Until everyone knows

What’s it like stepping up to lead a flagship Elim church? Stephen Gibson tells Chris Rolfe about his first six months at City Church Cardiff

When Stephen Gibson took over as senior leader of City Church Cardiff last August he already knew the church well. As its associate pastor for the previous 12 years he had been immersed in church life, overseeing everything from worship, production and media teams to interns, kids, youth and young adults leaders. Local and international missions also ranked high on his list.

But in many ways the past six months have been an entirely new ballgame as he has worked with his leadership team to set the direction for the church in this new season.

“You’ve got the job!”

This big change began when City Church’s previous leaders Dominic and Catherine de Souza left their roles last July – with Catherine setting out for her new position leading Prison Fellowship.

Stephen and his wife Rachel took time to pray over the possibility of him becoming the new senior pastor.

“I was aware that City Church has been and remains a significant church in the Elim movement,” he says. “It’s a vibrant, diverse, city-centre church with over 50 nationalities, and around 1,000 people call it home.”

“Many incredible leaders have pastored the church, like Percy Brewster and Chris Cartwright, both previous general superintendents, and Alex Tee, who was a popular evangelist and church planter.”

For anyone unfamiliar with how Elim appoints new leaders, Stephen explains that what followed was a period of prayer and discussion between City Church’s elders, Elim Regional Leader Steve Ball and Elim’s National Leadership Team to determine whether Stephen was right for the job.

A process that can take months when an external leader is appointed took just weeks in Stephen’s case. He was interviewed and offered the position.

Getting inducted

Stephen was inducted on 25 August. “I requested that date because I wanted to start in September,” he explains. “For me, it often feels like the beginning of the church year. It’s the start of the autumn term, people are back from their holidays and the university students are arriving.”

Neighbouring pastors, Elim leaders from around the UK and Stephen’s friends from Elim Sound gathered alongside the congregation from City Church for the service. Steve Ball and Elim General Superintendent Mark Pugh led the official elements, then Stephen requested a personal addition.

“I asked if my family could pray for me too, so Rachel, our four kids plus my parents came onto the platform. Two of my sons prayed for us and my parents blessed us before our elders came forward to pray. It was very special.”

Taking the reins

One of Stephen’s first moves was to announce a month of consecration in September. Making decisions like this about the direction of the church has been one of the biggest changes for him so far, he says.

“Functionally I know how to lead a church because I helped our previous leaders do that for years.

“But there is a change of mindset where you’re bringing vision and direction. You’re no longer a support leader but a senior leader making the ultimate decisions.”

So Stephen has been dedicating time to seek God over the church’s future and felt he received a prophetic word for 2025.

“God gave me the phrase, ‘until everyone knows’, which I shared with the church during our New Year’s Eve service. It’s a word about our mission focus, that we need to be passionate about reaching people and it’s something I’ll be coming back to again and again throughout the year.”

Considering mission

Stephen has already begun to act on this word. In January, Sam Johnson was appointed as associate pastor and two new elders were selected. He and the leadership team are considering what impact the phrase could have on mission too.

“Locally, we host a food bank and partner with other ministries like Safe Families and The Message. We love the work they do and some of our people are involved with them.

“But we’re taking time to seek God about what local mission might look like in the future too. It might be that new ministries come out of these times of prayer and it’s exciting to be having those conversations right now.”

International mission is also part of the lifeblood of the church. City Church partners with people in Israel and India, for example, and supports one of its pastoral team, Hani Shadad, in his work as an itinerant missionary in north and east Africa.

“Our Indian partners have just run a pastors’ Bible school, which we financed, and I was out in Israel last March visiting partners who minister in the West Bank. Our church has always had a heart for international mission so I’m loving the opportunity to support those relationships and develop new contacts.”

Reflections

So how has Stephen found the past six months and what have been some of his favourite moments?

“It’s a privilege to step into leading a church where you already know the people. I see everyone from our oldest members who’ve been here for 70-80 years through to international students who’ve arrived in the past few months.

“I just met a couple who’ve joined us from Poland, a man from Iraq and a newly married couple who’ve just moved here from Leeds.

“That’s the joy of leading such a diverse church. I love that I get to do this!”

 

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