The Year Ahead: Helping Bristol Believe
Around this time each year, we take an opportunity as a church to look back with gratitude and look ahead with faith. When we look back over the story of City Church, there is so much for which we can thank God. Whether its people coming to faith, congregations strengthening, the building purchase and subsequent gift days. It has been a year where we have prayed, given, served, taken steps of faith together and seen God's hand with us.
Our vision as a church is simple: Helping Bristol Believe. We long to see men, women and children across our city encounter Jesus and put their trust in him. We want to see churches full of people worshipping God, communities transformed by the gospel, disciples growing in faith and new churches planted across Bristol and beyond. Everything we do ultimately serves that vision.
And so as we look ahead, there are some significant things on the horizon.
This year there are three particular areas where we believe God is leading us forward.
21-23 Stokes Croft
The first is 21–23 Stokes Croft. A year ago, we had an offer accepted on the building and, through the extraordinary generosity of the church, around £750,000 was given through our Gift Days. We have now completed the purchase of the building and we held our first Worship and Prayer Evening there on Sunday 4th October.
We are now entering a new phase where we are preparing towards the refurbishment of the building in order that it would further our vision of Helping Bristol Believe. We believe Stokes Croft will be a launchpad into so much of what God has called us to, by becoming a significant hub for mission and ministry in the heart of Bristol. It will become home to a new congregation, as well as providing space that enables us to serve our city in new ways, and resource mission and ministry beyond Bristol.
It's a big vision and a big project and means another season of generosity, prayer and faith as we consider what each of us can contribute. There will be gift days coming up on 15th, 22nd and 29th November where we are looking to raise finance towards the refurbishment.
Raising New Leaders
Another priority for the year ahead is strengthening leadership across the church. City Church is one church made up of three congregations, and healthy churches require healthy, godly leadership. Over the past year we have been exploring eldership with a number of people and, God willing, we hope to appoint new elders in the spring.
At the same time, we want to continue strengthening the site teams that serve each of our congregations. Increasingly, we want to recognise and equip leaders who can pastor people, carry responsibility, build community and help each congregation live on mission in its part of the city. If we are going to reach more people, disciple more people and plant more churches, we will need to keep raising leaders.
Called To Belong
The third and final priority over the next year is we want to help people increasingly find their place at City Church. For a number of years, we have talked about how we can better help people move from simply attending church to really belonging: knowing what we believe, knowing our leaders, building relationships, serving, giving and sharing responsibility for the life and mission of the church.
During the first half of 2027, we hope to pilot a new membership or Joining City Church pathway. For some who have been part of City Church for many years, this will be a simple opportunity to reaffirm their commitment. For those who are newer, it will provide space to ask questions and understand what it means to make City Church home.
Again, this is about more than creating a course. We want to become an increasingly strong and healthy church family in which every person knows that they belong and knows the part they can play in Helping Bristol Believe.
God With Us
We believe these three priorities will help us to grow and strengthen as a church and ultimately help us to reach more people with the gospel, make disciples and be part of God's mission in Bristol and beyond. However, there is a danger whenever we begin talking about vision and strategy: we can become so occupied with where we are going that we forget who must go with us.
In Exodus 33, Israel faces exactly that moment. God has rescued his people from Egypt and promised to bring them into a land of their own. But after Israel turns away from him and worships the golden calf, God tells Moses that the journey can continue and the Promised Land can still be theirs — but God himself will not go with them.
Moses' response is: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”
Moses understood something that we must never forget. The gift is no substitute for the Giver. The destination is not enough without God. Moses would rather remain in the wilderness with the presence of God than enter the Promised Land without him.
That must be our conviction too. We don't simply want God to bless our plans; we want to know God. We don't simply want him to give us what we need; we want his presence among us. We don't simply want to become a larger, busier or more impressive church; we want to become a people among whom God is unmistakably present.
Of all the things someone might say after spending time among us, perhaps the thing we should desire most is simply: “God is there.” Not, “What an impressive building.” Not, “What brilliant programmes.” Not, “What amazing music.” Not, “What a big church.” But, “God is there.”
That is what made God's people distinctive in Exodus, and it remains at the heart of what it means to be the church today. As we gather around God's Word, worship together, pray, take communion, receive the Holy Spirit and enjoy God together, these aren't extras alongside the mission. They are central to who we are, and they are essential to our mission.
Our verse for the year captures the promise we want to carry with us: “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” — Exodus 33:14
As we look towards everything that lies ahead, our prayer is not simply, “God, make our plans successful.” It is, “Lord, go with us. Help us to know you. Help us to seek first your Kingdom. Help us to be a people of your presence. And through a church filled with the life and presence of Jesus, help us to Help Bristol Believe.”
