Planting must follow fruit

Have you ever poured your energy into something and seen almost no fruit, then “let go and let God” and watched it spark into life? This is James Earnshaw’s story at City Church in Liverpool.

When James Earnshaw and his wife Cathy stepped up to lead City Church in Liverpool in 2022, James had the perfect training ground for his new role.

“Before joining our church in 2014 I’d been in leadership at an AoG church for four years. It was organised, polished and efficient, so I’d experienced the organisation and structure our church was missing,” he says.

When he prayed, planned and employed his expertise to launch various projects and ministries, therefore, he expected them to take root quickly. He was frustrated to see a surprising lack of fruit.

As James brought the problem to God, some other invaluable experience gained while working with his father-in-law, Dave Latham, came into play.

“I learned from Dave about reliance on God and the Holy Spirit,” he says.

It was seeking and fully relying on God that led to turnaround in the church over the past three years. “I said to God, ‘In theory these are good ideas. I don’t get why I’m not seeing any fruit’.

“God told me that if my plans had succeeded I would have taken most of the credit. If he brought the increase instead, I would recognise it was all him.”

Since then, the church, which is based in Liverpool’s Kensington suburb, has grown and flourished.

… story continues