Support’s twice as ’Andy for churches!
Ilkeston Hope Church was once dependent on outside help to function. Now the transformed church is supporting its neighbours. Pastor Andy Hitchcock tells the story
Two years ago, Ilkeston Elim Christian Centre needed help. Emerging from the pandemic, the church – which was recently renamed Ilkeston Hope Church – was left with very few people and was in desperate need of more leaders and members.
That’s why, although he had plans to train as a minister at his home church in Burntwood, Andy Hitchcock was happy to step up to lead Ilkeston when Elim asked for his help.
“We came at the end of Covid and under the supervision of Derby City Church, we have focused on rebuilding Ilkeston with two foundations in mind: loving God and loving each other,” says Andy.
In the early days, Derby City Church was a tower of strength.
“Their pastor Andy Lenton did a fantastic job with equipping Ilkeston Elim, while their administrator Julia Ayling ran our finances,” Andy says.
“They sent in preachers and worship leaders every week too.”
Underpinned by this support, the church found its feet and grew to the point where it could appoint its own finance officer and establish its own worship team. As it grew, the church was able to focus on outreach too and launched a number of community activities. “We’ve been running Alpha courses which have been successful. We ran ‘Snack and Natter’ too, where we invited people in for food and chat. Through these activities, the community has seen that Christians aren’t that weird after all!
“We’ve started ‘Pop-in’ where we open our building to parents bringing their kids to school. They can come in for great coffee and chat after the school run.”
Together, these and other activities have helped numbers grow still further.
“We’ve got to the point where we’re outgrowing our building and are looking for a bigger one,” says Andy.
While this growth has come during Andy’s time, he is keen to pay tribute to Ilkeston’s previous leaders.
“The church has been around since the 60s. What’s happening today is because of the foundations laid by the faithful leaders who came before us.
“Anne, my predecessor, did a fantastic job teaching the church biblically and getting it ready for what’s happening now.
“Ilkeston is a dry land spiritually, but the sowing has been done and now we’re starting to reap. We’re chuffed to bits that we get to be part of that.”
Where once Ilkeston Hope was dependent on Derby City for support, Andy is also thrilled to now be in a position to offer help to others.
As such, Ilkeston is having shared meetings with the local Baptist church, which is between ministers.
“We’re joining forces to reach out to our community with the good news. We have plans to run other Alpha courses and events like breakfasts and barbecues.
“We’ve followed our motto of loving God and others, and God has been really faithful. We’ve grown, so now what Derby City Church did for us, we’re passing on to others!”
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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