We didn’t know where God was sending us!

 In his first year at Acorn Community Church, Rob Case has focused on outreach, church life and linking up with the nearby Elim family.

“When my wife Margaret and I were asked to consider moving to Whitley Bay we said yes without hesitation,” says Rob Case.

“Margaret didn’t actually know where Whitley Bay was! It just felt right and we knew it was a God thing.”

This was last autumn and Acorn Community Church, Elim’s most northerly English church, was searching for a new pastor.

The church, Rob explains, was in transition following a season of leadership by several short-term pastors.

“They were very much a family and could basically run things themselves, but they needed someone to give direction and pull what they were doing together,” he says.

So Rob and Margaret left their church in Driffield, East Yorkshire, to begin leading Acorn last October.

After observing church life and praying about Acorn’s direction, Rob began focusing on three main areas.

Community connections

“There were lots of good things taking place within the community but the church had been quite inward-looking. I wanted people to understand that everything we do should be with a view to outreach,” he says. “We needed the church to know the community and the community to know the church – because we didn’t know our neighbours.”

Teams were already out prayer walking and litter-picking in the park, having conversations as they worked.

“Things like that which build relationships are something I am keen to develop,” says Rob.

A few new ideas have also been tried.

“We’ve started a café recently and had 14 people unconnected to church come to the first one.

“We also did a summer children’s outreach called Crafty Kids, and a strawberry tea for the community in our courtyard, which more than 70 people attended.”

“My hope is that we’ll become a church that’s open most of the week, which people will feel comfortable to come into for a drink and a chat.”

Acorn is also taking part in Good News For Everyone’s ‘Explore’ project, giving out copies of Luke’s Gospel to homes throughout north Tyneside.

“It’s quite an in-your-face form of evangelism where we knock on doors, have small conversations and invite people to take the Explore magazine.

“There’s about half a dozen churches involved round here, and quite a lot from our congregation.”

Church life

Meanwhile, Rob has focused on groups within church too.

With a background in and a heart for youthwork he was keen to address a lack of children and teens at Acorn Church, and soon got in touch with Limitless.

“We got a team together, Limitless Pioneers came to train them in September and we’re planning to launch a youth group this month.”

For adults, regular Alpha courses and follow-on “Following Jesus” discipleship courses have been running.

“We’ve also launched a men’s breakfast called MoMentum where up to 20 men gather, with one of our guys leading worship and another speaking. We’ve had a number of water baptisms recently and several people have joined the church as members too.”

Regional links

Rob has also been encouraging greater connection with other Elim churches in the area. “Kingdom Life in Newcastle have a regular men’s ministry which some of our men go to, and Regional Leader Paul Hudson puts on area praise nights which we encourage people to attend.

“We’ve actually agreed to host one ourselves too!”

Rob has been thrilled to see new people join the church and find faith.

“We had one guy come who had been in a rock band, with a history of addiction. God met him and completely transformed him and now he’s really involved in church – in the worship team, on PA, preaching, running our social media and the project to deliver Luke’s Gospels.

“But what’s great is how his family have got involved too.

“He brought his two youngest to church, who absolutely loved it. Then his wife came, went through Alpha and gave her life to the Lord.

“His son, who’s 15, recently did work experience here too; he attended everything going on in church during that week to gain an understanding of what we do and why.

“Since then he’s attended our men’s breakfast and is helping at our Crafty Kids on Tuesdays – as is his sister.”

Future plans

Acorn will mark its 50th anniversary next year and both its men’s and women’s groups will be central to a year of celebrations, with a women’s conference planned for March and a men’s event for June.

Beyond that, Rob is considering the church’s long-term future.

“I’m heading towards the end of my ministerial career, so I’m thinking about succession. I believe in growing people in-house and have one person I’m hoping will be accepted as an MiT, stationed here. Then I have another guy who has just been enrolled in Paul Hudson’s regional training, after which he is also looking at becoming an MiT.

“My aim is that when I retire, the next person will be able to pick things up and get on with whatever God is calling them to do; equipped with the gifts they need and excited for the future.”

Churches together

Acorn Community Church has been getting involved in the local Churches Together group, says Rob.

“As ministers, we meet on a monthly basis to talk about each other’s churches and problems, and to pray for one another. We’re also looking at what we can do together in the area. We had a walk of witness where we walked from different points within the town to meet at the parish church for an outside service with around 200 people.

“This summer, Churches Together also ran a Church on the Beach activity where we met community people and holidaymakers to have conversations, answer questions and generally be as helpful as we could. It’s an easy sort of evangelism that I’d like to encourage our church to get more involved in.”

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