Coolings help turn up the heat at growing church!

Tim and Sara Cooling have a heart for revitalising churches. So when the chance to help renew Glossop Elim came up, they leapt at it. Chris Rolfe reports

Glossop Elim has a fascinating history. Established by Richard Howton, a former prize fighter who came to faith in the late 1800s, God did wonderful healings there as this larger-than-life character shared his faith around the town. The congregation grew still further as relationships were forged with Elim’s Jeffreys brothers.

But fast-forward to 2019 and the church had become “Glossop’s best-kept secret” in its former mill town home between Manchester and the Peak District. The church needed revitalising and was in search of a new pastor.

This is how Tim Cooling and his wife Sara came to Glossop Elim to work with the leadership team to rebuild its ministries and outreach.

“We were in London with a heart for church revitalisation and were asking if there were any churches which would benefit from some help,” says Tim.

“Our Regional Leader Paul Hudson told us about Glossop Elim, and so we came to a wonderful church where the leadership had a heart for change and a passion to see Jesus working in the town they love.”

Tim and the team navigated the pandemic then found themselves with the welcome challenge of leading a growing congregation.

“We’d grown fast after Covid, but our infrastructure was still that of a small church. That meant our focus was very much on raising and developing leaders, releasing people into ministry and encouraging them to fulfil what God was leading them into.” As a result, church members set up various projects – a popular example being the Connect ministry.

“Connect is about helping isolated and lonely people find relationships,” says Tim. “There have been loads of studies around the devastating impact of isolation so we’ve tried to create a space where people can find community, and it’s gone from strength to strength.”

Connect’s weekly Tuesday gatherings attract around 50 to 60 people for a mix of coffee, puzzles, games, lunch and a time for various speakers to share their faith and stories. “We get lots of elderly people coming along, but also single middle-aged men who don’t have much connection, or parents or grandparents with young children who come to hang out together and build relationships.

“There’s a real sense of family and belonging, and people know they’ll be treated with kindness, love and respect.”

As Tim sought to re-establish other ministries post-pandemic, including the church’s small groups, youth and children’s ministry, he realised he needed to bring in extra help from outside and is grateful for how God provided it.

“Just before Christmas we brought in an assistant minister, Joel Singleton, who is doing a wonderful job of overseeing our youth and worship and supporting me.

“We really went on a journey of faith to bring him here, though.

“When we started recruiting, I asked my network of leaders and friends if they knew anyone who would fit our needs.

“They all said no, but I knew I really needed support immediately; I didn’t have time to raise up a leader from within the church. Then, during a worship session at the Elim Leaders Summit, someone shared a picture he had of me running really fast. God was running behind, trying to catch up and tag me.

“He was saying, ‘Stop striving and trying to make this happen. Trust me and let me work – I’ve got this.’ I decided to rest in God and trust him. Then I went to a conference business session and bumped into Joel!

“I saw God’s provision in that so strongly and have seen it regularly in the life of our church, too; whenever there’s been a need or I’ve felt like there isn’t enough to fill God’s vision for us, he’s always provided. It’s funny because at Joel’s induction, one of our kids ministry leaders told the church that when I talked about recruiting someone, they knew we didn’t have enough to pay a full salary.

“She joked that they all secretly thought, ‘Like you’re gonna get that, Tim!’, although, of course, they didn’t tell me at the time! But she shared how God had brought Joel to us and how grateful she was for that, and that’s been the sentiment of the whole church.”

With this help in place, Tim is now looking to develop Glossop Elim’s pastoral care.

“Our heart is to be a family on mission, and lots of exciting things are happening around that, but we don’t want it to come at the expense of caring for people.”

“Last year, one lady had lost her husband, and I’d walked through the funeral with her and the initial time of grief.

“She was finding it difficult to come back into our building, which she associated so much with her husband.

“Whi le she did have friends from church visiting, she said she would have also appreciated help from us as a church to work through that, and I’ve since felt that our pastoral care needs developing.

“We want to release people who have the gifting for this ministry, so folks get the care they need.” As Tim considers these plans and looks back on the work established so far, he is grateful for the team around him.

“I’m really excited to see people being released in the church so we can go from strength to strength,” he says.

“We wouldn’t be where we are as a church without so many servant-hearted people who are giving themselves passionately for the glory of God and the good of his church.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

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