What is the real cost? Church Work in Rural Wales

Llanfairfechan sits on the coast of North Wales, between Conwy and Bangor. It’s a small village with a population of approximately 3,500, a third of whom have Welsh as their first language. 

Chris and Lucy Arkell moved there eight years ago in the hope of a slightly quieter life. Only slightly quieter, because they did take their seven children with them, who at that time were aged between ten and two weeks old. 

The Arkells had been living in London, with Chris working for the Metropolitan Police as a detective in the Anti-Corruption Command, while Lucy took care of the children. But life was a squeeze in more ways than one and the thought of having enough space to breathe and spread out as a family drew them north.  

Settling quickly into Welsh village life and loving their new surroundings, Chris transferred to police roles in North Wales, first working in the rape investigation team, then heading up the Child Protection team in Anglesey. But two years later, the pastor of Libanus Baptist Church, the local church they had been attending, knocked on their door with an unexpected question. He had just returned from sabbatical and during his time away felt it was right for him and his family to return to America. He asked Chris, who had been involved in the church leadership in his absence, if he’d be prepared to take on the church work and lead it.

“It was a jarring surprise. I loved working for the police and the thought of leaving felt like losing a limb. I called my parents the next day in tears not knowing what on earth to do,” says Chris, reflecting on that moment. He and Lucy spent five months deliberating the question. They felt God directing them towards stepping into leadership but there was one rather large issue. The last four pastors of the church had been funded by a mission organisation in the USA who wouldn’t be able to do the same for Chris. The church had no understanding of tithing to support a pastor and the congregation’s total weekly giving was approximately £50 per week. There was no way they could pay Chris, so he continued in the police working four days a week while doing church work at the same time.

Fast forward two years and the family were in the same situation but experiencing a real emotional cost-of-living crisis in this bi-vocational mission. Chris had made a gradual retreat from investigative policing into part-time back-office work until he couldn’t reduce his hours any more. His days were spent in church meetings morning and evening and preparing sermons in his lunch-breaks.

“Discipleship fell in the cracks around police work. I remember sitting at the side of the pitch during my son’s rugby game trying to fit some studying and praying into every spare minute. We continued in an unworkable situation. We knew we couldn’t keep living like this, but we just carried on.” Lucy shares, “There were moments that I was worried for Chris, seeing him so stressed with so much to do.”  

“It wasn’t just an emotional crisis but a moral one,” says Chris, “when you realise what God's called you to and that you’re not doing it appropriately.” After getting advice from trusted people and when even Chris’s non-believing colleague said he was doing too much, he knew they needed to make the leap. Chris and Lucy attended the Stewardship Support Raising Training to help them become more intentional about building a partner team. They needed those around them who could pray, give and encourage them in church work, enabling Chris to leave the police and serve the church full time. 

“Some of those around us were concerned that Chris was leaving his job during the start of a cost-of-living crisis. We’ve had many comments questioning our choice to sacrifice the Police pension and whether living on the gifts of others is a reliable income,” says Lucy. For Chris, there was also a palpable sense of loss in leaving police work, which had given him a real sense of family, fulfilment and excitement. “There were all those questions of ‘Who am I now?’ For me, it was an obedience issue. I knew that God was calling us to serve the church and I knew that God was calling us to find partners who would join us in the church work. I stuck out life with two jobs much longer than I should have. I’m not proud of that decision.”

Chris and Lucy spent two weeks away together to rest, mark the switch to church work and map out the non-negotiables for their family life. “The first Monday that I was full-time for the church, I closed my laptop at 6pm and cooked dinner for the children. They couldn’t have cared less who made their dinner, but it was a massive moment for me. Finally, what we said we believed about God’s provision matched up with how we were living.” 

The joy for the Arkells is that as Chris has sought to faithfully teach through the Bible, the issue of money and giving has come up regularly. And where the Word of God has challenged the hearts of those in the church and new faithful believers have joined the congregation, they have seen the giving increase ten-fold to around £600 per week. 

Even though the cost of everything seems to have gone up in the last six months, Chris and Lucy have not lost supporters. On the contrary, they have been approached to see if they have enough and have received many one-off gifts. They are only a third of the way through their target for support (set by Stewardship) so there’s still a long way to go. “But we’re in it for the long haul,” says Chris. Unlike a normal situation where the church funds the pastor entirely, Chris and Lucy rely on supporters from a wide denominational spread. “It adds an element of accountability to the ministry, without judgement. Support raising doesn’t feel daunting anymore – it’s an opportunity for a wonderful two-way partnership as our supporters are excited to see how the church develops.”

Going from high-intensity policing to rural pastoral church work may seem like a stark contrast but Chris says, “There is no contest about what's more exciting. We’re in an area where there’s precious little gospel presence and we’re beginning to see new growth – little mushrooms of people meeting up and praying together, which is so encouraging.” The church fairly recently commissioned a new elder – the first time this has happened since its inception. Lucy is leading a group of 13 in women’s ministry, and Chris is able to meet with men individually and in triplets, building relationships.

Chris believes the cost-of-living crisis may open the eyes of the middle classes in the UK Church to see the poverty that’s been apparent in the villages of rural Britain for years. “Our church is in a low-employment area which means there are quite a lot of mental health issues, and it’s an area with consistently high alcohol abuse statistics. Church life can be quite messy and I’m quite impatient, but for us it’s about living out Colossians 1:28. A simple plod of discipleship and obedience.”

GIVE

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PRAY

For the restructuring of the church – a new constitution is being completed, they’ve a new name and website and a new eldership team has been formed. Thank God for some mature believers arriving in the church who are actively building relationships in the village and looking after many in the church who need help.

ACT

Would you ever consider moving to North Wales with the express purpose of pointing people to Jesus and seeing vibrant Welsh churches grow and be planted? So many small communities have little-to-no gospel presence (especially in Welsh speaking communities). Contact Stewardship if you would like to be added to Chris and Lucy’s mailing list.