Vision Sunday

Testifying to the Lord's Faithfulness

Today is Vision Sunday, and we’re going to walk through three different things together. We’re going to look a bit at where we’ve been, a bit at where we are now, and quite a lot at where we believe we’re going.

I tend to think of Assemble Church as a startup church. That’s how I picture it in my mind, because we are in a season of establishing who we are. We’re in a season of establishing why we’re here, what we’re doing, what our focus is, and how we do things. And it’s important to know that all of this is not led by our own wisdom, but by the Lord. Amen? We do our best to keep an ear to heaven and to be led by Him.

In this last year at Assemble Church, we have seen some absolutely incredible things. We’ll share and highlight more of these through our ministry areas as we go, but let’s just celebrate a few together.

Over the last 12 months we’ve had our very first residential kids’ camp. How awesome is that? All organised by our own church family. We’ve established a strong ministry partnership with The King’s School and the Food Hub and everything that’s happening there. We have raised—this is not to be sniffed at—£120,000 for the purchase of our very first building.

Week by week we continue to see new people come, look for Jesus, search for Jesus, and draw closer to Him. And here’s another exciting thing: we’ve tried a number of things that haven’t worked. You might not immediately think that’s a positive, but it really is. It’s an exciting place to be when we’re able to test, to see what works and what doesn’t, because it means we can be agile, we can be listening to the Lord, and we can be quick to respond to what He is saying, in conjunction with the practical needs around us. That’s a strong place to be as a church.

I’m not embarrassed or deterred by things that don’t work out. I’m actually excited about those things, because it means we’ve learned how not to do something. Is that all right?

As we go on, we’re going to hear more from our ministry areas and understand a bit more about what God has been doing among us.

The Unchanging Vision of God’s People

In 2025 as well, you’ll probably know—and hopefully remember—that we launched our church’s vision, or perhaps more accurately, we clarified and sharpened it.

We went to the Scriptures and listened to God to understand that Assemble Church is a church that helps people to know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make a difference. That’s the vision of Assemble Church.

We did a whole teaching series about this a few months ago, walking through the vision of Assemble Church. You can go back and catch up on that if you’d like. But what we need to know and understand is that this is God’s vision for His people. It’s found in Exodus 6. As I say, there’s a whole teaching series on it, but the key thing is: it doesn’t come from us; it comes from Him.

I think it’s a really strong, secure place to stand when we can say that our vision as a church is not of human origin, but of heaven’s origin. Thanks be to God for that.

And our vision is not something we change. We don’t rewrite the vision every year. We don’t roll out a new update or a different direction. Instead, the vision remains consistent. But how we go about outworking that vision does change.

As we adapt to outside circumstances, as we respond to the needs of people, and as we listen to the Lord in different seasons, the way we express and live out the vision will shift. And that’s a bit of what we’re talking about today.

So that’s a little of where we’ve been and what we’ve established in 2025.

The Faithful Presence in Our Numbers

I want to talk a bit now about where we are as a church on the 15th of February 2026. I want to show you “Assemble Church in numbers.” Is that all right? Who likes numbers? Yes, Sam – Assemble Church in numbers, here we go.

So, we need to know that there are 71 adult members of our church, or people who would be considered, quote-unquote, “members.” We don’t have a formal membership system, but this is an informal way of measuring people who are involved in the church beyond simply coming on a Sunday. That could mean serving on a team, being in a life group, giving regularly, and so on. Seventy-one adults – that’s pretty amazing, actually. It’s way above the UK average.

We have 47 children connected to those adults, which again is incredible. Our kids’ ministry is absolutely phenomenal. We have an average attendance of 115 on a Sunday, which again is awesome. And within that, we notice, don’t we, that when Ignite leave to go into Kids Church, it feels like half the room disappears. It turns out it’s not actually quite half – that’s an illusion! It’s 35 children on average out of those 115, which is just under a third.

There are 63 adults in life groups. There are 61 adults serving on teams. There are 22 people currently in positions of leadership in the church. And we have an average monthly giving income of £7,800. There’ll be more on finances later for those of you who enjoy that.

So, these are the numbers. And by the numbers, Assemble Church is a healthy church. But we also know that numbers, while they give us a bit of an idea and paint part of the picture, don’t tell the whole story, do they?

They don’t tell the story we know anecdotally, just by being around Assemble Church – that it is filled with people who have a heart to see the Kingdom of God come in Newark. We know that. And that heart works itself out in so many different ways: in the relationships that are formed, in ministries that are still in embryonic form, in the inscription that’s written on the hearts of individuals that says, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

So that’s a bit about the numbers, if you like.

Reimagining Leadership Through Unity

Now I want to talk about leadership, and specifically the leadership team at Assemble Church.

For the last couple of years we’ve been operating with a structure that some of you will know, even though we don’t bring updates on it regularly—and the website is out of date, but more on that in a moment. Our model has looked like this: we’ve had a Senior Leadership Team that has been responsible for the spiritual health, direction, and pastoral oversight of the church. If you like more traditional language, that’s similar to what many would call the “elders” of the church.

Alongside that, or perhaps underneath that if you think in terms of hierarchy, we’ve had the Wider Leadership Team. The Wider Leadership Team has been responsible for the practical outworking of how we actually do church—the leadership of church “on the ground,” if you like. So we had the SLT and the WLT.

This has served us well. It’s been a good model for a couple of years, but like any model it has its challenges. We noticed a lot of crossover, a lot of meetings, and a lot of inefficiency. And when you’re operating an organisation that is largely led by volunteers, inefficiency is not a good thing.

So, as we come to the end of 2025 and move into 2026, we are changing how leadership at Assemble Church operates. We’re combining the SLT and the WLT into a single team, simply called the Leadership Team—the LT. We’re going for simplicity.

Here is the Leadership Team. There’s me, Dom, overseeing leadership and discipleship. There’s Sam, who oversees prayer in the church. There’s Alex, who oversees Sundays. This is all from a leadership perspective, not necessarily the detailed, day-to-day ministry work. Sally and Lou together oversee pastoral care. Nicola oversees mission. Ann oversees Ignite, and Angela oversees worship. This is the Assemble Church Leadership Team as it stands at the end of 2025 and into 2026.

The way this team works is that we operate together as one team, but we outwork the mission in different ways across the church. That’s how things are done. We listen to the Lord, we discuss areas of focus for a given time period, and then we pursue those areas of focus in our different areas of leadership and ministry.

Everyone happy with that? Good—because that’s what we’re doing now.

Honoring a Season of Faithful Leadership

You’ll notice on this grid of people, with all these super smiley faces, that there is one person missing who many of you will know has been a significant part of the leadership for a long time. He has been present for many years. Mr. Paul Foster’s input and leadership has been a significant gift to the church in many different areas. His dedication to this church and to the people within this church is absolutely amazing.

I also want to say that his personal commitment to me and to Sam – from both him and Lyn – is so appreciated and genuinely heartwarming. Paul and Lyn are highly valued members of our church. Do we agree? And don’t worry, they’re not going anywhere.

But in this season, Paul is stepping back from the leadership team. He’s super excited to pick up a paintbrush and go up a ladder when we get into the new building, but his focus right now is on family, on health, and on being ready for that building, for stepping into that next chapter. So he’s taking a step back from the leadership team for this season.

What we need to do is recognise the sacrifice that has been made and the input that has been given. We really want to honour Paul in this time. Paul said, “Don’t you say anything, Dom. Don’t bother, don’t do that.” But for everything that Paul has done for this church, for us, and for many of us as individuals, I really think we need to honour Mr. Paul Foster – and also Lyn, who supports Paul in various ministry pursuits. Paul, would you mind standing? Is that too much? Let’s just clap and thank Paul.

So that’s the leadership team update. We’re excited to move forward with this model. As I said at the start, the great thing about Assemble Church is that we’re not perfect. But the greater thing is that we’re able to acknowledge that we’re not perfect.

We will operate this leadership model and test it. We’ll see if it works, and if it doesn’t work, or if there are holes and flaws, then we’ll change it. And that’s amazing. I love being in this church. I love it, because we’re not fixed, we’re not stuck, we’re not under obligation or anything like that. We simply try to do what works to outwork the Lord’s mission in our town. Amen.

Stepping Forward in Faithful Provision

Okay, now I’m going to give an update on the building – the promised land.

As I mentioned earlier, we raised £120,000 for the purchase of Barmby Gate Methodist Church, which is absolutely incredible. We really should clap, not just for ourselves, but for what the Lord has done through this church and through the individuals within it to bring this about.

For a church that is three years old – almost four this year – and of the size that we are, this pursuit is not normal. It is abnormal for a church of our size and age to be purchasing a building like this. But the Lord is at work. Amen. So we should cheer and we should clap, both for what has been done and for what God is doing. Let’s just be thankful: £120,000. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

Now, we have secured the mortgage. We’ve got the actual, formal final mortgage offer letter in this week. The mortgage is secured, the initial heads of terms have been signed, and we’ve had surveyors and valuers go to the building. It is all go. It is all go.

That said, I need to give you a bit of an update about the survey results and the exact situation, because there can be a tendency in churches sometimes to present Vision Sunday stuff and it’s all hype and excitement and “everything is awesome” – but that’s not reality, right? I’d rather be real than just overly hyped, because I’m no Steve Jobs. So I’m going to bring you the facts as they have been presented to me.

The survey has been returned and it was largely good. However, there are some challenges. The building basically either needs a new roof or it needs remedial works on the roof. That could cost anywhere between £50,000 and £300,000. Get your wallets out again, church.

Before we’re alarmed, there are a few things we need to note. Firstly, it is a surveyor’s job to over‑catastrophise everything because they have to cover their own backs. We’ve been in talks with roofing companies as well. Many of you will know Paul Cowling from around the place, and a few other guys as well, and they’re all just saying, “Nah, it’ll be all right, we’ll just put some slates back in, it’ll be all right.” The truth likely lies somewhere between the two.

Secondly, we need to acknowledge and really know that this building project is not in our hands. It never has been. It’s not achieved by our strength. This building project is in the hands of the Lord. Amen. If the building needs a new roof, he will get us a new roof. If the building’s roof needs to be repaired, he will make a way for the repairs to be done. That is what we believe. We’ve got this far not by our own strength or might, but by his, and we will be taken all the way by him. He’s not going to give us a building that then ruins everything, is he? That’s not the Lord I know.

We’re also in talks with the Methodist Church about some kind of cashback arrangement to share the cost of that work. And there are loads of heritage grants and all sorts of other funding options available when the time comes as well. But we do need to be aware: this is a step of faith.

So we’ve been in prayer, we’ve consulted the business and building acquisition team, we’ve analysed all the scenarios and all the options, and we have decided that we are going ahead with this and that we are stepping out in faith for this building. Amen.

Now, we’re going to get to where we’re going in a minute.

Announcing the Launch of Our Website

Firstly, I just wanted to bring a quick update about something I’m really excited about. Many of you will know that our website has been in a state of disrepair for quite a while. It’s been largely useless, out of date, impossible to update, and basically just not really serving us—or anybody—particularly well.

Over the last few months we’ve been working really hard in the background to prepare a new website, and today we’re ready to launch it. There’s a big focus on community and people, on helping visitors and helping all of us to find what we’re looking for. There’s also a big focus on teaching. Over time, the catalogue of preaching and resources will grow, with sermon notes, transcripts, Sunday takeaways—all that sort of thing.

So I’m really excited to announce our new website today. There’s a short video for us to watch about it. Go and check it out in your own time, have a click around, try out the giving page, make sure it all works, and see what’s there for you.

Stewarding Communication Within the Church

Now, while we're talking about comms and everything we’re trying really hard to get better at, I want to hand over to Lou.

Hi, I'm Lou and, as Dom has said, I have the amazing privilege of working for the church. I love my job, I love this role, and I look after the communications side of things. My heart is to make sure that everybody in the church knows what’s going on at any given time.

We have a monthly email that goes out, and in that I’m able to share everything that’s happening in the life of the church—our ministries and all the fun things that come up over the month.

We’re also really active and really present on our social media. If you’re not on socials, please get on and subscribe. My mission is to reach as many people as possible in the town of Newark and beyond who need to know about Jesus. They need to hear the amazing teaching that comes from this stage. They need to know about the community we have here, the family that’s waiting for them if they were to walk through that door. I get to help share all of that on our socials.

We’re on Facebook and Instagram. Every week, the teaching goes up on YouTube, so if you’ve missed a week, it’s all there. I’m working hard to make sure nobody misses out on all the amazing things that Assemble Church does.

We also have some incredible WhatsApp groups that have just started. We’ve launched an encouragement group that you can be a part of from a pastoral perspective. Every Monday, leaders from the church post a video or an encouraging scripture to start your week—to ground you in the foundations of who God says you are, to speak into your life and help set you up for the days ahead. It’s something new we’re doing every single week, and it’s really special, so please be a part of that.

And of course, there’s the website. The website is a great place to get involved with the church: to sign up to serve, to join life groups, and to plug into the community and the life of the church.

There is more, but that’s it for now—especially at short notice!

The WhatsApp community piece is super exciting. It’s new, and it brings all the groups together, just as Lou said. So make sure you join the WhatsApp community.

Wider Ownership and Spiritual Alignment

All right, are you ready, church? We’re going to talk about where we are going. Turn to the person next to you and say, “Where are we going? Where are we going?”

At the end of last year, I spent some time in prayer, asking the Lord, “Lord, where are we going in 2026?” And I felt that the Lord spoke this word over us: ownership. The word is ownership.

Now, this year, as we’ve said, is the year that we are going to walk into and get the keys to our first building. And I do say first—our first building in 2026. That is ownership in practice. Literally speaking, the charitable organization that is Assemble Church will literally own a building, which is great.

But what is outworked in the physical is reflected in the spiritual. There is a link between the two. Jesus said that what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. What’s He saying? That there is a link, there is a relationship, between that which happens in the physical and that which happens in the spiritual.

And so as we take ownership this year of bricks and mortar as a church, we will also take ownership of the mission that we’re actually here for, and of the mission that will be outworked through that bricks and mortar.

For many of us this year, Assemble Church will move in our own hearts, our own minds, and our own perspectives from being “a church that we attend” to being “our church.” Many will move this year from simply attending church to actually having stakes in the church, a vested interest. Not because the church can be owned—because a charity can’t be owned, and the actual Church of the Lord belongs to the Lord, amen—but because Assemble Church is our vehicle to outwork what God has called us individually to do.

So this year, we own our human part of the Great Commission. And in that, we take ownership of the ministry that is Assemble Church. The opportunities are extensive, the field is ripe, and in 2026, we own the plough. Amen.

So if this year is a year of wider ownership in Assemble Church, and of the mission that we have been given by the Lord, we need to focus on parts of the church that lead us towards that pursuit. Amen. So good.

As a leadership team, we have determined three key areas of focus for 2026. Someone say, “Three areas of focus.” Three areas of focus in 2026.

The first is this: to develop our invitational culture.

Assemble Church has a great culture of welcome, I believe, but I don’t think we currently have a great culture of invitation. And we know that Jesus invites all people in, right? So we need to place a focus on how we develop an invitational church—a church that invites.

That might look like community and family days to invite the wider community. It might look like specific Sundays that are dedicated to invitation. I’m not yet sure of the exact practical outworking of that, but we need to be—and to focus on being—people who invite. We need to make it easier for all of us to invite people into this place. An invitational culture: that’s the first focus.

Here’s a question for you, and this is a challenge to me as well. Can I challenge you with what the Lord has challenged me? There is a reason—there is a reason—that last night, or yesterday, you didn’t text your neighbour to say, “Hey, do you want to come to church with me tomorrow?” What’s the reason for that?

I’m not here to condemn. I’m simply saying there is a reason that we don’t do that. And so we need to develop a culture where that becomes the norm. Amen. And that’s all of us.

Strengthening Pastoral Care and Discipleship

The second focus for this year is pastoral care. This is an area where we have seen some growth, but we need to accelerate that growth in our pastoral care provision in Assemble Church.

As we're looking to widen the ownership of the church, we need to be able to look towards how we care for one another. Amen. Is that agreed? As more people come on board, we're called to look after one another, to pastor one another, to build one another up, to encourage one another. All believers are called into some level of pastoral ministry. And it is the role of the church to equip the saints—that’s all of us—for the work of ministry.

So this year we are formalizing a four-part pastoral framework, with the aim of ensuring that everyone has the opportunity for pastoral care and discipleship in Assemble Church. The four parts of the pastoral framework are these.

The first is Life Groups. This is the core of our pastoral care. Life Groups are already established, they’re already here, they’re in motion: believers meeting with other believers, building each other up, encouraging one another. But Life Groups need strengthening, they need bolstering, they need multiplying. Life Groups sit at the core.

The second area, which is going to be new for us this year, is what we’re calling the Pastoral Care Team, which I’m super excited about. This is a group of people dedicated to meeting up with people who need it or who want it—perhaps for a coffee or a chat, perhaps for some encouragement, some prayer, to celebrate something, or because they need a shoulder to cry on. Companionship, care, and discipleship: that’s the Pastoral Care Team.

The third area is what I’m calling “Disciple Me.” This year we are setting out a mechanism for ongoing one-to-one discipleship: time to meet up, to discuss the tricky stuff with one another, to grow, to become closer to Jesus. I know for me, in my life, the times that I have grown most, been challenged most, and been spurred on in the faith most are not on Sunday mornings. Can I be honest? They’re not even in Life Groups. Can I be honest? They’re in the times when I have sat across a coffee table from somebody else and they’ve challenged me, inspired me, spoken into my life. And we’re all called to do that. So this year, Disciple Me establishes a mechanism—a framework, if you like—for empowering all of us to do that in some way. Yeah? So good.

And then the fourth area of pastoral care is our men’s and women’s ministries. Both are already running, both are already doing good things. We’ve got Brew, we’ve got Coffee, Chat, Pray, and we’ve got other things too. It’s already there, but we need more. We need deeper, we need stronger, we need closer. There are some great ideas around that from the people involved, by the way.

Our third focus for this year, as we look to widen ownership, is to know—to know who we’re with, to know who we’re for. The Bible talks about the church being like a body, and so we need to know, in this body, who is in the body. Who makes it up? Who can I lean on? Who can I pray for? Who can pray for me? Who is encouraging me? Who am I on mission with?

The Foundations of Church Partnership

This year, in 2026, Assemble Church, we’re launching Assemble Church Partnership.

Who knows that the mission we’re on is tricky? It’s difficult, it’s a challenge, it’s not easy. That’s the reality of the situation. And so as we do this, we need to know: who are we partnering with for the gospel? Who is alongside us? Who are we on mission with?

Paul writes in Philippians 1 that he is thankful for the partnership in the gospel. We’re going to hold a separate Partnership Night to explain what’s going on and unpack things in more detail, but here are the highlights.

Anyone and everyone is welcome. Anyone can be a partner in Assemble Church. But there are four ways we want to demonstrate that we’re really invested here—that we’re truly part of this body going forward, that we genuinely want to partner with each other in spreading the gospel and lifting the name of Jesus high in our town through the ministry of Assemble Church.

Those four ways are:

First, conviction: alignment on theology, teaching, and doctrine.

Second, contribution: literally investing in the mission through regular giving.

Third, community: being in a Life Group, building one another up, and supporting one another.

And fourth, commission: being on mission together, serving alongside brothers and sisters in Christ for the sake of the gospel.

These four areas make up what it is to be a partner in Assemble Church. As I say, we’ll talk more about this at a specific night for it, because time is getting on.

So our three focuses, then, for this year are: invitational culture, pastoral care, and partnership. All of this is working towards the word that God has laid on our church for 2026: ownership.

This culminates in a mission statement that we have put together for 2026, to give us something clear to work towards. Our mission statement for 2026 is this:

By December 2026, we will have seen 20 baptisms, 60 committed members, and a fully functioning four-part pastoral discipleship pathway, because Newark needs a church that is intentional, healthy, and commission-shaped.

That’s where we’re going in 2026, church.

Now we’re going to hear from different ministry areas about what is going on—from the leadership team, who are going to share some encouragement about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going in those areas.

Okay. All right, who’s first?

Forming Christlike Families Through Worship

Morning, everybody. I’m Anna – Daniji Egwavoyen. It’s really nice hearing that name being said since I got married! I lead the kids worship and kids ministry alongside Chris, who is just sat over there, and Terry and Pru, who is Chris’s wife. But I’m standing up here on behalf of the rest of the team.

We love our kids, do we not? Come on. They’re amazing. Every week I see them head off into Ignite and I’m just like, wow, what a blessing we have. To have that many children in the house of the Lord is just incredible. And we’ve seen that growth. As Dom rightly mentioned, about a third of the whole congregation disappears after worship, which is incredible to see. We’re averaging about 40 children some weeks, which is a lot if you think about it.

But none of that is possible without the leaders and the support that we have – the volunteers who come in week in, week out to help us run these sessions. And a massive shout-out to all the parents who are stepping up and supporting us in that. So thank you so much for that. Please, a round of applause.

We have volunteers who are stepping up every week, we’ve got our beautiful children who are coming in and learning about the Word of God and what He has in store for them. We’ve seen so much growth – in numbers, yes, but also in spirit and in heart. The children are wanting to know more and wanting to build that relationship with Him. That’s important to us, because we know, as Scripture says in Psalm 127, that children are a heritage from the Lord. We really need to nurture their hearts. We need to disciple them towards a life of knowing who He is, what He has called them to, and the purpose on their lives. That is our vision within Ignite.

Talking about ownership – this is very important. As we move into this new building, we see the children having their own space: a space where they can really get to know each other, where they can feel that level of invitation to their friends at school. A place where they can say, “Hey, come to my church. Here’s where we do worship. Here’s where I get to know Jesus better.”

We’re also looking more intentionally at AOG. As Sam mentioned, we are part of Assemblies of God, and they have an amazing children’s ministry. We really want to tap into that blessing and ensure that our kids are being nurtured from the same well as others, making sure that we are aligned across the board with our other churches as well – doing the same kinds of things, but also getting involved in activities nationally. It’s a blessing to see the outpouring of God’s Word not just across Newark, but across our nation. Being part of that, and keeping that momentum going forward, is so crucial for us in Ignite.

One thing we want to continue doing is modelling Christlike behavior. To ensure that our kids see that and begin to model the same, we are looking for leaders. We need leadership. We need that seed to be sown across the board. That involves each and every one of us in the room today – as parents, as adults, as role models, as spiritual mothers and fathers. We all have a role in helping our children step forward and own the kingdom, to carry the heart of Christ on them as well.

So this is a call: we ask that parents step forward, because we cannot see this church get built without the right momentum and the right people backing it. Many of us have children. I’ve been blessed with one very recently, which is great. And even if we don’t have children of our own, a child is still looking at you.

My daughter was sat there and literally stared at Dom and was so in awe of him, which is incredible. I’m hoping that one day she might have the zeal to be a leader or to stand on a platform and speak the Word of God. We don’t always see what the children are seeing, but in that, we are all leaders. It’s important that we step up into that role. If you sense a calling, please come and see one of us. We’d love to have you, and we’d love to see growth in the number of our leaders across the board going forward.

Where are we going? One more thing I wanted to call out in terms of Ignite: we’ve seen a lot of children go home and talk about God with their parents. We’ve heard beautiful testimonies. Seeing children worship and sing with their parents is incredible. Now we would like to see more of that. We want more of that, because we are raising a new generation – a generation of children who will go on to have their own children. It’s important that they speak life over their children and over those around them.

So one thing I’d love to ask parents to do: we all have 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week. Let’s make, even if it’s an hour or 30 minutes, dedicated time to sit down with your children. Help them delve into the Word of God. Ask them, “What did this say to you?” Maybe take time for worship and singing together. If it’s a time of just reading Scripture, ask again, “What did that say to you?” I think it’s really important that we cultivate a heart of worship not just for Sundays – not just Sunday school or “you’re going to Ignite now” – but in our homes as well.

It’s really important that we foster that heart and ensure that the children are really putting in the time to understand the identity they have in Christ. Society will try to take them on a different journey, and we need to pull them back, in the same way that Jesus calls us and pulls us back into the path He has for us. We need to be that alignment for our children. We need to ensure that they are rooted and grounded in good soil, rooted and grounded in the Word of God. That is so, so important, and we have a role to play.

So I really urge parents: spend some time with your kids. Have a dedicated, regular time where they can know, “This is our time with God,” and build that relationship with Him.

There is so much that’s going to be happening, so many exciting things. I can’t wait for the new building. I really want to decorate and get our creative spark going. We’ve got lots of incredible people in this room who are so artistic. We want to allow the children to have that space – to have their own area and know: “This is who I am. This is what I own. This is my church.”

Okay, thank you.

“Can we just get all of the leadership team up, please, including Sam, who’s in the crèche? Because we’re short on minutes and we’ve still yet to worship, are we not?”

“Yeah, we’re going to do that. But I went over, Ann went over as well. So four minutes on the document became eight. So we’re just going to hear, really quickly, from each person – a highlight of where the ministry is and where it’s going.

“My ministry area is Sundays. I love Sundays. I really missed not being here last week; it was very strange.

“Where we are, very quickly: numbers aren’t everything, but they are a sign of health. Healthy things grow, so if we’re growing it means there’s a certain amount of health, which is great and really encouraging. We’ve had lots of speakers come in to talk to us, share with us, and minister to us, which brings fresh perspectives and new wisdom that help the church to grow. That’s been incredible.

“We also set up, between us, a new Sunday setup routine which supports the whole church. It means that nothing is left to one team to do on a Sunday morning. Those have been the highlights of this year.

“What we are looking forward to: salvations and baptisms, because that’s why we’re here, right? We’re here to point the way to Jesus. Salvations and baptisms are what we’re looking for, along with increased engagement across all areas. The more you worship, the more you’re in worship and part of a worship experience, the more people see that and wonder what’s going on. So engagement across all areas, and salvations and baptisms, are what we’re looking for.

“How are we going to do that? We’re going to keep growing the teams. We’re going to keep meeting as teams regularly, helping people take ownership while also bringing direction. We’ve started that: Sal and I recently invited the Sunday team leaders to our house, and that’s going to be happening more and more.

“We also want to create time, space, and opportunity for responses to the gospel. The job on a Sunday is to give people opportunity to respond to the gospel in various ways, and to work with pastoral care to develop pathways for exploring faith.

“That’s me. Dawn – speed round, speed round. We’ve got to top that. Sally.”

“Hi again, I’m Lou. Sally and I are now overseeing all of the pastoral areas within the church, which is super exciting. I’ll try and keep this quick, but there are so many great things to say.

“Where we are now: for 2025, the main focus for pastoral care really was life groups. Now that they are fully established, we as a team are ready to build on that and provide more opportunities for you as a community, as a church, to gather together, seek pastoral care, and build on your friendships.

“Already happening this year, we have the men’s ministry, which is an incredible ministry that happens monthly and continues to grow. They’ve already had their annual steak night, which is a great opportunity for brothers in Christ to come together over good food, amazing chat, and build on relationships.

“The women’s ministry continues to flourish. We have the Coffee, Chat and Pray group with the incredible Jess, who’s not with us today. She hosts a ministry during the week that women can plug into, seek prayer, and build community. Then we have the women’s life group run by Teresa and Penny, and that happens every week on a Wednesday. So there are some really great foundational groups to get involved with.

“This year we are launching a broader women’s ministry that will bring all of that together – name to be decided! That will bring Coffee, Chat and Pray together with more opportunities for women to plug into teaching, deepen their relationship with God, and explore spiritual gifts. There’s just so much – it’s going to be great. This feels like speed dating, although I’ve never done speed dating, so that’s good!

“Very quickly: we also have WhatsApp groups you can join to stay connected and seek support. I can’t even do this justice in the time, so take the information home and have a look.

“I’m Nicola. I’m normally only on stage with a guitar, so bear with me. I’ll talk about mission really quickly.

“Last year we partnered with New Life Children’s Centres in Gambia for our international mission. There are so many ways you can get involved in that. Loads of people sponsored children. Others volunteered in the shop. There are lots of ways people are getting involved with Gambia.

“Mel has done an amazing job with King’s School and the community hub there. We had our Christmas appeal where we donated selection boxes, and let me tell you, that is more than just donating chocolate. I work in a school and I know what a difference that would have made to every single child and every single staff member. Chocolate at Christmas is massive anyway when you work in a school, but that would also have sparked conversation: ‘Where has this come from? Who’s given this?’ So that was amazing.

“We’ve also got people involved all the time in Impact and in the food banks as well.

“Where are we going? Obviously we’re continuing with the Gambia partnership, and we’ll have an update on that in the next few months. Mel has amazing new ideas for where she’s going with the King’s Community Hub – loads of new things going on there, so watch this space. And we’re continuing to support Impact and Newark Foodbank.

“Having the new building will give us loads more opportunities. But how are we going to get there? By everyone getting involved. Everyone needs to take ownership. The building’s great, it’s amazing, and it will give us so many more opportunities to do things in the week and in the evenings. But let’s not wait for the building to start inviting people. Invite people on a Sunday. Invite people to steak night. Invite people to breakfast – whatever is going on, invite your world, because that’s what’s going to make the difference.

“Okay, worship. Two minutes, I’m told.

“I’ve been leading worship and the AV team as well for the last two years. I suppose the biggest change from the perspective of worship in 2025 was the structure of worship in church. We moved away from ‘a couple of songs, then notices, a song, preach, and a song.’ We’ve now created a space at the start that is just half an hour of worship, where we are able to really draw into worshipping our Lord, drawing closer to Him, and allowing the Holy Spirit to move. That’s been a really big part of 2025 for us as a team.

“It’s also meant that we’ve moved away from relying on tracks. You may or may not be aware, but we’ve had a MacBook at the back with lots of tracks we could run through our in-ears – click, guide, all sorts of technical things. We’ve moved away from that to allow us to really lean into what God may have for us in that worship set on any given morning – to go where the Spirit leads. We might repeat a bridge or a chorus; we didn’t always have the freedom to do that when we were tied to a track, but we are now doing that much more. I really feel we have shifted in our worship as a church, and I want that to grow. That’s something we’re going to work on as we move forward.

“The team is growing. We’ve got about 18 serving members across the worship band and the AV team, which is fantastic. But again, we want that to grow. We do a lot within our team: we look after each other, we do regular weekly Bible reflections and prayer together, which is a big part of serving on team – being a community together.

“We also do a lot on event Sundays. We did a lot with Easter and Christmas in 2025, involving other parts of the church – the kids ministry, other musicians. We had flautists the Christmas before last, which was beautiful, and extra drums at Easter.

“Where are we going? With everything that’s happening in worship, there’s still lots we want to achieve. We want more team members. It would be great to be in a place where we can rotate between Sundays across different worship teams – having multiple guitarists, multiple drummers, etc. If you have any skill at all in the world of music, I want to know about it. And please don’t feel you have to be at a certain level to begin that journey. You are welcome to come along to Thursday nights and just explore what you can do. It’s a safe space to do that.

“I want to instill a culture of worship at Assemble Church – both in terms of our maturity as a people worshipping God as a church family, and so that visitors see that there is a culture of worship here. The Scripture from the Psalms that says, ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ is what I see as the banner over the worship team, and I want to explore that and make it a reality.

“In terms of how we’re going to get there, a big part is encouraging people to get involved. Please join the team. If you’re interested in AV or in the worship band, please come and talk to me. I also want to know about creative things you might do – you might dance, or play an instrument that isn’t usually on stage but we might feature in an event service. I really want to know if you have those skills and are interested in using them creatively for worship.

“Another big thing this year will be, hopefully, to separate the worship and AV teams. A big part of what I’ve been doing is trying to juggle both, and that’s actually been quite hard. They are very different in terms of vision and function. So we’re looking at separating the worship team – the band on stage – and the AV team, who function from the back. I think that’s probably everything. I’ll stop there.”

“Thank you, Angela.

“So I’m just going to round us off, talking about prayer.

“Who knows that prayer is foundational and fundamental to our faith and to our relationship with Jesus? We already have so many opportunities to pray. Obviously, we can pray in our own space and time at home, but through the church we pray before the service, during the service, and after the service. Anne leads a wonderful intercessory prayer group that meets every two weeks and prays fervently into the needs of the church and its people. We have monthly prayer nights on the last Wednesday of every month. In life groups we pray. As Angela said, the worship team prays. I have a microphone where I talk into all the band’s ears and I pray with the team every Sunday morning before worship. There is so much space for prayer in our church.

“But where I really want us to go, and how we’re going to get there, is a deepening heart for prayer – a deeper understanding of what prayer is, its power, its necessity – and a hunger for prayer in our church. We have lots of opportunities for it, but I think our enthusiasm and our commitment to it are where I really want to see us grow over the next 12 months.

“I’m going to have a meeting with Anne and with Rich in the next couple of weeks to talk about how we might do some of that. I’d love for us to pick up the Prayer Course that we started just as we shut down for Covid and pick that back up, to gain a deeper understanding among us of what prayer is and how foundational it is for us and our relationship with Jesus.

“Was that about 30 seconds? Nice. So good.

“Well, church, we’re going to worship now, and we’re going to thank the Lord for everything that He’s done and everything that He’s doing. If you’re able, I’d love to invite you to stand.”

Cultivating Worship in Everyday Life

Morning, everybody. I’m Anna – Daniji Egwavoyen. It’s really nice hearing that name being said since I got married. I help lead the kids’ worship and kids’ ministry alongside Chris, who is just sat over there, and Terry and Pru, who is Chris’s wife. But I’m standing up here on behalf of the whole team.

We love our kids, don’t we? They’re amazing. Every week I watch them head off into Ignite and I just think, “Wow, what a blessing we have.” To have that many children in the house of the Lord is incredible. As Dom rightly mentioned, about a third of the whole congregation disappears after worship when the kids go out, which is amazing to see. We’re averaging about 40 children some weeks, which is a lot when you think about it.

None of that would be possible without our leaders and all the support we have – the volunteers who come in week in, week out to help us run these sessions. And a massive shout-out to all the parents who are stepping up and supporting us in that. Thank you so much. Please, a round of applause.

We have volunteers faithfully serving, we have our beautiful children coming in and learning about the Word of God and what He has in store for them, and we’ve seen so much growth. We’ve seen growth in numbers, but also in spirit and in heart – the children wanting to know more and to build a real relationship with Him. That’s important to us because, as Scripture says in Psalm 127, children are a heritage from the Lord. We really need to nurture their hearts. We need to disciple them towards a life of knowing who He is, what He has called them to, and His purposes for them. That is our heart and our vision within Ignite.

Talking about ownership is really important. As we move into this new building, we see the children having their own space – somewhere they can really get to know one another, where they feel confident to invite their friends from school. A place where they can say, “Hey, come to my church. Here’s where we do worship. Here’s where I get to know Jesus better.”

We’re also looking more intentionally at AOG. As Sam mentioned, we’re part of Assemblies of God, and they have an amazing children’s ministry. We really want to tap into that and ensure that our kids are being nurtured from the same well as others, aligning with our other churches as much as we can – doing similar activities and getting involved in national events. It’s a blessing to see the outpouring of God’s Word not just across Newark, but across our nation. Being part of that and keeping that momentum going is crucial for us in Ignite.

We want to continue modelling Christlike behaviour. For our kids to see and then model that themselves, we need leaders. We need that seed of leadership and discipleship sown right across the church. That involves each and every one of us in this room – as parents, as adults, as role models, as spiritual mothers and fathers. We all have a role in helping our children step forward and see what it looks like to follow Jesus, so that they too own the kingdom, so that they too carry the heart of Christ.

So this is a call: we’re asking parents to step forward. We cannot see this church built in the way God has shown us without the right momentum and the right people. It’s important that, as many of us have children – I’ve been blessed with one very recently, which is great – we recognise that even if you don’t have children of your own, a child is still looking at you. My daughter was just sat there, staring at Dom, completely in awe of him. I’m hoping that one day she might have the zeal to be a leader or to stand on a platform and speak the Word of God. We don’t always see what the children are seeing, but because of that, we are all leaders. It’s important that we step up into that role.

If you sense that calling, please come and see one of us. We would love to talk with you. We’d be so happy to welcome more people onto the team and see growth not only in the number of children, but in the number of leaders serving them.

We’ve already seen many children go home and talk about God with their parents. We’ve heard some beautiful testimonies and seen children worship and sing with their mums and dads, which is incredible. We want to see more of that. It’s so important, because we’re raising a new generation – children who will one day have their own children. We want them to speak life over their children and over those around them.

So I’d really like to ask parents to do something very simple and very intentional. We all have 24 hours in a day, seven days a week. Could you carve out even 30 minutes or an hour in the week to sit down with your children and open the Word of God together? Ask them, “What does this say to you?” Spend time in worship, sing together, read Scripture and then ask, “What did that mean to you?” It’s really important that we cultivate a heart of worship not just for Sundays – not just for Sunday school or “when you go into Ignite” – but in our homes as well.

We want to foster that heart of worship and help our children understand their identity in Christ. Society will try to take them on a different journey, and we need to pull them back – just as Jesus calls us and brings us back onto the path He has for us. We need to be that alignment for our children. We need to ensure that they are rooted and grounded in good soil, rooted and grounded in the Word of God. That is so important, and we all have a role to play in that.

So I urge you, parents: spend time with your kids. Have a dedicated, consistent time where they know, “This is our time with God.” Help them build that relationship with Him.

There is so much that’s going to be happening, so many exciting things ahead. I can’t wait for the new building. We get to decorate, to get our creative spark going. We’ve got so many incredibly artistic people in this room. We want to allow the children to have that space, their own area, where they can say, “This is who I am. This is what I own. This is my church.”

Thank you.

Strengthening Pastoral Care Through Community

Can we just get all of the leadership team up, please, including Sam, who's in the crèche? We're still on the minutes and we're yet to worship, aren't we? So we're going to do that.

We each had about four minutes prepared on the document, which between us would have been quite a lot, so we're just going to hear really quickly from each person: a highlight of where the ministry is and where it's going.

My ministry area is Sundays. I love Sundays. I really missed not being here last week – it was very, very strange.

Where we are, very quickly: numbers are not everything, but they are a sign of health. Healthy things grow. So if we're growing, it means there's a certain amount of health, which is great and really encouraging. We’ve had lots of speakers come in to talk to us, share with us, and minister to us, which brings fresh perspectives and new wisdom that helps the church to grow. That’s been incredible.

We’ve also set up a new Sunday setup routine which supports the whole church. It means that nothing is left to one team to do on a Sunday morning. Those have been the highlights of this year.

What are we looking forward to? Salvations and baptisms, because that’s why we’re here, right? We’re here to point the way to Jesus. Salvations and baptisms are what we’re looking forward to. We’re also looking forward to increased engagement across all areas. The more you worship, the more you’re in worship and part of a worship experience, the more people see that and wonder what’s going on. So: engagement across all areas, and salvations and baptisms.

How are we going to do that? We’re going to keep growing the teams. We’re going to keep meeting as teams regularly, helping them take ownership while also bringing some direction. We’ve started that already. Sal and I recently invited the Sunday team leaders to our house, and that’s going to be happening more and more.

We want to create time, space, and opportunity for responses to the gospel. The job on a Sunday is to give people opportunity to respond to the gospel in various ways, and to work with pastoral care to develop pathways for exploring faith.

That’s me. Dawn, speed round, speed round – you’ve got to top that. Sally.

Hi again, I’m Lou.

Sally and I are now overseeing all of the pastoral areas within the church, which is super exciting. I’ll try to keep this quick, but there are so many great things to say.

Where we are now: for 2025, the main focus for pastoral care really was life groups. Now that they are fully established, we as a team are ready to build on that and provide more opportunities for you, as a community and as a church, to gather together, seek pastoral care, and build on your friendships.

Already this year we have the men’s ministry, which is an incredible ministry that happens monthly and continues to go and grow. They’ve already had their annual steak night, which is a great opportunity for brothers in Christ to come together over good food, amazing chat, and to build relationships.

The women’s ministry continues to flourish. We have the Coffee, Chat and Pray group with the incredible Jess, who’s not with us today. She hosts a ministry during the week that women can plug into, seek prayer, and build community. Then we have the women’s life group, run by Teresa and Penny, which happens every week on a Wednesday. So there are some really great foundational groups to get involved with.

This year we are launching a women’s ministry that will bring all of that together – name to be decided and we’ll come back to you with that. It will draw together Coffee, Chat and Pray, and create more opportunities for women to plug into teaching, deepen their relationship with God, grow in spiritual gifts, and so much more. It’s going to be great.

We also have WhatsApp groups that are available. You can plug into those as well and stay connected through the week.

I can’t even do this justice, so I’m going to hand over.

I’m Nicola. I’m normally only on stage with a guitar, so bear with me.

Stewarding Community Vision Through Participation

Just talking about mission really quickly. Last year we partnered with New Life Children’s Centres in Gambia for our international mission, and there are so many ways you can get involved in that. Loads of people sponsored children, others volunteered in the shop; there are lots of ways people are getting involved with Gambia.

Mel has done an amazing job with King’s School and the Community Hub there. At Christmas we donated selection boxes, and let me tell you, that is more than just donating chocolate. I work in a school, and I know what a difference that would have made to every single child and every single staff member. Chocolate at Christmas is massive anyway when you work in a school, but that would also have sparked conversation. They would have been asking, “Where has this come from? Who’s given this?” So that was amazing.

We’ve got people involved all the time in IMPACT and in the food banks as well. Where are we going? Obviously we’re continuing with Gambia, and we’ll have an update on that in the next few months. Mel has amazing new ideas for where she’s going with the King’s Community Hub. There are loads of new things going on there, so watch this space. And we are continuing to support IMPACT and Newark Foodbank.

Having the new building is going to bring loads more opportunities, but how are we going to get there? We’re going to get there by everyone getting involved. Everyone needs to take ownership. The building’s great, the building’s amazing, and it will give us so many more opportunities to do things in the week and in the evenings. But let’s not wait. Let’s not wait for the building to start inviting people.

Invite people on a Sunday. Invite people to State Night. Invite people to breakfast. Whatever is going on, invite your world, because that’s what’s going to make the difference.

The Growth and Structure of Worship

I’ve been leading worship, and the AV team as well, for the last two years. I suppose the biggest change, from the perspective of worship in 2025, has been the structure of worship in church.

We’ve moved away from the old pattern of a couple of songs, then notices, a song, the preach, and then another song. We’ve now created a space at the start that is just half an hour of worship, where we’re able to draw right into worshipping our Lord, drawing closer to Him, and allowing the Holy Spirit to move. That’s been a really big part of 2025 for us as a team.

It has also meant that we’ve moved away from using tracks. You may or may not be aware, but we have a MacBook at the back that contains lots of tracks we can access. We can have them in our ears if we want, with click, guide, and all sorts of technical things going on. We’ve deliberately stepped back from that to allow us to really lean into what God may have for us in that worship set on a Sunday morning, so that we can go where the Spirit leads. We might repeat a bridge; we might repeat a chorus. We didn’t have the freedom to do that before when we were reliant on tracks, but we are now doing that much more.

I really feel we have shifted in our worship as a church, but I want that to grow, and that’s something we’re going to keep working on as we move forward.

The team is growing. We’ve got about 18 serving members across the worship band and the AV team, which is fantastic. But again, we want that to grow. We do a lot within our team to look after each other. We have regular weekly Bible reflections and we pray together, which is fantastic. Being a community together is a really big part of serving on the team.

We also do a lot on event Sundays. We did a lot with Easter and Christmas in 2025, involving other parts of the church: the kids’ ministry and other musicians. We had flautists the Christmas before last, which was beautiful. At Easter we had drums and lots going on.

Where are we going, then? With all that is happening in the worship team, there is still lots we want to achieve. We want more team members. It would be great to be in a place where we can rotate between Sundays across different worship teams, having multiple guitarists, multiple drummers, and so on, so that we can form different teams effectively.

So if you have any skill at all in the world of music, I want to know about it. And please don’t feel that you have to be at a certain level in order to begin that journey. You are welcome to come along on Thursday nights and just explore what you can do. It’s a safe space to do that.

I want to instil a culture of worship at Assemble Church: in terms of our maturity as a people worshipping God as a church family, and also so that visitors see that there is a culture of worship here. There’s that scripture from the Psalms: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” That is what I see as the banner over the worship team, and I want to explore that and make it a reality among us.

A big part of how we’re going to get there is through invitation—encouraging people to get involved. So please, join the team. Come and talk to us if you’re interested in AV, or if you’re interested in the worship band aspect. Come and talk to me. I also want to know about other things you might do. There are other areas of the creative world around worship: you might dance, or you might play a particular instrument that isn’t usually on stage, which we could feature in an event service. I really want to know if you have those skills and are interested in using them creatively for worship.

Another big thing this year will hopefully be to separate the worship and AV teams. A big part of what I’ve been doing is trying to juggle both, and that’s actually been quite hard. They are also very different in terms of the vision each team would want to pursue. So a big focus this year is to separate the worship team—the band on stage—and the AV team, who function from the back.

I think that’s probably everything. Thank you.

The Centrality of Prayer in Community

I’m just going to round us off by talking about prayer.

Who knows that prayer is foundational and fundamental to our faith, to our relationship with Jesus? We already have so many opportunities to pray. Obviously, we can pray in our own space and our own time at home. But through the church we also pray before the service, during the service, and we have prayer available after the service.

Anne leads a wonderful intercessory prayer group that meets every two weeks and prays fervently into the needs of the church and its people. We have monthly prayer nights on the last Wednesday of every month. In life groups we pray. As Angela said, the worship team prays together. I have a microphone where I can talk into all the band’s ears, and I pray with the team before worship every Sunday morning. There is so much space for prayer in our church.

Where I really want us to go, and how we’re going to get there, is a deepening heart for prayer—a deepening understanding of what prayer is, the power of it, the necessity of it; a hunger for prayer in our church. I think we have lots of opportunities, but our enthusiasm and commitment to it is where I’d really love to see us grow over the next 12 months.

I’m going to meet with Anne and with Rich in the next couple of weeks to talk about how we might do some of that. I’d love for us to pick up the prayer course that we started just as we shut down for Covid, and to pick that back up again so that we gain a deeper understanding together of what prayer is and how foundational it is for us and for our relationship with Jesus.

Was that about 30 seconds? Nice. So good.

Well, church, we’re going to worship now, and we’re going to thank the Lord for everything that He’s done and everything that He’s doing. So if you’re able, I’d love to invite you to stand.