Mars Hill West Seattle tithes off of the tithes it receives to support church planting around the globe because we firmly believe that church planting is God’s primary ordained means of establishing the kingdom of God on earth and seeing lives changed in, through and for Jesus Christ. MHC WS has the privilege of directly supporting four church planters. The intent of the article below is to introduce you to one of them. You can get more information on each of them here. Please keep these men, their families and the churches that Jesus has called them to plan in your prayers.

The Crowded House

Lead Planter: Steve Timmis
Location: Sheffield UK
Mission: The Crowded House is a group of church planting networks in Sheffield and Loughborough. Most of our churches meet in homes. We want to offer a place of belonging. We are committed to:
mission through community – we believe that the life of the Christian family is a powerful apologetic for the gospel
communities in mission – we want to be congregations focused on the gospel and church planting

Q: Tell us about yourself, your family and your work.
I’ve been married to Janet for 28 years. In the last five years all four of our children have got married and we have two gorgeous grandchildren. We have lived in Sheffield for 18 years and have been church planting in this city for 12 years. Most of my work involves leading a local church and facilitating other church plants.

Steve and his wife, Janet, at their daughter’s wedding.

Q: How did you discern Jesus’ call to plant a church?
It was in obedience to God’s Word. I have a passion to get the gospel out to people and it seems to be the most effective means of doing that. I seem to be ‘wired’ as a bit of an entrepreneur and pioneer, which has helped!

Q: What’s the significance of the name – Crowded House?
We want to litter cities with communities of light. We want to see houses of hope and grace that spread the light of the gospel. The name seemed to encapsulate our vision.

Q: Why plant in Sheffield?
It was where we lived, so the most natural place to start.

Q: What else are you working on?
My other main commitment is The Porterbrook Network – www.theporterbrooknetwork.org – that provides training for mission and leadership in the context of a person’s ministry. We currently have about 40 students involved in our different programmes of study. We have just launched our Distance Learning course so the set up of that has kept us quite busy.

Q: What are your current needs and prayer requests?
That I would love God and others more and that I might trust God more.

Q: What are you currently reading?
The King of Torts by John Grisham

Q: Favorite quote?
At the moment (though it does change often!) it’s the following by Matthew Henry:
“We ought to devise all means possible for the preservation of true friendship where it exists and the reparation and retrieval of it where it is withering and ready to die… We should desire to associate ourselves with those who will edify us and be edified by us, who we may either do good to, or get good from, or both.”

Q: Last movie watched?
Gone Baby Gone

Q: What’s on your top 10 list on your iPod?
Aretha Franklin
Sovereign Grace
James Brown
Bob Dylan
The Temptations
Eric Clapton
Coldplay
Shai Linne
Tim Keller
Stevie Wonder

Q: How else can MHC West Seattle support you?
We would love to see a meaningful, ongoing gospel partnership develop between us and that we may be a means of real blessing and tangible encouragement to each other.