From Matthew
On April 2nd Grace and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. I was only 23 when Grace said ‘Yes’ to me so we have now been married for well over half our lives. How did that happen?!
The book of Acts also spans a thirty year period. Over the past three decades Grace & I have raised four children, led two churches, had five dogs and experienced our fair share of highs and lows. The book of Acts describes God using that same timeframe for the gospel to expand out from Jerusalem to the four corners of the Roman empire, with multiple churches started in city after city.
Dates are important. It is good to commemorate and celebrate significant milestones in our own lives and in the work of what God is doing. Here at Gateway we will soon enter the centenary year of a congregation meeting at Alder Road: it was in 1925 that a group of believers started to gather on the site of what is now our building to start a church. Looking back over all those years we can be thankful – and frankly amazed! – at the ways in which the Lord has kept us and helped us. Think of all the lives that have been impacted over those decades.
Our theme for this year is ‘Refuge’. Jesus is the one who is able to guard and keep us through all that life throws at us. He is the solid ground on which we stand. We need to keep our feet squarely planted on this foundation. It feels like a paradox but it is as we stand firm that the Lord carries us forward. We move forward in faith by holding our ground!
What might God have in store for us over the next thirty years, or one hundred? How many more lives could we see transformed by the gospel? How many more churches could we be involved in planting? To what further regions of the world might our mission carry us?
As you read through this review of the past twelve months at Gateway allow the Lord to stir faith in you for what lies ahead. Let’s believe for his work to multiply among us in a way that will be cause for celebration not only in our lifetimes but through all eternity, to the praise of his glory!
Highest Attendance At:
Ashley Road
204
Number of streets prayed for in BCP:
3,862
Alder Road
240
Attendance at church weekend away 2023:
285
FInaNces
We give generously to the mission of Jesus because we love him, we love partnering in his mission to reach and save the lost and bless the poor, and because we want to reflect the generosity that he shows us through the gospel.
Giving of our finances is a significant act of faith, and a mark of a disciple of Jesus. All that we have, we receive from Jesus in the first place. Whatever the economic conditions and geo-political pressures, the people of God are called to fight fear with faith, and trust him to meet our needs as we trust him with our finances.
Here are some of the ways that we have met that challenge in the last year. Our General Fund is how we pay for our day to day operations. Last year our Vision Fund was used to finance the Alder Road rebuild but we now need to go again and build up this pot for ways in which we feel God calls us to respond to his plan for us for the future. This means that we need to pay for the Alder Road mortgage this year from the General Fund, which is indicated in the graphs below. Let's excel in this area!
INcome And Expenditure
How we Used our money
Budget For 24/25
The elders and trustees have set another faith-filled budget for 24/25. As we seek to serve more people in more places and reach further and further with the gospel, it is important that we place our trust in God for his provision in every area of our need - finance being just one of them!
Areas we’ve been able to bless through our giving
Just as we encourage church members to give ten percent (a tithe) of their income to God’s mission through the church, we also give away ten percent of our income at Gateway. We use this to bless other ministries, to help plant and strengthen churches, and to serve the poor.
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£1,000 to support Newday - the annual festival attended by the Gateway youth and thousands of others from around the UK.
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£5,000 to support people, mission and ministries who’ve served Gateway from around the world.
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£10,000 to support people, churches and mission in Nepal, India, Ukraine and the UK.
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£17,500 to plant and strengthen churches around the world through our partnership with Advance.
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£5,500 to local people and organisations in need
Sermon Series
We are committed to preaching the Word of God! It is through the Bible that we learn about God and what it means to follow Him. The Bible is our utterly reliable guide to how to live.
Over the past year we have had four major teaching series from the Bible:
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‘Family Values’ from the letter to Titus. This very personal letter from the apostle Paul to his friend Titus helps set out important principles for how the family of the church is to operate.
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‘That You May Believe’ from the gospel of John. John provides us with a compelling picture of Jesus and urges us to decide who Jesus is.
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‘God of Refuge’ from the Psalms. The Psalms do not shy away from life’s realities but help us to see how in every circumstance we can know God is our refuge.
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‘A Model Church’ from the letters to the Thessalonians. The Thessalonian church are a wonderful example to us of what the Christian life should look like. We want to emulate them.
Kids
This year has been good for the Kids' Ministry. Both sites’ congregations have grown Sunday after Sunday and this has resulted in having more and more kids coming through our doors and staying with us. The teams at Ashley Road and Alder Road have worked hard to make sure we are serving our kids well, but above all to make sure that the gospel is being shared with each and every one of them through singing, praying, playing, crafting, teaching and welcoming.
We had a fantastic Light Party where kids and families from both sites with friends who don’t come to church had a great time. On the back of that a few kids have come back to church bringing their families with them.
Just in the last month, 2 kids have received Jesus as their saviour and God, Alleluia!
We are still praying for new friendships to be formed, for the kids to get closer to God, for them to find personal relationships with Jesus and for the kids' lives to be transformed and affirmed in Jesus.
Why not join us in those prayers? And perhaps think about joining our team?
To the team: thanks again for what you do week after week, thanks for planting the seeds of the gospel in the hearts of our Kids!
Highest Number of kids At:
Ashley Road
31
Alder Road
60
Youth
"Since last year, the young people and youth team have continued to enjoy ongoing games, socials (including real life MarioKart and Cluedo!), 1:1s, youth bands, group discipleship, Newday, Sunday morning sessions, Wednesdays including frequent girls and guys only nights and plenty of tuck! As a team we often reflect on the privilege it is to see the young people grow in friendship, take their faith into their own hands and lead each other. We have had so many exciting testimonies of young people meeting with God whether that is through Bible reading, talks, another person or in worship. At youth recently we have been thinking, praying and talking about where God says in Ezekiel 39 that He will no longer hide His face. We definitely saw the climax of this at our youth sleepover recently where so many experienced and met with God as He met with them personally. There is currently a sense of excitement in the youth and leaders about what God has done and is doing that we continue to pray into and seek God for in the coming year."
Highest Number of youth:
22
Students and 20s
We have had a great year with the Students and 20’s. The group has grown significantly over the last 12 months with students joining us from various places around the UK and overseas as they come to BCP to study at Bournemouth University and the Arts University, Bournemouth.
Our highlight of the last 12 months was being able to go away together for a weekend in November where we had time to worship, study God’s word and enjoy social time playing games and going for walks. It was also a chance for us to listen to God together and encourage each other.
The group have also enjoyed organising social events together including pottery painting most recently.
We are looking forward to coming year in growing further both spiritually and numerically!
Gatehouse
It has been such a joy to demonstrate the hospitality and generosity of the gospel to our community through opening our buildings at Ashley Road and Alder Road in the midweek.
At both locations, we’ve been able to offer a variety of social groups to cater for the needs of the young, the old, the lonely, the isolated and the marginalised. We now routinely gather anywhere between 100-200 people per week in our buildings during the day, meeting the needs of our locality.
Our Gatehouse Hubs and Gatehouse Tots are all run by our hard working volunteers for whom we are very grateful.
Truth Be Told
Truth be Told is an ‘intergenerational storytelling charity which brings joy and life to older adults in care homes and the community in the UK & beyond’. The Aldbury is home to dementia residents and most weeks Paul and Julie Barnett have been spending an hour visiting and sharing the love of Jesus with on average 15 residents, through song, story, picnics and interactive fun. There are always staff and relatives present too and they love chatting with everyone.
This past season they have been sharing lessons from the Old Testament with the help of a pretend family who are driving their camper van though 66 countries and the 66 books of the bible in 66 days! The thing that makes these occasion come alive is the young pre-schoolers who come along each week with their parents/carers: the interaction between young and old is wonderful and really sees the older friends come alive as they too love games, songs and cuddles.
There have lots of special moments over the past months including residents singing Christian songs from memory, children singing solos, older friends saying how they know Jesus loves them, shared prayer together and seeing children being embraced by and sharing toys with older friends.
We will perhaps never fully know the impact this ministry has this side of heaven but we are sure God honours His word and that "Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them" - Psalm 126: 6.
Oasis
This year has seen a big change of direction in the work of Oasis. There have been many changes in the way that the Refuges in Poole and Bournemouth have been operating and sadly, recently they have decided to shut their doors to outside visitors for a time. We were still able to bless them with Christmas Hampers and other donations but have been unable to make much recent personal contact. Thank you so much to all of those from Gatehouse who helped to make that happen, especially Shelley who was our chief fundraiser!
I am Confident
As one door closes another one opens, and God has clearly had his hand upon the development of the Confidence Course that we have been running for the last eighteen months. We have had 65 women take part in our sessions, 14 of whom came through Refuge and Safe Houses, 12 through personal recommendations and 4 from social media and advertising, but very encouragingly 35 have been referred to us through NHS staff.
We now have contacts with 5 Social Subscribers who are regularly referring women to us and we have also been allowed to join their hub network of community care groups. It is an amazing opportunity for us to reach women who are often isolated and struggling with anxiety and depression. It has been a privilege to get to know these women, as well as to have opportunities to share our faith with them, and to invite them to church events.
We are now seeking funding to develop these sessions and to create more groups and expand them into other environments. God is continuing to do great things and we pray for his blessing and provision for the future.
Bikers' Curry
Bikers' Curry continues to go from strength to strength at our Ashley Road location. Meeting once a month, this group routinely gathers 40-50 bikers from around the conurbation to eat together and share stories, raise money for local needs and to share the gospel within the biker community.
Home Ed group
Under the leadership of Nes du Feu, the Home Ed group meets every Friday at our Ashley Road building, gathering a number of home educating families and developing projects to engage this demographic. This year they intend to transform the Alder Road garden into a fruit and veg production resource for the community!
Advance connections & international friends
Being involved in meaningful gospel partnership with others around the world is essential to who we are called to be at Gateway. This means that we send resources to help plant and strengthen churches and we regularly receive friends from other contexts to minister among us, as well as going to them. Over the past year this has included visits from:
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Ryan Marshall from One Harbour Church, North Carolina
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Josh Eldridge from Monument Church, Washington DC
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Rigby & Sue Wallace from Common Ground Church, Cape Town
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Johnny & Sandra Carson from the Way Church, Northern Ireland
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Andrey Bonderenko from Ukraine
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Pete & Nicky Cornford from Redeemer Church, London
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Dawn Gurley and Tash Lacey from Grace Church, Abu Dhabi
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A team of interns and their leaders from One Life Church, Houston
In November Gateway hosted the Advance UK conference. This was a wonderful time of learning and worshipping together. In his role on the Advance team Matthew has been involved in strengthening visits to a significant number of churches, from Australia to Switzerland, London to Cornwall. It is the vitality of Gateway Church that makes it possible for this wider ministry to take place.
Staffing
Matthew leads the Gateway elder team and is the site pastor for Alder Road. He serves on the Advance global team and leads the Advance UK team. He is also a member of the Christian Medical Fellowship’s Medical Studies Group which prepares papers and briefing notes on medical ethics. This year will mark a significant change for the Hosiers as Grace is leaving teaching in order to be more available to serve alongside Matt at Gateway and amongst the Advance family.
Richard leads our Ashley Road congregation, as well as having responsibilities across the whole church. He has nearly completed an M.A. in Applied Theology at Moorlands college. Rich has been involved in serving Advance UK and has preached in various other local churches this year. As well as being a trustee at Gateway, Rich also serves as a trustee for Faithworks Wessex.
Jon oversees the Gateway programme and a number of key ministry areas such as children, youth and worship. While he is based at Alder Road he has responsibilities across the church. Jon has again been involved in leading worship in various Advance UK church contexts this year and has trained and strengthened worship leaders across the Advance movement. Jon & Vicki are going to be taking a sabbatical in the first quarter of this financial year.
Having worked in the church office for a number of years Becky became a full-time staff member in January this year. She continues to keep the Gateway office on track and maintains numerous essential functions for us. Becky also works part time for Advance UK.
John oversees our financial administration and has been a huge blessing to us since joining the staff team last year. With a growing budget and increasing financial regulation John fulfils a vital role for us.
Hannah leads our youth ministry while also working part time for a youth charity and as a speech therapist.
Abi began her intern year in September and has been serving primarily in the areas of youth, communications and worship. Alongside her involvement at Gateway, she has participated in regular training blocks with other interns across the country.