Growth in the Pandemic– opportunity not obstacle

Craig Bennett has been on a remarkable journey. As he comments in the video above, he grew up in something of a dysfunctional family the city of Leicester. As a result of that dysfunction he was dealing drugs at the age of 12 and, not surprisingly was eventually excluded from school at the age of 15. From there it was a difficult life of drug dealing, drug taking, homelessness and prison. After one prison term Craig had a remarkable meeting with Jesus as a result of reading a comic strip version of the life of Christ. From there he found a church and eventually attended a Christian drug rehabilitation centre in South Wales. Craig met his wife, Emma, and moved to the West Midlands. Craig and Emma felt called to begin a church in the shopping area of Dudley. They started a Christian book shop and coffee bar which included space for a church to meet. They began to meet before the pandemic and then, when lockdown started they were unable to meet in their premises. Rather than seeing this as an obstacle, they decided to meet for worship in the street outside the shop. Remarkably, the church began to grow, mainly with new converts. Over the period of the pandemic, the church has doubled in size and now they are too many to meet in the building, so they have continue to meet in the street! In recent months they have begun to pioneer two more churches, one in Great Bridge and a second in Wednesbury. Craig was recently interviewed by Martin Robinson and tells his story in the video above.