Rugby Elim sees an amazing conversion

After a period of difficult times for the church, Rugby Elim is experiencing an amazing move of the Holy Spirit.

Rugby Elim church is experiencing an amazing move of the Holy Spirit, with exciting worship times, people coming to Christ every week and regular baptisms, reports church member Roger Day.

Each week the church is seeing new people attending the Sunday service at Harris Academy hall, and most Sundays there are new people responding for salvation.

So far this year there have been several baptism services, as well as an Alpha group, and people being welcomed into membership.

The game of rugby started in the town in 1823 when a schoolboy picked up the football and ran with it. Over the past two decades prophecies have indicated that a Holy Spirit revival would start in Rugby and spread elsewhere as Christians pick up the ball and run with it.

“People ask me if we’re seeing revival at Rugby Elim,” says lead pastor Jonathan Skelton. “My simple answer is: ‘Not yet.’

“There’s no doubt that the Holy Spirit is moving powerfully in our midst. We’re seeing people from different cultures and economic backgrounds coming to Jesus Christ on a weekly basis, and worship and prayer have gone to a new, higher dimension.

“I can’t wait to see what exciting things God’s going to do next in Rugby.”

This move of the Holy Spirit follows a difficult time for the church.

Over a 15-year period Rugby Elim members have been traumatised by major events, including murder, suicide, resignation of leaders and the untimely death in 2019 of senior pastor Simon Whitley, aged 32.

But the church is experiencing a fresh season.

Since early this year, worship times start enthusiastically and just seem to get better. For years the worship band led two or three songs before people got fully engaged.

“Now everyone seems ready from the first note,” says one of the musicians. “People are already engaged with God before they open their mouths. It’s so encouraging!”

Prayer has also become more important than before. In addition to two weekly prayer meetings, there’s a monthly early-morning prayer time and an occasional week devoted to prayer and fasting.

For generations, older women were the mainstay of church prayer meetings. This year on several occasions more men have turned up, outnumbering the women praying.

Visitors have attended Rugby Elim prayer meetings and been so impacted that they have accepted Christ as Saviour.

Rugby Elim and 17 other churches in the town took part in praying for people in every street during the 40 days of Lent.

An app enabled people to colour a street green when they had walked and prayed along it. Within two weeks the map of Rugby was looking almost entirely green.

This spring the church found that it had outgrown its building that holds 250 at a squeeze and they moved Sunday meetings to a large hall in Harris School. Now hundreds attend every week. There are regular baptisms and exciting meetings.

Pastor Skelton is optimistic.

“Whatever happens,” he says “we as a church without walls are actively reaching out in love to the community, and we’re praying that other churches here do the same.”

Other churches in the area are catching the wave.

One, in a similar way to Rugby Elim, is now meeting in a school hall because of increased numbers. Another, from a traditional denomination, has indicated that 80 more people are now attending.

Rugby Elim is starting to host events under the name ‘Encounter’ so that Christians from across the church spectrum can capture something of the excitement that Rugby Elim is enjoying.

There are also plans to hold outdoor services and even outdoor baptisms as part of the commitment to being a church without walls.

Roger Day is editor of the book ‘Church Without Walls: Christian life after a pandemic’ (Amazon Kindle) which was published in honour of former minister Simon Whitley, who died in 2019. Roger is married to Christine and they are active members of Rugby Elim.

First published in the June 2022 issue of Direction, Elim’s monthly magazine. Subscribe now to get Direction delivered to your home.

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