Remember, remember the fifth of November – not the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament, but the anniversary of the planting of a brand-new gospel congregation in South Wales by Highfields Church, Cardiff: Penarth Evangelical Church (PEC). There was no gunpowder in sight, you’ll be pleased to know!
At Highfields Church we’ve had the privilege of being involved in several church plants or revitalisations in and around Cardiff, including Thornhill, Minster, Llanishen Evangelical Church, The Bridge and Redeemer. ‘Not to us O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory’ (Ps. 115:1). It has been particularly encouraging seeing the Lord sovereignly (and somewhat rapidly!) overrule in the galvanising of this new work.
Early beginnings
Penarth is in the Vale of Glamorgan, just to the west of Cardiff and it takes around twenty minutes to get to Highfields from there. Many people commute to Cardiff from Penarth for work and others do so at the weekend for church. Across its wider community of around 30-40,000 people, the vast majority have no interest in the gospel. During the Covid pandemic, several Highfields Church members who live in and around Penarth began a conversation about the need for a new gospel work there. In the months and years that followed nothing really happened as we were all in a rebuild phase coming out of lockdown. Furthermore, the early 2022 cost of living crisis meant that as a church we were having to be extra cautious about some of our more expansive initiatives. Yet, God has a way of moving things forward in the unlikeliest of ways.
In April 2022 I went to the Together for the Gospel conference in the United States where I met Ricky Wilhelm, an American church planter, pastor and network leader from Moscow, Russia. He had been repatriated due to the invasion of Ukraine. With a heart for preaching, pastoring and gospel proclamation, Ricky, along with wife Brandy and two children, was at a crossroads in life and ministry. We invited Ricky to Cardiff to get to know the gospel need in Wales, and he and his wife joined Highfields in September 2022. Over the following months, the Wilhelms committed to praying about church planting and the Highfields elders started doing the same. We invited the whole church family to join us in seeking the Lord over the matter of gospel growth. We longed to spend and be spent in the cause of significant fruit-bearing for Jesus Christ. Would that mean sending some of our finest away to plant a new congregation? We sensed the Lord unmistakably leading us, including the discovery of a Russian speaking community in the very area we were considering! In June 2023 Highfields Church voted to start a new gospel work in Penarth, led by Ricky along with two other non-staff elders from the church.
God is at work
Between seventy and eighty people, young and old, mature believers and interested enquirers are now gathering together every week in a local school with a core team of around thirty people. All are committed to Bible-believing, cross-preaching, soul-reaching, life-engaging and community-creating together.
Ricky Wilhelm writes: ‘I honestly feel a great sense of gratitude to my fellow church members that they have formed this church with an attitude that allows me to pastor with joy and not with groaning (Heb. 13:17). Sunday after Sunday, I get to meet with a faithful congregation asking to be fed the Word of God and eager to serve the people of God. One reason why I love church planting is the way it brings people together in unity with new zeal to mature in Christ and reach their community. Over these past few months, I feel like I’ve had a front row seat to witness the fruit of their evangelism as their friends consistently come to ‘window-shop the gospel’ at our Sunday gatherings. For example, in January, we baptised two young adults and had around thirty non-Christians come and see. We had to find more chairs just so they’d have a place to sit! I’m not sure that I have ever experienced anything quite like that. Yet, I can’t say we’ve done anything very special here. We simply pray and preach. I’m humbled that, before we were ever even considering moving to Wales, there were families in Penarth praying for a new evangelical church to be planted in their community. Thus far, we have experienced one affirmation after the next that God has heard the cries of his children. Please continue to pray. Never grow weary in calling for God to work in this land. PEC is nothing short of an unexpected answer to prayers of those who desired to see his Kingdom come and his will be done in their town.’
Two new members who have joined the church are Bob and Sally Davies, who write: ‘For us, PEC has been like an oasis in an increasingly arid world. A place where the good news of Jesus is proclaimed week on week. We have felt welcomed, refreshed and regularly challenged by the truth of our great need for Jesus. Each week we have been blessed with solid biblical teaching, praise, worship and prayers. We have enjoyed fellowship and communion with brothers and sisters in Christ. Our old friendships have been strengthened and we have many new friendships that we know will deepen with time.’
Lorna Welch shares her experience: ‘After praying to find a Bible-believing church in the area, God has provided more than we could have imagined. We feel safe under the leadership, the teaching is true to the Word and people are coming in from the community. God is good!’
Tom and Becca Ratcliffe have been members of Highfields for more than a decade. They have also joined the plant. Tom writes, ‘During the teaching series at Highfields on gospel growth both of us felt a growing desire to be part of reaching a new area in a church plant. Being part of PEC has been very encouraging. We are blessed to belong to a family church, full of members passionate about the Word and encouraging each other to be equipped, by reading it together. The Lord has been in it and it is a blessing.’
In a day and age when the ground seems harder than ever, we praise God that the gospel is not chained, and for the privilege of seeing a new work take root. Please join us in praying that the Lord would establish Penarth Evangelical Church and lead Highfields Church as we consider future ministry opportunities in and around Cardiff.
For more information on PEC visit www.penarthchurch.org.uk.
An earlier abridged version of this article was published in Evangelicals Now magazine and is used with their permission.
