, Wales. Yet, married missionaries Ricky and Brandy have seen the gospel powerfully at work in both.

Ricky and Brandy grew up in Oklahoma and were married at age 19. Inspired by a visit to their campus from missionaries in Russia, the couple decided to enter the mission field and spent the next eight years of their life working with the Udmurt people in the Volga region of Russia. ‘Love for the people came quite slowly,’ Ricky explained. ‘It was hard … Americans are admired in many ways but not necessarily loved by other cultures.’

Emily Pollok

Oak Hill College is launching a new leadership programme to help church leaders handle the challenges that come with their roles and establish practices to help sustain them in ministry.

The MA in Contemporary Christian Leadership will be led by Dr Mark Stirling, a former medical doctor who pioneered the work of Navigators with university students in Edinburgh from 1998–2004.

Emily Pollok

Several Christian schools and families are applying for Judicial Review following the government’s decision to start charging VAT for private and independent education.

This application follows legal action taken by six families to challenge the government on this policy last year after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced plans to amend the VAT Act 1994 in the 2024/25 Budget. Their case will be heard this Spring.

Emily Pollok

Four hundred women from more than 70 churches gathered to worship and hear from God’s word at the second annual Norfolk Gospel Partnership’s Women’s Conference.

The theme of the conference was ‘Eternity in our Hearts: Wisdom from Ecclesiates’ and was led by Karen Soole, author of Liberates: How the Bible Exalts and Dignifies Women.

Emily Pollok

Just before he received his last prison sentence in 2019, Lewis Gibson was living in a homeless hostel. He’d been warned that he would end up in jail again if he continued on his drug-fuelled lifestyle.

‘I was in despair, because I knew I was going back to prison,’ Lewis explained. At a crisis point, Gibson turned to a United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) devotional he’d picked up during a previous stint in prison. In it, he read Romans 10:13: ‘Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’

Emily Pollok

One of the most popular fast-food restaurants in the United States, which has attracted controversy for its Christian roots and ethical stance, is attempting to launch in the UK for the second time.

Chick-fil-A has 2,800 stores spanning Canada to Puerto Rico. It is best known for its fried chicken sandwiches and closed doors on Sundays and is planning to open five branches early this year in Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool and London.

Emily Pollok

One hundred people attended a London conference on 6 January which addressed the UK government’s consideration of a Conversion Therapy Bill and the Church’s response.

The event, titled ‘The MSC Group Introduces James Parker,’ was organised by the Marriage, Sex and Culture Group in partnership with Anglican Mainstream.

Emily Pollok

Christian Labour MP, David Smith, has been appointed to the role of Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for the UK government.

Smith, who became MP for North Northumberland in July 2024, takes over from Conservative MP, Fiona Bruce.

Emily Pollok

Certain things just make sense together. Batman and Robin. Tea and biscuits. But, church and wrestling?

‘Wrestling and faith evolved alongside each other for me,’ explains Gareth ‘Angel’ Thompson, founder of Kingdom Wrestling, a ministry that combines throwing down in the ring with sharing the gospel – all for the glory of God.

Emily Pollok

The Free Church of Scotland observed a National Day of Prayer on 27 November to lift up the nation and the work of its denomination in sharing the gospel.

All Free Church of Scotland congregations were encouraged to join in collective prayer, with many churches holding praying meetings on the day or throughout the week. Around 100 people from churches around Scotland joined an online prayer meeting on 27 November, led by Free Church Moderator, Revd Callum Macleod.

Emily Pollok

David Burrowes, former Tory MP and Co-Director of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, says new party leader Kemi Badenoch understands the importance of Christian values.

‘Kemi Badenoch has grown up in a Christian household and knows about the importance of Christian values as the foundation of family and community life,’ he said. ‘CCF looks forward to helping her renewal of Conservatism by listening to Britain’s faith communities about what the previous government got wrong and what we need to do to put it right.’

Emily Pollok

Coming to faith in Christ is the only thing that really transforms people in prison, says a Christian ex-jail governor.

Susie Richardson, Jersey’s prison governor for the past three years, stepped down from her post last month, closing the chapter on a 20-year career in the prison system.