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Westpoint and Beyond
Photo credits: Malcolm Kayes, Guy Miller, Andrew Lawrence and John Groves (Left to Right)
With my apostolic team, I serve a sphere of 70 churches across the South and West of the UK, India and the Iberian Peninsula.
My wife Heather and I were called to move our family to Bournemouth from Winchester Family Church in 1999 when I took on leadership of Citygate. Outside my family, Citygate is my first love. An amazing grace-filled community of diverse age, background and cultures.
The Team
I have a great team of three who form the hub of the sphere, working into the various regions and nations: Malcolm Kayes, who has been leading The Coign Church, Woking since 1991; Andrew Lawrence, who alongside his involvement in the sphere, serves as a key part of the eldership team at Citygate; and John Groves, previously the lead elder of Winchester Family Church, who has been involved with Newfrontiers for over 20 years.
The Sphere UK
The sphere’s UK scene is active with a rapidly growing “Together At” event and a number of church plants planned and in process. Currently there are 27 established churches in the region which span from Newquay in Cornwall to Hook in North East Hampshire. In addition, there are ten active church plants, three that started meeting in 2011, and a further three which are due to begin meeting in the coming year. I am ambitious to see churches of thousands in our major cities and planting new churches right across the region and nation. The churches from across the region, along with those in the Iberian Peninsula, gather together each August for a weekend of camping to meet with God and hear apostolic teaching. Together at Westpoint is in its third year and continues to see God’s hand of bless- ing. 2012 will see our largest gathering so far with an expected attendance of 2250 from over 37 churches. Speakers include Vinu Paul from India and PJ Smyth from South Africa. The event is open to all and not to be missed.
Iberian Peninsula
Spain and Portugal are strongly Catholic countries in which you can travel for miles across counties without finding an evangelical church, let alone a charismatic one. Into this setting we are currently working with six churches across the Iberian Peninsula. Four of these are established churches, two in Portugal, the others in Spain and Gibraltar. There are also two church plants in the area: Porto which has already seen its first salvation and baptism, and Madrid where a team is currently gathering. 2011 saw the first Iberian Peninsula gathering, attended by 200 people from Madrid, Valencia, the South of Spain, Algarve, Porto and Penefiel and churches in the North of Portugal. It was an exceptional time, beyond anything I had imagined. We heard supernatural stories of God’s great unfolding purposes in these nations, and were moved to tears at the faithfulness and courage of previous generations (and now new foot soldiers from the UK). We look forward in faith to seeing God’s hand moving in a new way.
India
India is totally amazing, truly a jewel in the Newfrontiers crown. The nation is thriving and buzzing with energy and life as well as economic prosperity. In the last few years we have seen massive steps in church planting (nine churches) including a church in the capital city Delhi led by Samir. This has recently had over 150 gathering. Training younger leaders is of massive importance and in the last year 201 have been trained in seven programmes across the nation. Many churches have projects to help the poor. At last year’s TOAM India conference Ram Babu talked of tens of thousands gathering for the gospel with many saved. It feels like a page has turned in India and we are in a ‘Joseph-like’ seven years of plenty.
For any more information about this sphere, please email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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Reproduced from Connect Magazine, Spring 2012.
About the author
Guy leads Citygate Church Bournemouth, where he has been since 1999. He oversees a group of churches in the South West of England, as well as across India, Spain and Portugal. Guy is married to Heather and they have four children.
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