Above & Beyond 2023 | Gas Street Church

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Our Vision

We passionately believe that in order to see our vision become reality, we are called to be a church who gathers and scatters. We gather to worship and pray, to open God’s word, to be transformed by His presence, to grow, to serve and to be family together. Then we scatter as compassionate followers of Jesus to be light-bearers, peace-makers, hope-bringers, truth-sharers and city-shapers wherever God sends us. 2023

Above & Beyond

A message from Tim & Rachel message fromRachel fromRachel

A messageTim & Rachel

Exodus 33:15

Last year was the first time we launched ‘Above & Beyond’. It was a key moment to gather the church around our vision to be ‘light for the city’ and to share where we felt God was leading us in the next chapter of the story God is writing in and through Gas Street Church.

We now recognise the impact and therefore necessity, of making ‘Above & Beyond’ a yearly event in which we celebrate all that God has done in the previous 12 months, as well as articulating where we sense God is leading us next. It’s also an important time to invite the whole church to consider what it might look like to each play our part in seeing the vision become a reality.

As we’ve prayed for God’s guidance over 2023 we’ve been drawn to this scripture in Exodus 33:15 when Moses says to the Lord “If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here”.

That’s our prayer as we embark on this next leg of the journey. We sense that there might be ‘new territory’ that God is leading us into; spiritually and physically. We want

to be open to what this might look like, but our resounding prayer is like that of Moses. We don’t want to take a single step without knowing God’s presence goes before us. We can make our plans but without His presence they’re futile.

This publication is a testament to much of what has taken place since Above & Beyond 2022. In here you’ll find powerful stories from people who have encountered God in a wide variety of different Gas Street contexts; from Love Your Neighbour to Students, to Alpha, to the International Community, to Gas Street Music. We hope their stories inspire you and ignite faith for all that God can do in 2023.

We want to invite you to partner with us; through your prayers, time, talents and finances.

Love, Tim & Rach Hughes

“If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here”

Over the past twelve months

183 Have said ‘Yes’ to Jesus

TheImpact

434 People serving on team

95 People baptised

770 Currently in a GS Group

5.2k Avg people watching online each week

20k+ Followers on socials

2022

18 Love Your Neighbour streams

550 Kids, Youth & Students

185 Alpha guests

43 Nations represented

TheImpac

light for the city

MonthlyHighlights

Launched Young Adults with over 80 people attending.

Planted Lighthouse Church, St Mary’s, led by Trev & Cat Meardon in Erdington.

Gathered our church for ‘Reset’, a week of prayer & worship.

Added five additional rooms to our GS Central building.

JAN

MAR

Raised over £470K during our ‘Above & Beyond’ Vision campaign.

Over 50 attended our Youth weekend away.

Gas Street Music released ‘Foundations’ EP.

Launched a new location, GS South.

Wildfires Festival with 370 attending from Gas Street

Worship For Everyone released single ‘Move’ ft. GS Youth.

MAY

FEB

Students weekend away with 100+ students.

Launched a new series ‘Jesus Meets’ on The Orchard Podcast.

APR Hosted an Easter Party at GS St Luke’s with over 270 from the local community attending.

Baptised 24 people on Easter Sunday

Recruited 3 new staff for Love Your Neighbour.

JUN

Launched Stay & Play at GS South, with 45 attending each week from the local community. The Orchard team hosted a retreat with 50 senior leaders.

Our annual church retreat to The Poplars, ‘Sunday Funday’ with 520 gathering and 29 baptisms.

8 GS Academy students graduated.

JUL

Launched our Refugee Hub with Love Your Neighbour.

End of Summer Party at GS Luke’s with 165 attending from our local community.

Welcomed 11 Gas Street Academy students.

Hosted our Hello & Welcome lunches at GS Central & GS South with over 200 attending.

Baptised 35 people

Worship For Everyone launched the ‘Advent Journal’.

The Orchard Women held their annual conference with a 1,000 attending.

Gas Street Music won ‘Group Of The Year’ at Step FWD Christian & Gospels Awards.

AUG

OCT DEC

Our annual GS Kids Summer Club, with over 130 kids from our local community attending over four weeks.

Gas Street Music released ‘Thin Place’ Live EP. Started GS St Luke’s Community Choir. Launched Youth at GS South & GS St Luke’s.

Our annual ‘Carols on Gas Street’ & ‘Christmas For Everyone’ gathering with over 2,500 attending.

320 ‘Bags of Kindness’ delivered to our local community and an additional 200 given to refugees and those living in hostels.

75 families received Christmas dinner deliveries.

Church Plants & Locations

2021

2022

2023

2024

Gas Street St Luke’s New Gathering

Gas Street South New Location

Lighthouse Church, St Mary’s Church Plant Trev & Cat Meardon

Christ Church, Summerfield Church Plant Katie Stock

Gas Street Longbridge New Location

We launched Gas Street South on 8th May 2022 after a series of ‘Explore Evenings’, with around 40 people from Gas Street Central relocating. We have seen some incredible growth and God has birthed a fantastic worshipping community. We now regularly see about 200 people, including about 50 kids and youth. This growth has been from many people returning to faith and some giving their lives to Jesus. We also launched Stay & Play in June, which sees about 45 people each week. We launched Alpha at the end of January and are building relationships with schools to start detached school work.

Since its launch, my faith has been totally re-invigorated! I am exploring and engaging with faith in ways that I have never done before, from bible study to fellowship with other Christians and serving on teams on Sundays. We love attending Gas Street South as a family (my daughter loves GS Kids) and are thrilled to be part of such a positive, welcoming and growing Church where we can continue our journey in faith!” — Ben

Planting Lighthouse Church in early 2022, Trev & Cat Meardon have seen the church grow in depth, healing and hunger to know more of God’s love. They’ve also seen their congregation grow to over 180 people, from the littlest to the biggest! Their greatest joy in this adventure is witnessing God’s power at work and being a part of writing the story of what God’s doing in the North of Birmingham.

I suffered abuse for many years, both physically and mentally, at the hands of my family. God stepped into my life through a housemate who told me about Jesus. I had been crying out to my own gods, but they never answered and brought healing. Having walked past the building many times when it was empty, I decided to come along. After the first few gatherings, I received prayer, wept, and knew I had found my home! God is still healing my wounds, slowly and gently, but I thank God for this church”. — Anonymous

In January 2023 Katie & Edd Stock led a team to plant into Christ Church, Summerfield. They opened the church doors on 29 January to the local community in North Edgbaston with 130 attending the launch. With skateboarding and inflatables, as well as delicious curry and pakoras, it was amazing to share God’s hospitality with local families. The vision for Christ Church is to see North Edgbaston living lives of hope in Jesus’ name. They are particularly focussing on reaching under 25s, which make up around 50% of the local population, through school engagement, a new Stay & Play, and a fun Sunday kids group. Their other focus is addressing the isolation experienced by lots of local residents on Gillott Road and the surrounding streets. This is being done through ‘Place of Welcome’, a weekly warm space with a community shop. When life feels overwhelming, with the effects of economic and social injustice negatively impacting local households, the team at Christ Church are convinced that through Jesus there is hope ahead.

God has seen my need and want for a Church family and placed me in Christ Church in the most amazing way. I have felt welcomed from first time I stepped into the Church building. The more I got to know the existing congregation who love Jesus and cherish the community, I felt at home.”

— Nancy

At the invitation of the Diocese of Birmingham, Gas Street Longbridge launches in January 2024. This will be our fourth location, as we continue our vision to be ‘Light for the City’. St John’s Longbridge was originally planted 65 years ago with a vision to reach the community and local families. With the existing congregation, we want to reignite that vision and see a community transformed. There are a number of local schools in the area that we are looking forward to partnering with as we believe children and young people will be a key part of our vision. We’re also hoping to extend Love Your Neighbour into Longbridge so we can play our part in seeing a community thrive.

Lighthouse Church, St Mary’s

Gas Street Longbridge

Stories & Testimonies Stories & StoriesTestimonies & Testimonies Stories & Testimonies Stories & Testimonies

Stories & TestimoniesStories& Testimonies

“I wanted to share a healing testimony which I believed happened during the ‘Jesus the Healer’ series at church! During an eye test I got flagged for having an eye condition called Kerataconus which is incurable and can only be managed via special lenses. I received prayer for this at church during communion. On meeting the eye specialist they said there are now no indicators for Kerataconus and 0% chance I have it! He’s not sure how or why I got flagged for it! Praise God!”

— Nick

“I have had an incredible life turnaround since coming to church! My anxiety has gone and I now 100% trust the process of all the great and troubling things happening. My relationships have been enriched with people, and I have so much more zest for life.” —

Anonymous

“There was a time about a year ago I didn’t think I could ever be part of a church again, but with every encounter I had with Gas Street, I was met with empathy and love. God has done a miraculous healing from where I was a year ago.” — Anonymous

“One of the Grandmothers from the community brought in her Grandson, who was 10. His Grandma asked me to pray with him. A few days before, his Dad had been shot and killed from being caught up in gang violence. Understandably he was struggling, especially at school and had a lot of questions about life, football and God. We spoke about God as a father, how he is his heavenly Father, who is always with him and will always love him with unending love. We spoke about what Jesus did on the cross and what it means to live your life with Jesus. The young boy decided he wanted to live his life with Jesus, so we prayed and gave him a bible, and there and then, he gave his life to Jesus! It was one of the rawest, most stunning encounters. Later that night, I received a text from the boy’s Grandma to say he had been reading the bible all night and was so glad he became a Christian!” —

LYN Team Member

“I have been suffering from social anxiety and out of work for four years. I previously had a bad experience at

Stories & Testimonies

work that shattered my confidence. At Job Club, we chatted about what I wanted to do rather than just finding the first job possible. I have Aspergers, so I was looking for a workplace that would understand my gifts and the additional support I may need. I visited a workspace with the Job Club manager, thought it was great, and felt at home. I applied for the job with my updated CV, interviewed and got the role! I have now started the new job, and I love it.” —Andrew

the ministry time at the end. When I returned to the hospital the following day, I had a test done, and the doctor told me they couldn’t find anything wrong with my eye! She said that she didn’t know what the previous medics thought they saw in the first place. Praise the lord!” — Emily

“My life was anything but calm. It was chaotic and filled with darkness. I battled with so much anxiety, depression, complex traumas. Although I’ve been a recovering addict for 7 years temptation got the better of me last year and I picked up a drink as things got too much for me in my personal life. I drank for that one evening in the summer crying myself into each sip pleading and calling out to God to help me. I felt so ashamed the next day and feared that all the effort I had put in the past 6 years was just wasted. An ex partner had connected with a Gas Street and they introduced me to church. I began watching GS online before attending GS South earlier this year. I’d listen to the talks often feeling like it was about me. The Lord has shown so much to me through this challenging season about his faithfulness, steadfastness, love and promise. Just recently I’ve given up smoking and Jesus is working on my anxiety. The friends I’ve made at South have been amazing Mike the pastor has helped me more than he knows. I’ve finally found a place I belong. I love my church family. I love Jesus. I can honestly say and believe that I’m a child of God who is deeply loved.” — Ashley

“I pulled my shoulder whilst training. It was very painful for about a week. I came to church, and Tim Hughes asked people with bad joints and pain to come to the front to receive prayer for healing. After I received prayer, I tested my shoulder, but there was no difference. After worship, I returned to my seat and realised that my shoulder had been 100% healed!”—

Anonymous

“I had a series of tests done at the hospital due to a suspected bleed in my left eye. I have been having tests for months at various places and have been referred for further tests as a suspected blocked vein kept being found. I watched a message online and prayed for healing in my eye during

“I posted an Instagram story asking if anyone had prayer requests. All the requests came from nonChristians (which was amazing), but I was surprised a request came from someone I worked with! I didn’t know him well and assumed he wouldn’t be interested in God - I was wrong! He was so open to me praying for him and sharing scripture. We had lunch together at work and had great conversations about faith. He expressed some hardships he had been going through and how my simple act of asking if he wanted prayer had brought him so much happiness and joy.” — Shanon

After worship, I returned to my seat and realised that my shoulder had been 100% healed!

Love Your Neighbour

2912 Children through our streams

140 People receiving a weekly shop

14 Parents completed Kids Matter course

147 Debts relieved

8 People each week attending English classes

63k Meals provided

‘The more we draw close to God, the more we are convicted to love others’

We long to see social transformation through people helped, communities strengthened, and a fresh movement of practical love for our neighbours. We are the Birmingham hub of ‘Love Your Neighbour’, part of the national network, and operate by providing services that meet crisis, cause, or care needs. We have grown, and new roles have been filled in the department, Head of Love Your Neighbour, SEND and Inclusion Coordinator and a Refugee Hub Manager, all of which have allowed us to expand our provision in breadth and depth. At Gas Street, we strongly believe that the more we draw close to God, the more we are convicted to love others.

In late 2022, The Guardian newspaper wrote an article about our work as a Warm Hub, and in early 2023 we had the BBC filming a small segment about the energy crisis for

The One Show. Our Head of Love Your Neighbour, went to the House of Commons in January to an event Love Your Neighbour organised and shared a little about what we’re up to in Birmingham. We are developing links within the city through partnerships with the council, Birmingham’s Children’s Trust and other charities.

“Before discovering this place, I was living pay cheque to pay cheque and my mental health was atrocious. I feel like I’ve met family here; I’ve come home.” — Linda

“I just wanted to thank the amazing staff and volunteers who have taken the time to provide outstanding care for our children over the summer holidays at GS Kids Summer Club. As a foster carer, you have provided me some respite these past few weeks, and I am so grateful. My kids have thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Thank you for keeping them safe, ensuring they have eaten, planning enjoyable activities and going over and beyond! You guys are a true blessing!” — Anonymous

Streams

Foodbank — Delivering food parcels to those in need.

The Community Shop A subsidised grocery experience.

Cause — Identifying and tackling causes of poverty.

Christians Against Poverty — Providing regulated support for those in debt to become debt free.

English Conversations

Classes — Free classes to enable anyone to improve their English.

Care — community-based support providing wraparound care.

Craft Club — a space for adults to come and talk, build friendships, and make crafts.

Sensory Story Zone — sensory sessions for children with neurodiversity.

Time Out for Parents — parenting course for parenting children with SEND.

Kids Matter — parenting course for those with kids under 10 to build support and community.

Explorers — exploring faith with adults with learning disabilities.

Truth Be Told — taking babies and toddlers into a care home to create intergenerational friendships.

Community Choir — open to all and a chance to build friendships and decrease isolation.

Stay & Play — open to all parents with preschool-aged children to socialise and build community.

Kids Club — holiday clubs for kids in our community.

Counselling — providing regulated support for people with trained counsellors, free of charge.

Bright Music & Bright

Play — sensory classes for children and babies.

Detached Youth Work

— providing a mentoring program at Birmingham City Academy.

WildfiresFestival

Above & Beyond 2023

Wildfires 2022

Wildfires Festival has become a key moment in our church calendar to gather together as a community, alongside hundreds of others to contend together for the next great awakening. It’s a place where new friendships and connections are formed, and our community is strengthened. It’s also a place where faith is fanned into flame through the ‘Big Top’ celebrations and the afternoon sessions. For kids & youth, Wildfires has become a vital place of exploration, faith and encountering the Holy Spirit. Last May, 370 from our church community came to Wildfires, and we hope many more will come this year!

“This is exactly what we needed, even if we didn’t know it”

“We were blown away by the kindness of God. With young kids, it can be hard to attend the main gatherings, and we often found ourselves just lounging in the kid’s area and being still. This is exactly what we needed, even if we didn’t know it! God, by his grace, blessed us with space and a church family who supported and loved our kids, and we left the week feeling refreshed, encouraged and thankful for our church.” — Anonymous

“Alpha Super Saturday was a game-changer!”

Alpha is just one of the ways that we create space for people curious about faith to come and explore in a safe and welcoming environment. As Jesus commissions us to make disciples of all nations, Alpha is a space where we continually see people giving their ‘Yes’ to Jesus.

Here’s what one of our recent guests said:

“I felt unloveable and not enough and that God didn’t want to be around me. I started to believe that I could never earn His love and that I was just terrible. However, Alpha Super Saturday was a game-changer for me. My experience with the Holy Spirit through a picture He gave was indescribable. He was dancing with me, beaming joyfully to be with me, and I couldn’t believe it. It was what I had been missing and what He wanted to tell me this whole time. He had been knocking, and I was hesitant to open the door. I’m so glad I came and so grateful for the opportunity. Everyone that is there every week is so supportive and accepting. I wish there were more weeks!”

And that’s just one story in the last 12 months. We’ve had 230 people signup for Alpha across three locations! Who are you inviting?

Alpha AlphaA pl h a ahplA AlphaahplA

Mark’s Story

Born in 1970 and raised a Jehovah’s Witness, my childhood experience was fear, insecurity, guilt, shame, isolation, and not being permitted to think for myself, express my genuine emotions or question anything. Raised by a closed-minded father who presided over the church I attended, he ruled the family home with an iron fist, seemingly incapable of showing tenderness, love or compassion. I breathed a sigh of relief when he left the family home when I was just 10 years old.

At 14, I questioned everything indoctrinated into me from birth and finally left the religion at sixteen. I left my home and decided to find my way in life. I soon chose poor friends, experimented with drugs and unhealthy relationships and drifted into a life of crime.

At 42, I was allowed to go to rehab for 4 months after being addicted to heroin and crack cocaine for 17 years. Before those 17 years, I had been sectioned twice under the Mental Health Act and hospitalised with drug-induced psychosis, bipolar disorder and manic depression. I had been using drugs in total for 26 years. During those 26 years, I committed many crimes leading to six prison terms, the last being in 2006.

On my release in 2008, wanting to turn my life around, I volunteered for three years and then built a career for myself with an organisation that helped me to grow as a person, learn some amazing skills, and have a meaningful and satisfying career empowering people to make better decisions in their lives. I rebuilt relationships, and outwardly, my life seemed pretty desirable from the outside, but for the last 4 years, there was an underlying dissatisfaction, which became a chronic depression. Despair followed, becoming disconnected, isolated, hopeless and ungrateful for my life. In the past two years, I came close so many times to fully self-destructing and had an overwhelming sense that I did not want to live more times than I can count. I had become a hopeless wretch, and nobody could help me.

One day last July, my partner, who had her struggles and challenges, came across Gas Street Church on YouTube.

She asked if I fancied trying it out, and I have no idea why I said yes, except there was a slight glimmer of hope that this might help somehow. I remember that first time we walked into Gas Street Church, standing in the back row, because within seconds, I felt overwhelmed by emotion and no matter how much I tried to suppress it, it surged out of me in floods of tears, my body trembling for over ten minutes. I returned to Gas Street a couple of weeks later and remembered coming forward at the end of the gathering for prayer. The prayer was powerful, and when I walked back to where I had been sitting, I remember continuing to pray, and it was as though God lovingly asked, “Are you ready now”? That was the day I surrendered my will and welcomed Jesus into my life as my Lord and Saviour, as my friend, my God, and that was the moment my life changed. August 21st 2022.

Not long after, I went on the Alpha course, a great way to be introduced to the Christian faith. From the start, I felt no judgement that I could be myself, ask questions, and express anything I wanted. It was such a loving space. I met some wonderful people on that course, and we have become like family now.

In November, I was baptised, and my Alpha family came to experience it with me. Since then, so many things have happened, probably because I rely on God to guide me. I have so many new and beautiful friendships through Gas Street. I have the privilege of serving on Alpha and have been blessed with three of my closest friends currently doing Alpha. This is just the start! I know this with absolute conviction in my heart. With Jesus, all things are possible, and for me, it all started with a YouTube stream, a visit to a place brimming with love and light and filled with the Holy Spirit. Now I wake up and spend as long as possible in His presence. At night I am filled with gratitude. I want nothing more than to live and experience the fullness of life in Jesus. The greatest present I could ever have is the hope I found in Jesus. I am not religious, but I have a church, a community and a family where the light of Jesus shines so brightly in Birmingham. Thank you, Gas Street and everyone who has been part of my journey into faith. God bless you.

Mark’s Story

“The greatest present I could ever have is the hope I found in Jesus”

Worship Worship For Everyone

Students Kids & Youth

Our student ministry is thriving, with 130 students attending gatherings! We have over 100 in small groups and 60 being part of teams. We have seen 10 students give their ‘Yes’ to Jesus for the first time. We took 80 students at our weekend away, and it was an incredible time for building community and worshipping together.

Our kids and youth teams continue to grow, with over 100 children and 100 youth regularly engaging in worship across the locations. Our missional Stay & Play sessions continue to be full of families from the community, and our midweek youth gatherings are discipling our young people while also giving them space to build friendships.

Worship For Everyone Everyone

Wider Ministries

Worship for Everyone, as a wider resourcing ministry, also bears great fruit. We’ve released 4 new songs, each with its distinctive mission. ‘Move’ was sung and filmed with GS Youth; ‘Love in Action’ was written for our local primary schools, using their school motto as its theme and featuring their school choirs. In October, in partnership with 24/7 Prayer, we developed a week of family devotionals for their Lectio 365 families app. In November, we released an ‘Advent Devotional Journal’ for all ages, which reached over 1,000 households. We gave all those in Years 5 & 6 in our local church schools a copy of the journal as part of an Advent assembly and are working with the Birmingham diocese to implement a wider plan across the city for Advent 2023.

We have a real sense to be focusing on schools as well as Sunday church. So locally, we are delivering school assemblies every fortnight in our nearby schools and have established a quarterly community party and a Worship For Everyone gathering for local families to attend, bringing new families into our church. Nationally we have been connecting with the Church of England’s education office to work in closer partnership, aiming to reach schools nationwide with songs and resources. We have led worship at two key leadership conferences this past year and continue seeking strategic opportunities to influence the worship culture within schools nationwide.

International Community

Vital support and connection

Every Wednesday evening around 75 people from different nationalities, predominantly Farsi speakers from Iran and Afghanistan, gather to worship, pray and encounter Jesus. Many are refugees or asylum seekers who have fled their countries due to persecution. The International Community provides vital support and connection for those living in challenging times.

Despite many difficult personal circumstances, this is a community on a mission together! Week after week we

see new people coming along, many without faith, looking for a community and come to find Jesus. Here’s what one member said recently; “I didn’t think the group would be like this. It was great and I really enjoyed it. I want to come every week and learn about Jesus.”

Another member of the community recently brought her 17-year-old son to a Sunday gathering, on their way he said to her, “I am going to be Muslim because all my friends are Muslim. I don’t want to go to church.” During the gathering, he gave his life to Jesus, then turned to his mum and said “Mum, thank you so much. You saved my life by bringing me to church.”

Prayer Prayer

One of our key values at Gas Street is ‘we are powered by prayer’; it’s the engine room! When we pray, things happen, and God intervenes with healings, provision and miracles. At its heart, prayer is simply about getting to know God better by spending time with Him.

Over the past year, we’ve created more spaces to facilitate prayer. Kingdom Come is where we stretch ourselves spiritually and grow in the prophetic side of prayer in the context of spontaneous worship. We launched ‘Powerhouse’, an opportunity to step up our intentionality

Prayer

around prayer as we enter a new year. It’s a 24hr gathering for the church to equip people to go deeper in prayer at every level, from interceding for the world and adventurous prophetic moments to healing on the streets.

We also have an intercessors team who pray for individual prayer requests, plus regular weekly prayer meetings on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in the city. We gather as a staff team on Thursdays at lunchtime. We’re always seeking to host events that facilitate our growth in prayer!

GSA

Our Gas Street Academy enables us to play a part in developing young leaders keen to grow in their faith and learn more about ministry. Our students get theological, leadership and formational input and a chance to put theory into practice and learn by participating in various ministry streams.

Last year, we saw some students go on to work in local church ministry positions, one continuing in further theological studies and others beginning university.

In September 2023, we welcomed more students to spend the year with us in the engine room and the corridors, and it has been so encouraging. They get stuck in making things happen, learning and growing. Who knows what the future holds for these exceptional students?

Gas Street Business is a community that seeks to inspire, equip and support those running a business, working in business, social enterprise, entrepreneurs and dreamers. Building on the events that have taken place over the last few years, GS Business is now moving to enhance and develop this community by meeting for inspirational breakfast gatherings and after-work drinks. These events give a place for people to relax, socialise and build community along a shared common interest; that is, the desire to take the DNA of Jesus into the business community.

GS Business

Gas Street Music

The vision of Gas Street Music has always been to be an expression of our worship and the sound of our church. 2022 was a big year!

We released two live EPs, ‘Foundations’ and ‘Thin Place’, which where captured at our Sunday gatherings. Each of these documenting the story of God amongst us here in Birmingham and inspiring praise around the world. A particular highlight was releasing ‘How I Love You Jesus’ with the chorus recorded in Farsi. We also saw our global listeners grow with considerable traction in the USA and Brazil! Throughout the year, GSM led worship at events and festivals in the UK, Hungary and Norway, culminating at The Orchard, where we recorded the recently released EP ‘Divine Power’.

The Orchard continues to grow, creating spaces for women to step more fully into all they have been made to be and do. We hosted our third annual conference for 1,000 women in November 2022 at Birmingham Town Hall. In October 2023, The Orchard Conference will expand to the International Convention Centre in Birmingham to accommodate a gathering of 2,500 women. Last year The Orchard hosted its first annual retreat for 50 women in church leadership as a crucial space for connection and commission. The monthly podcast continues to gain followers, and we receive so much encouragement from our listeners.

“I actually got healed! A lady had a word about my lungs being compressed and prayed for God’s healing. I didn’t know what it was about then, but I have received total healing over some issues I’ve been having with my vocals. I have a singing background so this is huge freedom for me to have this restored. So grateful to God!” — Martha

“I had an amazing time at The Orchard Conference! Being touched by the Holy Spirit really made it special! I was being prayed for, and in my heart, I was releasing all my anger and pain against my parents. As I was being honest in my heart, the Holy Spirit came and filled me with his presence. I was shaking, crying, and asking Jesus that I needed him and couldn’t live without him. This has been special as it’s my first time being touched by the Holy Spirit. I’m still in shock, and I’m so grateful to have been able to have this experience. I feel closer to God than ever and intimate with him. I’m so excited to see where God takes me on this journey. Thank you so much for this! You’re all amazing, and I pray that God blesses and protects you. Amen!” — Anonymous

The Orchard

As I was being honest in my heart, The Holy Spirit filled me with His presence

gasstreet.church/give

Gas Street Network Stories

‘Deepest sense of peace’ — Sarah

“I joined Alpha through Gas Street in January 2021. I’d had a difficult year struggling with panic attacks and severe anxiety, only exacerbated by a job on an acute ward in the healthcare sector and a lockdown. God knocked on my door several times in my life looking back, as my sister is a Christian. I just didn’t open it. I would always consider myself as someone who sought refuge in hedonism and escapism however I lay in bed one evening, wide awake and felt a wave of the deepest sense of peace my entire body relaxed. Our Heavenly Father was embracing me with his arms. It’s a moment I will never forget, ever. I realised that this is what I have needed my entire life. I needed the true peace of Christ, faith and hope and to stop trying to spin all the plates.

We’d love to invite you to join us on a journey of radical generosity. All that you’ve just read is only made possible by your giving.