Part of something bigger

At Grace London, we give away at least 10% of our finances to support other churches in the UK and abroad. One partner church we’ve recently supported is GodFirst in Barry, Wales. We spoke with pastor Rhys Gronow to hear their story.

GodFirst Barry is also part of the Advance Movement.

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Please tell us about yourself and GodFirst Barry.

I live in Barry, South Wales, with my wife, Rachel, and our two sons - Elliot (12) and Jude (9). Rachel and I will celebrate 18 years of marriage this October. 

In January 2019, we planted GodFirst Barry, starting in our living room with just six adults and five children. By God’s grace, we’ve grown into a vibrant community with around 60 people gathering on Sundays, including more than 20 children.

Rhys, Rachel, Elliot & Jude
 

Tell us the story of how you planted the church.

During a visit to Barry in 2013 for a friend's baptism, we had a conversation that changed everything.

I started chatting with the church pastor where the baptism was taking place and asked him to tell me a bit about the church in Barry. He shared that there were only four or five gospel-affirming churches, each with around 40 to 50 people. It didn’t take long for Rachel and I to realise that, in a town of around 55,000 people, the number of Bible-believing Christians was incredibly small. 

It broke our hearts. In that moment, we felt God stir something deep within us. We were convicted that Barry needed more gospel witness, and we were called to be part of it.

That conversation became the turning point. Over the next few years, we prayed and prepared, and in 2019, we moved back to Barry and planted GodFirst, trusting that God had brought us home for a purpose.


How have you seen God move in surprising ways?

God's provision has astounded us since we planted the church. When I stepped out in faith, leaving my job as a driving instructor to commit fully to church planting, we had no certainty about our financial situation. But God has sustained us. And a significant part of that has been through the kindness of Grace London!

We want to take this opportunity to thank you for your financial support over the past year - it truly has been a tangible expression of God's provision and kindness. Through yourselves and others, especially within Advance, God has ensured that we have everything we need—not always in excess, but always enough.
 

Sundays at GodFirst

Last year's Weekend Away
 

Anything you wish you knew before church planting?!

If there’s one thing I wish I had fully grasped before planting, it’s the unique nature of ministry in a settled town like Barry.

Barry is not a transient place—it’s a town where people put down deep roots. Those who grow up here tend to stay, raise their families, and remain connected to long-standing social circles. Building trust, integrating into the community, and seeing gospel fruit is a long-term investment. People don’t just jump into new things—they watch and wait before fully committing.

The blessing, however, is that once people commit, they are here for the long haul. Ministry in Barry is not about quick growth but deep roots. If you plant well, if you disciple well, and if you build strong foundations, the result is a long-term, sustainable church community where people grow together over generations.

So, if I could go back and prepare myself for one thing, it would be this: church planting in Barry is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to build, but what you build lasts.


How can we pray for you and the church?

1) Please pray for God to raise up strong, godly leaders who can take on key ministry roles. As we grow, we need more people equipped to disciple others, serve in leadership, and help carry the vision forward.

2) A pressing need right now is for a new building. We're at maximum capacity, with no room for further growth, and suitable venues are scarce. Please pray for wisdom on timing and finances and a clear way forward. We need God's guidance and provision.

3) Finally, please pray for our evangelistic efforts. Despite the limitations of our meeting space, we long to present the gospel so that people encounter Jesus for themselves. Several individuals regularly attend our services but have not yet committed their lives to Christ. Please pray that God draws them to salvation and that we would see baptisms in the months ahead.

We are so grateful for your prayers and partnership in the gospel. Thank you for standing with us as we seek to see Jesus glorified in Barry.

Church planting in Thailand

Life in Chiang Rai, Thailand, couldn’t be more different from London. The language, climate, history, and traditions would confuse and amaze us. There are no crisp mornings or packed tube carriages but tropical humidity and a slower pace of life.
 

But as in London, the gospel is being proclaimed in Chiang Rai. Daniel and Marcia planted One Light Church there several years ago which, like Grace London, is part of a global network called Advance. We asked Daniel to tell us more about the church and how we can support them.

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Please tell us about yourself.

I was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to Southern California with my family in 1985 aged five. Marcia was born in Orange County, California. We met at university and married in 2003. We have four children - Hannah (20), Isaiah (17), Micah (12), and Joseph (8). Before moving to Thailand, I worked as a lawyer, and Marcia was a homemaker/children's ministry director at Southlands, our sending church, where I also served as an elder.
 

Daniel, Marcia, Hannah, Isaiah, Micah, & Joseph.

Why did you decide to plant One Light Church?

In 2015, we made a trip to Myanmar and Thailand, and God made it prophetically clear to us and the leaders at Southlands that we should plant in Chiang Rai. After a year of preparing, in July 2016, we moved from California to Chiang Rai as a team of 18 people (11 adults, 7 children) and planted One Light Church.


What are the challenges and joys of planting a church in this context?

There are many challenges to church planting in Thailand: a new language and culture, a society given over to Buddhism and animism, differing worldviews of those joining the church, distance from family, constant goodbyes and high turnover rates.

The joys: we love living in Thailand. We love Thai people and culture. We love the pace of life and greater connection to nature and older ways of life. We love sharing the gospel with people who otherwise would never have heard about Jesus. With the rampant familial problems in Thai society, we love having a church that offers belonging to a new spiritual family. We love the privilege of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.
 

What is encouraging to see in church life?

We are seeing momentum and growth among the Thai people of our community and anticipate planting a Thai congregation and appointing Thai elders. We also recently launched our first Thai cohort on the Advance Theology Course, which we translated into the native language.

We have planted a village church into an unreached people group called the Red Lahu and are seeing people come to faith in a neighbouring village too.

Finally, we have various marketplace endeavours, including an English language school and food business, and we anticipate God bringing favour and growth.


How can we pray for you?

1. We're always asking God to multiply our resources: time, finances, and people. Particularly among the local young people, we long for God to raise up more leaders. Please also pray for profitability for our marketplace endeavours and financial support to sustain life here and generously meet the material needs of those we encounter.

2. Clarity and faithfulness in stewarding what we have, particularly our youth and worship culture.

3. Vision and unity around further multiplication in Thailand, neighbouring countries, and Asia-Pacific.


Let's pray for Daniel, Marcia and One Light Church, and praise God that the gospel is reaching the nations.

Life in the Welsh Valleys

Grace London is part of a global family of churches called Advance. The network extends from Thailand to Tanzania to Texas and beyond. One fellow Advance church closer to home is Hope Church Rhondda, located in South Wales. The founding pastor, Ben Franks, preached at Grace last summer, so we asked him to update us on how the church is doing.

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Tell us about yourself.

My name is Ben. I am married to Lois, and we have four kids: Evan (8), Caleb (6), and Ioan and Ivy – our twins who arrived in January! Lois and I grew up in Cardiff, but we now live in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales, a post-industrial mining area 20 miles northwest of Cardiff.
 

Why did you decide to plant Hope Church Rhondda?

When Lois and I were 16, a preacher came to our church from the Rhondda Valley. He shared that only 0.9% of people from the area regularly attended church. All I can say is that the Holy Spirit kicked me in the gut (and Lois too). From that day on, we knew God had called us to be involved in church planting in the Rhondda Valley.

In 2012, after we had both gone to uni, the Lord told us it was time to go. So we went. We bought a house in a town called Tonypandy, moved Lois’ business to the high street, and started meeting for church in our home with another couple. Hope Church Rhondda had been born.
 

What’s been happening in the life of the church since your visit to London last summer?

It has been an exciting season for Hope Church Rhondda. In January, we took a step of faith and multiplied from one congregation to three. Our valley contains many small villages, and we long to see a vibrant, gospel-centred, and spirit-filled church in each community.

The craziest thing has been that our twins arrived six weeks premature on the Tuesday after our Sunday church launch. It somewhat threw our well-made plans into chaos. But God has been so faithful, and our team has been incredible. Sometimes, it is helpful to be reminded that you are not in control, but God is!

Ben Franks preaching to us last summer

Ben also recently started a church planting initiative across Wales. Please tell us more.

I had a dream in March 2021. I am not one for having prophetic dreams, but on this occasion, I saw a website with the domain name www.100.cymru and a title in bold: What would it take to see 100 healthy churches planted in Wales in the next ten years? Along with the question were five tabs (Pray, Inspire, Equip, Send, Support), and in the dream, I clicked on each tab for instruction on how we might start a church planting initiative. It was a bit crazy!

This September, we launched a church planting initiative called 'Cant i Gymru – ‘100 for Wales’ in Welsh. Since then, we have seen five churches planted and expect at least two more this year.

How can we pray for you?

Please pray for capacity and leadership wisdom. Life can feel hectic with two newborns, two young church plants, and the church-planting initiative. We are very aware of how much we need his help, strength and guidance in this season.

Let's pray for Ben & Lois and the rest of the team at Hope Church Rhondda. Let’s pray too for 100 gospel-centred churches to be planted across Wales!

Update from Glasgow

You may remember Iain Kennedy visiting Grace London in May ‘23 to preach for us. Iain leads one of our partner churches, Glasgow Grace (the same name is purely coincidental!). He and the team in Glasgow have been a blessing to us over the years, so we’ve asked him to introduce himself and give us an update since last spring. Read more below.
 

Both ‘Graces’ are part of the Advance Movement, a network of churches stretching five continents, united by a vision to see new churches planted and healthily growing. The movement seeks to see the gospel reach every nation, community, and person - for the good news of Jesus to reach the ends of the earth. Grace London is one of over 130 churches in Advance.

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Iain, tell us about yourself.

I’m married to Lyndsay, and we have two kids, Annabel (6) and Finlay (4). I was born in Glasgow, and after Lyndsay and I got married, we settled here for a few years. However, we increasingly felt called to the church plant, so we moved south. We first wanted to be part of a church that 1) honours God’s Word, 2) eagerly desires the gifts of the Spirit, and 3) is determined to reach the lost for Jesus, but not many churches in Scotland fitted that description. So, we settled in the South Coast and instantly felt at home at Gateway Church, Poole.
 

Why did you decide to plant a church in Glasgow?

After an encouraging weekend as a church exploring the gift of prophecy, we gathered for a leaders' breakfast. Over coffee and eggs, the team started to pray and prophesy over us. The prophetic words were clear about us returning to Glasgow to establish a new church, and after more than a year of prayer and discernment with the elders, we all agreed that we should plant Glasgow Grace!
 

What’s been happening in the life of the church since your visit to London last spring?

The past year has been full of new life. We have seen more and more people come to faith, including from completely unchurched backgrounds, and there have been loads of child thanksgivings! We are so thankful to God after a couple of really tough years. Only 18 months ago, we were nomads meeting in random venues at various times and were struggling financially. We have now made up our monthly deficit and have a growing team getting ready to plant in the southeast of Glasgow. The gospel is desperately needed there. With all this going on, I’m thankful for the strength of our expanded eldership team – Dennis and Lewis have been seamless and brilliant additions. 

Iain, Lyndsay, Annabel & Finlay

What’s been most encouraging about this time?

It’s hugely encouraging to see people who have come to our meetings week after week finally taking the plunge and trusting Jesus with their lives. Perhaps most surprising is the impact this is having on their colleagues, friends and family members. They keep turning up now. We pray that this is just the beginning!
 

How can we pray for you?

With growth comes great joy and added complexity. Please pray that we will both celebrate what God is doing and make wise decisions about how to go forward together as a church family. Please also pray for how we engage with what is going on in the culture around us.
 

What does it mean to be part of the Advance Movement? 

Being part of Advance has strengthened us in all kinds of ways. We have benefitted from excellent teaching, encouraging worship, financial help (including your extremely generous support last year) and prayer after prayer. These are simply the overflow of genuine gospel friendships. There are very few like-minded churches here in Glasgow, so we are very thankful to be able to walk this road with you and other churches in the UK and abroad. Thank you for partnering with us. We love you guys and continue to pray for you.


Let's thank God for what he's doing at Glasgow Grace and pray for Iain & Lyndsay and the rest of the team there!