Yesterday was a hard Sunday for us. We announced to our church that I am stepping down from the ministry here. Below is the text of the statement I read to the church.

I was called as the pastor of Oldham Bethel Church around 12 years ago and I look back and think we can give glory to the Lord for all that he has done here.

By God’s grace, the church has healthy structures – with an established plural eldership, meaningful membership, and tightened link between baptism, communion, membership and service.

Bethel is in a financially healthy state. When I was first appointed, it was with the promise of only 3 years before our money ran out. But the church has funds to support a pastor and various works of ministry 12 years later. The Lord has even given us funds to appoint second workers and given the benefit of others coming to serve with us.

The membership of the church has grown and is double in size. There were around 20 members back in 2014, there are now over 40.

In that time, the church has reached into the Muslim community and seen many people coming into the church through various outreach and evangelistic activities, as well as others simply turning up because the Lord brought them in. We’ve seen people saved, baptised and discipled.

Bethel has also become properly multicultural, with people from all over the world represented, and not just together in the same room, but with a meaningful, genuine unity among its members.

The Lord has accomplished all of that for us. He has been at work to grow his church and establish a long-term healthy ministry here. And the God who did all these things these last 12 years is the same God who will continue to work for the good of his church going forward.

For the last year, having seen everything I had hoped to implement established and brought about, I began asking where should the church go next, what do we need to do, and am I the man to do it? While I didn’t have firm answers to those questions, there was nothing specifically pulling us away to make us think we’d be better placed elsewhere and nothing pushing us out to make us think it best to leave. I was continuing the normal work of teaching, preaching and reaching out with the gospel. But whether our time was up was a live question for us; and one that others periodically raised with us too.

However, during the course of this year, we have increasingly come to the conclusion that our time here is drawing to an end. And so, I have informed the church officers that I plan to step down as pastor of Oldham Bethel Church in September 2026.

I don’t have another job to go to. I haven’t made any plans so I don’t know what I will be doing from September. I would appreciate your prayers for me as I seek to work out where the Lord wants me. I have never based my identity on being a pastor; I believe people are called to be pastors only as long as they are pastoring a local church. I am comfortable if the Lord puts me in another Christian role or if I end up in secular work. I am open to his leading wherever we end up. But we have no specific plan right now.

But let me say what a great honour and privilege it has been for me to serve as your pastor. It was never a calling I sought or a role I expected to have. Whilst it has not always been an easy job, it has always been one I feel very blessed to have done. I cannot tell you how much I love this church and how much I love you. I am incredibly grateful for the various elders and deacons who have served alongside me. I am grateful for their godly support and care over the years and want to recognise their love for this church too.

I want this place to thrive and press on as a good, gospel preaching church in which people from every tribe, tongue and nation, from every class and culture, can find a home, be well taught and grow up to maturity in the Lord Jesus. I believe you have everything in place in order to be able to do just that and I will be praying that the Lord would continue to work these things in you here for the sake of his glory.

If you would like to talk to me more about this, I am happy to meet with any of you. But this decision has been a hard and painful one for us to reach and I would only ask – that if you do want to talk about this further with us – you don’t have that conversation straight after the meeting today, but you arrange a time with us where we can talk more with you then.