FIEC Resources for Church Leaders

How can our desire to see the nations reached impact what we sing, our sermon applications, our prayer life, our small groups?

In this seminar, Kev Croft (Hope Church Vauxhall, London, and London City Mission) helps us think about how we make mission part of the church culture, not just a regular slot in the prayer meeting and service.

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: Kev serves as Field Director for South London with London City Mission, and is an elder of Hope Church Vauxhall - a church that was planted in 2018 on the Vauxhall Gardens estate.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Our communities and churches are more diverse than ever before. In that context, how do we take the first steps towards becoming an intercultural church?

Members of the FIEC Intercultural Ministry Team lead this seminar to explore the theological underpinnings of intercultural church before hearing from three FIEC churches engaged in this ministry to help us consider how churches can adapt to these changes.

With stories from Alan McKnight (Harper Church, Glasgow), Lucas Coelho (Sunbridge Road Mission, Bradford), and Debbie Dickson (Cornerstone Church, Nottingham).

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

One of the recurring challenges in church life for both operations teams and trustees is the overwhelming nature of governance - either recommended or mandated.

This seminar leads us through how to keep a cool head and serve the church well as leaders and trustees - by thinking about why good governance matters and how we can do the essentials well.

It is led by Becky Thomas (FIEC Director for Church Governance) and Gavin Smith (The Church Office), who also look at some helpful resources to support good governance.

About the speakers: Becky supports churches with administration and governance as FIEC's Director for Church Governance.

Gavin is the Church Manager at Christchurch, Newport, and the founder of The Church Office, an online resource that supports leadership and the work of ministry behind the scenes.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Many famous missionaries felt the burden to serve at a young age. Now, mission seems like a topic for old people in many of our churches.

We’d love to see young people on fire for Jesus when it comes to world mission, but where do we start?

Mel Lacy (Growing Young Disciples) leads this seminar to help us think how we engage young people with the challenge of and call to mission.

About the speaker: Mel is the Executive Director of Growing Young Disciples, a charitable organisation devoted to promoting and supporting biblical children’s and youth ministry.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Supporting mission partners is easier than it’s ever been. Yet few of us really maximise the potential of connecting mission partners with our church congregations.

This practical seminar, led by Mary Hodson (UFM Worldwide), shows us the benefits and also explores some of the challenges of doing so.

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: Mary is Head of Women's Pastoral Ministry at UFM Worldwide, encouraging women and families to thrive in their international context.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

All across the world, church leaders have learnt how to disciple new believers from ground zero, whereas in the UK, we have often been trading off an inherited Judeo-Christian heritage. That is fast disappearing, and leaders are having to learn how to rethink discipleship.

In this seminar, Emanuel Tundrea, a Romanian Christian leader and part-time worker for the European Leadership Forum, helps us think about this topic using his experience of working in Eastern Europe.

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: Emanuel is an Associate Professor at Emanuel University of Oradea, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology, and is leading the Romanian Christian Academic Network.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Ephesians 1:1-23 tells of the amazing blessings we have in Christ. How can women be encouraged and motivated to share them with others, especially women in their communities?

Rachel Sloan and Elinor Magowan, FIEC's Director for Women's Ministry, host this women's gathering featuring interviews with Siân Robinson and Maura Baldwin about their ministry lives.

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

In the context of world Christianity, missionaries are sent from many different nations to many different nations.

The UK is now a receiver, not just a sender, of missionaries. Brothers and sisters arrive to plant churches, teach theology, and engage in short-term mission.

How can we welcome those who come to engage in mission work in the UK, to help them best glorify Christ in their work, and help us do the same?

This seminar is led by Chris Hawthorne (Abbey Baptist Church, Oxfordshire) and Chris Howles (Oak Hill College), who have a wide range of mission experience from both a practical and academic perspective, both having served overseas, in Zambia and Uganda respectively.

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speakers: Chris Hawthorne is the pastor at Abbey Baptist Church in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Prior to that, he was the principal of Proclamation Institute, Zambia.

Chris Howles is the Director of Cross-Cultural Training at Oak Hill College and previously served as Head of Theology at Uganda Martyrs Seminary, Namugongo.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Is our church building project serving the mission - or have we made it the mission?

Church property can be a powerful servant of mission - or a costly distraction.

In this seminar, Jon Broome (Cuckfield Baptist Church, West Sussex, and Kingdom Bank) helps us to explore how property can point to Christ and become a flexible space that supports mission. Or, how it can become a cage that overshadows the gospel.

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speakers: Jon Broome is a Chartered Surveyor and Property Advisor for Kingdom Bank, providing churches with financial solutions to support their ministry and mission.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Many church leaders continue to wrestle with the question of ministries of mercy and their place in church life. 

Lots of church leaders inherit (or are responsible for) a haphazard and opportunistic approach to mission. How can we refocus, downsize (if necessary), and be strategic about mission partnerships in the church? What does it mean to lead the church in this area?

In this seminar, Michael Prest (UFM Worldwide) and Anthony Adams (Radstock Ministries) help us think clearly about a realistic but worthy approach to mission.

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speakers: Michael Prest serves as Director of UFM Worldwide and is an elder at Emmanuel Church Marlborough, Wiltshire. He has previously served in mission and pastoral ministry in Southeast Asia and Nottingham.

Anthony Adams is Executive Director of Radstock Ministries, a network of 100+ churches in 19 countries, partnering together for global mission.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

There are more than 1.4 billion Catholics in the world – the second largest religious group of unreached people only behind Muslims. In fact, they outnumber Muslims in the UK.

Are they really unevangelised? What do Catholics believe? And how can we reach them?

In this seminar, Leonardo De Chirico (Reformanda Initiative) gives a brief outline of Catholic beliefs, why they need the gospel, and how this connects with our desire to see the nations reached for Christ.

This is a seminar from the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: Joseph Steinberg is the CEO of the International Mission to Jewish People which aims to make Jewish disciples of Jesus.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

When we talk about Jewish people, our conversations quickly turn to politics and current events in the Middle East. Perhaps we also reflect on the terrible rise in antisemitism.

These are real issues, but we mustn’t let them distract from the high calling of taking the gospel of Jesus the Messiah to Jewish people.

In this seminar, Joseph Steinberg (International Mission to Jewish People) helps us see the need, what we can do to help and pray, and what encouragements there are in this important work

This seminar was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: Joseph Steinberg is the CEO of the International Mission to Jewish People which aims to make Jewish disciples of Jesus.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Our world is changing. What challenges does this pose for Christians, what opportunities are there for gospel work, and where does the UK church fit into global mission?

The books of Acts shows how the church grows - that persecution doesn't stop the growth of the gospel but in fact is often the context for gospel opportunity and growth.

As the gospel goes out to the ends of the earth, it is inevitable that those of all nations and cultures will become part of the global church.

This talk was given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: John Stevens has been FIEC's National Director since 2010. He also serves on the Affinity Council and teaches on courses at Bible colleges across the country.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

The aim of mission is to build the unified church to glorify Jesus the head.

The goal of mission is to build gospel churches; the gospel message produces gospel churches.

We don't get to decide what church looks like; but we get to help church look like the gospel. And gospel churches become a vehicle for mission.

This message is the fourth of four given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: Graham is one of FIEC's Associate National Directors, helping churches and their leaders by managing FIEC's team of Local Directors and leading the Pastors' Network.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Churches must have continued confidence in the gospel as a message about a person: Jesus.

If Jesus has been raised from the dead, it is the most important news in the cosmos. We need to share this news with every country and culture.

Just as for Peter in Acts 2:22-41, our message must be Jesus: his life, his death, his resurrection, and his exaltation.

This message is the third of four given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: Alan is pastor at Harper Church in Glasgow where he has served since 2013.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

The coming of the Holy Spirit empowers believers to witness and cuts through cultural boundaries.

Acts 2:1-21 signals the first fruits of the era of the Spirit and the mission to go to the ends of the earth. The gospel is preached cross-culturally, with power, by those we'd least expect.

The church today has this same power, from the Holy Spirit, to be witnesses to Jesus and to reach out to the cultures in our communities.

This message is the second of four given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the speaker: Matt is the co-pastor of City Church Manchester and coordinates Gospel Coaching for pastors and ministry leaders across the UK.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

Jesus calls the church to move out with the gospel from where it is to the ends of the earth.

In Acts 1:1-26, we read Jesus' call to his disciples to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

The call of local churches today, then, is to take the gospel out from the centre, across cultures, to all nations. And each time to goes out like this, the location is re-centred until the "ends of the earth" returns to where it all began.

This message is the first of four given at the 2025 FIEC Leaders' Conference held in Blackpool from 10-12 November 2025.

About the Leaders' Conference: The title of the 2025 Leaders' Conference was Church Without Borders, exploring how we can serve God’s mission in a mobile world.

About the speaker: Julian Hardyman is part of the missionary team at Good News Hospital in Mandritsara, Madagascar, with his wife Debbie. He was previously pastor of Eden Baptist Church in Cambridge for more than 25 years.

Life as a planter's wife can be stressful, lonely, and tiring. How can they maintain their joy and continue to thrive in their relationships with God, their husband, and others?

Relationships within the church, pressures on their husband, and spiritual exhaustion can make life as a ministry wife - especially in a church plant - stressful and difficult.

Yet, it is possible for ministry wives to maintain their joy and thrive in their relationships. The start of a new ministry or a church plant can provide a God given opportunity to ensure a ministry wife is cared for and enabled to flourish.

How do we appropriately reflect and embody the different cultures in our churches?

Jesus' commission to the church was to make disciples of all nations, to the ends of the earth. To reach all nations, and to serve all nations, we need to better reflect the diverse cultures represented.

But, our cultural lies, blind spots, and biases can be barriers to making this happen, and worse can cause division in the church.

Understanding these barriers can enable us to better understand others, and therefore reach and serve all nations.

How can we create good feedback loops and avoid feeling overly sensitive to criticism?

The book of Proverbs encourages us to get wisdom and feedback (Proverbs 15:22, 15:31). It is important to cultivate a culture of feedback in church life to benefit from the wisdom of the whole body of the church.

Such a culture creates an environment where people feel able to bring their concerns and where encouragement and correction are present for all.

Church ministry is the best work in the world. But in a sense it is the hardest work in the world too.

The nature of Christian ministry is a mixture of the sound of the shouts of joy with the sound of weeping (Ezra 3:13). Sometimes in the same person and even in the same event.

It is a Christian discipline to seek out the joys whilst being realistic about the burdens and committing them to God.

Adrian Reynolds is FIEC's Head of National Ministries. He previously served as Associate Minister of East London Tabernacle Baptist Church and is currently an elder at Christchurch Harborough.

Serving in ministry can be a threat to our godliness. We must keep growing and take care not to wither.

In his pastoral letters, Paul often urges gospel ministers to be godly in their conduct and lives. Being a church leader doesn't mean we stop needing to grow in godliness.

Yet, church ministry itself can make it harder to grow in godliness. It can even cause us to wither instead of grow.

What do we need to look out for? And how can we keep growing?

Josh Monteiro is staff elder at Emmanuel Church Northstowe, a new town north of Cambridge. He has led the church from its start in 2018, having previously served as assistant pastor at two FIEC churches.

Church ministry can be isolating and lonely. But true friendship strengthens us, lifts us, and brings us joy.

True friendship is valuable because it is faithful, truthful, intentional, forgiving, and joyful.

We have the truest friend in Jesus: the one who is with us through ups and downs, and who gives joy that can't be taken away.

Elinor Magowan works as one of FIEC's Directors for Women’s Ministry. She previously worked as a solicitor, UCCF Staff Worker, and the Women’s Pastoral Worker at UFM Worldwide.

What do you need to know about church ministry before you go into church ministry?

It is right to ask whether you have what it takes for church ministry. You don't. But Jesus does and will give you the grace you need.

The "super-apostles" in the Corinthian church saw their power for ministry in physical strength and social status. Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10 that true power for ministry comes from Christ, not us.

He is, therefore, able to boast in his sufferings and weakness. Instead of his own ability, he knows and trusts the power of Christ to enable him to do what he is called to.

For those going into church ministry, know that you don't have the power you need. But Jesus does and will supply it in his grace.

This talk is the second of two given by John Stevens, FIEC National Director, at Journeys 2025.

In 2 Corinthians 11:1-15, Paul sets a pattern for gospel ministry, summarising his work as presenting the church as a faithful bride to Christ.

He teaches what the goal of ministry is, what its heart is, and what the means are by which he works.

As men and women consider going into church ministry, understanding the big picture of the purpose of ministry will help make the right decisions and keep the right motives.

This talk is the first of two given by John Stevens, FIEC National Director, at Journeys 2025.

How do you identify, train, and encourage volunteers to work in the serving tasks of church life?

How can lay leaders serve the church in the work of serving: looking after the church building; managing budgets; caring for the physical needs of the church; ensuring safety in meetings; creating a comfortable place to meet?

How do you identify, train, and encourage volunteers to work in the shepherding tasks of church life?

How can lay leaders serve the church in the work of shepherding: the ministry of the word; prayer; care for the sick and grieving; care for widows; care for "weaker brothers and sisters"?

As we "equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:12 ESV), how do we identify the right place and way for them to serve?

Everyone has a part to play in church life: men, women, young, old, slaves, masters (Titus 2:1-10).

As we seek to identify places for them to serve and to grow, it is helpful to see two categories of church life: shepherding and serving.

There are two offices named in the New Testament. How do we distinguish between elders and deacons?

Qualifications for the offices of elders and deacons are described in 1 Timothy 3:1-13. There are five main similarities and three main differences.

To know who should lead in the church and how we should equip them to lead, we need to think about the distinctions between authority and leadership.It's a blessing to have people in our churches willing to volunteer for service in church life.To help us find, identify, and equip volunteers to lead in the church, we need to think about two topics:

• Authority helps us know who is in charge in the church.
• Leadership helps clarify who we should follow in the church.

In the wisdom literature of the Bible we are introduced to a number of different characters who we may recognise in our own church ministry.

FIEC Head of Local Ministries Graham Beynon speaks with Zack Eswine, a pastor in Missouri, USA, and author of a new book on Proverbs, about how we can use what we learn in wisdom literature to help pastor those in our churches.

This interview was produced for the 2025 FIEC Local Conferences.

Many of us are regularly preaching through books of the Bible. Some are more daunting than others, even though we know “all Scripture is useful.” Job is a particularly relevant book as people struggle with the topic of suffering.