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OUR STORY
Grace Church Denbigh began in 2013 in answer to prayer.
In the years before, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Mold had been exploring how church planting could help spread the good news of Jesus across North Wales. They began to pray that God would open a door to start a new work in the right place.
At the same time, Dafydd Cunningham was finishing his studies at Oak Hill Theological College. Originally from the area, Daf had a deep burden for Wales and prayerfully applied to spend his final placement at Ebenezer.
God brought these two stories together. In time, he led Daf and his wife Amanda, their children, and a small team of Christians from Ebenezer to step out in faith and begin a new missional church community in Denbigh.
And God provided.
He provided the finances through the sacrificial generosity of his people, including gifts from those attending the Word Alive conference in Prestatyn. He provided a place for the church to meet at Eirianfa Community Centre, as well as an office. He provided a home for Daf and Amanda and their family just a short distance away. He even provided a job for Amanda at Eirianfa, which has become a thriving hub serving the people of Denbigh. Most of all, he provided sufficient grace for every season, especially when things felt fragile and stretched.
Looking back, we can see God’s gracious and faithful hand at work in so many details.
For the first ten years, Grace Church was an outpost of Ebenezer. Those early years were full of the joys and challenges of planting a church: sharing hospitality, growing together in God’s Word, worshipping Jesus, and telling people in Denbigh about him. By God’s grace, the church also weathered the difficult years of COVID.
Then, in 2023, God unexpectedly called Daf, Amanda and their children to serve somewhere new. After much prayer, they made the painful but also exciting decision to leave the church family they loved and had poured themselves into, and move to Malpas Road Church in Newport, South Wales, in obedience to God’s calling on their lives.
It was a significant season of change, but once again God was faithful.
Pastor Ben Midgley from Ebenezer provided leadership support, while members of Grace stepped forward in all kinds of ways. The church became independent of Ebenezer and appointed its own leadership team.
As Grace Church prayed and began a search process to call a new pastor, God was already at work. Ben Slatter, who had been assistant pastor at Ebenezer for the previous eight years, sensed that God might be calling him to a new role. After preaching at Grace one Sunday, he felt a strong burden to apply for the post. His leadership team encouraged him to go for it, and throughout the application process, God made it clear to Ben, his family, his sending church and the members of Grace that God was calling him to serve as pastor of Grace Church. In 2024, he and his family joined the church and he was commissioned.
God has blessed us over the last two years, answering many years of prayer.
The church has grown from 40 people gathering on a Sunday to around 70. From just one child in the congregation, we now have a growing number of babies, toddlers, children and teenagers. From one midweek home group, we now have six Grace Groups, where members share life, pray for one another and explore God’s Word together. Our ministries now include a community breakfast, a touch rugby group, services in local care homes, and activities for children and young people. We also love working alongside other gospel churches in Denbigh to provide a toddler group, joint praise and prayer nights, and other seasonal events.
At Grace Church, we come from all kinds of different church backgrounds, and God is teaching us to unite in love around the gospel, the person of Jesus and the mission he has given us to make disciples. Together, we want to know Jesus more, become more like him, and share him with others.
This is our story so far. We’re deeply thankful for all God has done, and we’re excited to see what he will do in the future!