Annual Report 2022

Senior Pastor’s Report

One of the most significant aspects of the last year has been the removal of the restrictions that were placed upon us during the pandemic. Undoubtedly, the impact of COVID-19 will be long-lasting both globally and individually, but we have welcomed a return of the freedom to meet together without constraint. While we continue to maintain a strong online presence and a hybrid approach to ministry, it is a joy to worship, pray, learn and even eat together in the same room! At the time of writing this report, our Sunday in-person attendance is almost at the same level as our pre-pandemic levels, while we also enjoying connecting with those who join us online. You will also see from Andrew Varley’s report that our financial position is strong, with our tithes and offerings reaching levels not previously seen at Coventry Elim, which in turn has allowed us to make a significant reduction to our refurbishment loan.

As I reflect on the past few years, as well as the challenging times that we currently find ourselves in, I am incredibly grateful to our wonderful staff team, Eldership team and our many volunteers who have worked tirelessly to serve our church community, maintaining our vision of being a ‘presence-led people’, prioritising worship, prayer and experiences of encounter in everything that we do together.

This year has been particularly special for me personally. Toward the start of the year, I received the support of my peers in the Elim Movement and I was invited to commence a third term as a member of Elim’s National Leadership Team. Toward the end of the year Helen and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate 25 years since we were inducted into the Elim Ministry here at Coventry Elim in 1997. And then, sandwiched in the middle of those two events, I was given a life-enriching gift of a three-month sabbatical which enabled me to travel, go on retreats, visit churches, celebrate some significant family milestones, rest and run. I am so thankful to the Elders and Pastors who facilitated this sabbatical break. I enjoyed every single day!

During this past year we were able to make a couple of substantial changes to our staff team structure. In particular, Gaz Hutchinson became our Executive Pastor and Shirene Agbelusi began to pick up a number of key responsibilities that I had been carrying, particularly in line managing staff members and overseeing our Ministry Team. Both Gaz and Shirene are exceptional leaders and it’s a delight for me to serve with them as we lead Coventry Elim forwards together.

For me, the role of Senior Pastor at Coventry Elim continues to be a great honour and privilege to hold. We are a beautiful family of people who have had such a wide range of life experiences and yet we experience a supernatural unity in our diversity that makes it a pleasure to be part of such a loving community. Our recent ‘All Nations’ celebration bears witness to this reality. Continuing to serve and to play a part in leading this local church is a great joy and I will always be thankful to God that He has entrusted to me a role in shepherding His people here.

Duncan Clark

Associate Pastor’s Report

As I reflect on the year, I cannot help but do so with a grateful heart. During troubling times that have been filled with so much uncertainty and change God has yet again shown himself to be powerful, present, and consistently good towards us. I count it a real privilege to serve God and serve this beautifully diverse church community and when we gather for times of corporate worship, I am reminded that we get to experience a little taste of heaven here on earth.

One of the joys I have is leading the ROAR women’s ministry, so let me share a few changes and highlights with you.

One of the things we noticed is that life is getting busier again for many, which was reflected in the low attendance of ROAR Mums as the year went on. With that in mind, we have ‘paused’ this part of the ministry for now and will re-evaluate it in the new year.

Post-pandemic we sensed the need to create more opportunities for women to gather for an extended time of worship and prayer ministry, so we had three ministry mornings where we came with no agenda other than to meet with Jesus and He was there waiting for us every time!

Around 20 of us travelled to Malvern in July for the Aspire weekend conference where we joined with women from Elim churches from across the country. What a delight it was to start our time together with worship led by our very own Coventry Elim worship band.

I personally loved the late-night chats listening to women encourage one another with personal testimonies of God’s faithfulness and loving kindness towards them.

After two years the ROAR women’s conference was finally back in person! Nearly 200 women from churches across our region (and beyond) gathered, joining hearts and voices to declare ‘The Lord is our Rock: our Firm Foundation’.

Often life is a mixture of joy and sorrow, battles and blessings which is why it was vital for us to start each session with stories of hope. Thank you to the women in our church community who shared testimonies expressing that even amid some difficult personal challenges God was and is their Firm Foundation.

We had two fantastic speakers for the conference, Kate Coleman and Trudy Makepeace who challenged and inspired us with their teaching. We worshipped together, prayed for and with each other, cried, laughed, and ate together, it was a beautiful day.

A huge thank you to all the women and men who gave their time and effort to make the conference a huge success, including the time spent praying and listening to God, so that 200 prophetic cards could be personally gifted on the day. You are all a blessing.

I’m excited to let you know that the next conference will be on 18th March 2023, so there are only a few months to wait until the next one.

Finally, let me encourage you all to keep joining in with what God is doing in and through the church, it is such a privilege to partner with him in his kingdom business here in Coventry, a city he loves.

Blessings,

Shirene Agbelusi

Executive Pastor’s Report

Looking back on this past year and the many wonderful experiences we’ve shared together I can’t help but feel so thankful for the amazing team of staff, interns and volunteers that I get to serve with! Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12 that we are one body with many parts and one of the greatest joys of my role here is to see that truth out worked in our church community. I would love to take this opportunity to publicly thank our wonderful worship and production teams who continue to go above and beyond to create environments where people can meet with God and encounter His presence and His love. Some play a public role and some remain in the background but all serve with a heart of worship and a desire to be used by God. They are such a blessing to us!

This past year I had the joy of working with some amazing interns, firstly Jack, who joined as worship and production intern in September 2021. Through the course of this year Jack used his many gifts to serve the church with excellence and dedication, we loved having him with us! Then, more recently we’ve welcomed Dan, Lena, Isaac & Mau onto the team. These guys are already doing such a fantastic job as they serve the church and dedicate this year to growing in their gifting.

Finally I would like to thank our Digital Director, Oscar, who continues to do an incredible job of stewarding our online spaces.

On a personal note, after experiencing church without singing during Covid, hearing the sound of your voices lifted up in praise and worship continues to be a weekly highlight for me, I’m sure I will never take it for granted again!

Gaz Hutchinson

Elders’ Report

I would like to thank our Pastors on your behalf for the year that has passed so quickly. Pastor Duncan’s sabbatical came and went so quickly but God has done great things in that period which have affected all of us.

I was so pleased to see how Duncan embraced the opportunity provided which was very timely and I am sure the fruit of it will be profound both for him and the fellowship he leads. The new roles which Pastor Shirene and Pastor Gareth started shortly before the sabbatical have been a great fit and compliment the already marvellous job they both do bringing leadership to our community. The Elders would like to repeat our thanks to Gareth and Shirene for the assured way in which they led the fellowship while Duncan was away.

We would like to thank all the staff – children’s, youth, music and tech departments for their dedication, creativeness, and love for the work they undertake here at Coventry Elim. Since I have joined the staff this Autumn, I have experienced the very professional and presence seeking atmosphere that Pastor Duncan has nurtured and it was a privilege to join the staff retreat in September.

The Elders’ meetings are always a wonderful time of being in God’s presence and joining with such lovely godly people who are earnestly seeking God’s presence and will for the fellowship. Our discussions and decisions are the fruit of prayer, worship and seeking. It has been a great blessing to see the unity of the spirit continue with our expanded leadership, and a privilege to serve together.

As we continue to seek God’s presence and will for the future of the fellowship at Coventry Elim, we have full and expectant hearts.

We thank God for all that he has done through this last year, and we acknowledge the wonderful service and giving of everyone who partners with us in God’s service here at Elim. May God continue to bless you all in the coming year.

Jeremy Hobday

LIMITLESS YOUTH

2022 has been yet another year of growth and so many highlights for us in Limitless youth.

My mind goes straight to Limitless festival - We took 30 young people and 7 leaders over to Stafford Show Ground in August to gather together with around 4,000 other young people from the UK.

We continue to host two midweek life groups, one for year 7-8’s and one for year 9-13’s. One of our highlights has been seeing so many amazing new year 7’s ‘graduate’ from Limitless kids and find a family here in Limitless Youth.

2022 has been yet another year of growth and so many highlights for us in Limitless youth. My mind goes straight to Limitless festival - We took 30 young people and 7 leaders over to Stafford Show ground in August to gather together with around 4,000 other young people from the UK. This was an amazing experience where we saw many of our youth commit their lives to Jesus for the first time and all of them recommit to follow him. A week away together on a camp site provided the perfect opportunity to build community with each other and the group has bonded massively. During the meetings we saw many of our young people have significant encounters with the Holy Spirit that I believe marked them and set them apart for His mission! The way the young people would all pray and minister to each other was a beautiful kingdom picture and is something they have brought back with them and continue to practise here at church.

In October 2022, Limitless Coventry hosted their annual sleepover weekend in the church building, with 50 young people signed up. It was a chance to spend a whole 24 hours in intentional relationship building, pursuing God’s presence, having a load of fun and games together and making really special memories in God’s house!

We continue to host two midweek life groups, one for year 7-8’s and one for year 9-13’s. One of our highlights has been seeing so many amazing new year 7’s ‘graduate’ from Limitless kids and find a family here in Limitless Youth. This group has grown massively in numbers but also in depth.

This is the first year in many years that we have been able to provide face-to-face youth ministry every Sunday for our year 7-8’s - our busiest Sunday of the year saw us meet with over 40 year 7-8’s alone!

In this group we follow what the pastors are teaching in church which means that each family who comes to our building on a Sunday is doing discipleship together and this provides great opportunities for home discussion and learning.

Our year 9-13’s continue to grow too, with many new faces, people inviting friends and new families who have joined and found a home with us. We are amazed as we watch God use our teenagers to lead the whole church in worship, to help with the live streaming of the service and to lead the children in Limitless Kids. We believe that church is a family and that means everyone plays their part and gets to be involved. God is moving amongst us and the young people are right at the heart of His plans to transform our city. This year we have also been able to serve many families with children who have additional needs which has offered the parents a chance to be part of the church service and have their child cared for and invested in by our amazing team.

2022 has seen 8 of our teenagers go through the waters of baptism! This is massively encouraging and is an excellent reminder that we are not merely running a club, but are committed to raising up passionate disciples of Jesus!

Across a variety of different groups in our programme we are seeing around 60 different young people consistently every week walk through our church doors.

Finally, the youth in our church are led by a group of outstanding leaders who are committed to and invested in these young people's lives. I continue to thank God for each of them. For their character, their servant hearts and their willingness to model to the youth what a life devoted to Jesus looks like!

“30 - young people from Coventry Elim travelled to Limitless festival.
50 - young people from Coventry Elim attended the annual sleepover.
8 - teenagers were baptised.
60 - around 60 young people attend our different meetings each week.
42 - our busiest Sunday morning gathering of year 7-8’s.
£700 - the amount of money raised to help send our leaders to Limitless Festival.
19 - the number of youth leaders currently involved regularly. ”

— Joe Morris

STUDENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS

2021/22 has been a great year of restoring community and connection within the Student & Young Adult community in our Church. We spent the year meeting each week, eating dinner together, worshipping and opening the scriptures together. We spent the year walking slowly through the Sermon on the Mount, aiming to internalise and live in obedience to the core commands of Jesus. We fed 20-30 students & young adults each week which was only possible because of the incredible, servant-hearted SYA team who have been a blessing to their community all year.

The 2022 academic year has launched as usual with us giving away welcome packs to students who are new to the city as well as hosting a student lunch for new and returning students. This year we had the privilege of gaining access to the student accommodation across the road from our church building and giving out welcome packs to students who were settling in there - we hope to continue that relationship and find ways to bless these students on our doorstep.

This year we plan on continuing our weekly Tuesday meetings, with a particular focus on forming discipleship communities that commit to walking with each other throughout the year. We also look forward to the SYA weekend away in February 2023 as an opportunity for us as a young adult community to connect with each other and refocus our lives in pursuit of Jesus.

Joe Davis

“Throughout this year I have been meeting with a small group of children who have a heart and passion for worship. It has been so good to see these same children step up in different worship atmospheres. ”

— Emma Bacon

LIMITLESS KIDS

Since September we have seen many new families join us at the church and old families have began to rejoin us from the Covid season. This includes more families with children and young people with additional needs.

July was our busiest month reaching just over 242 different children across that month, totalling 359 children across the 4 Sundays in that month.

June 26th shows our highest amount of kids to attend 1 Sunday this past year being 114 children checked-in. (These numbers are based on electronic registration. Some Sundays we also have to use paper check in when electronic fails, so numbers may be more than shown).

Because of the growth of Kids and Youth we are now trialling meeting with our year 5&6 children over in the Ramada hotel for Kids church to make more space in the rooms at the Elim church building for other kids and Youth.

This past year in Limitless Kids, relationships between our children and team have grown as we launched Tribes in our year 5-6 and year 1-4 life groups. Tribes offered space for children to meet with the same group of children and leaders for discussion, questions prayer and of course fun.

Stepping into September we have relaunched year 5-6 life group, however due to team, we made the decision to look at year 1-4 life group as a possibility in the New Year.

In April we had a holiday club with 100 children attending from our church and also from the community. In this 54 children gave their lives to Christ

In July we went to Spree kids camp. Our first camp after Covid. We took 46 children away with us. Camp this year for us as a church held a massive emphasis on presence and worship.

During camp we saw many moments of breakthrough and encounter within our kids and our team through worship. And many testimonies were shared during debriefs.

Throughout this year I have been meeting with a small group of children who have a heart and passion for worship. It has been so good to see these same children step up in different worship atmospheres. From leading at Limitless Festival in the kids venue, to leading and worshipping in Limitless Kids, to worshipping wholeheartedly week in and week out at Encounter on a Thursday.