Rochdale Evangelical Church
Pastor
Stephen Watkinson
Location
The Scout Hut, Watkin Street, Lowerplace, Rochdale.
Get in touch
about the church
We are a small group of people who wanted to see a new Bible teaching church in Rochdale which would reach out to the local community with the gospel of Christ. With the support of Oldham Bethel, we planted in January 2021 during the second COVID lockdown, as an FIEC affiliated church plant. The only place we could find to rent at the time was a tin-roofed Scout Hut on a classic Rochdale cobbled street with red-brick terraced houses. We’ve met ever since and are praying for the area and seeking to reach out with the gospel as we found a new independent church.
about the Area
Rochdale in an expanding town town of about 110,000 people in the north east of Greater Manchester. It is one of a number of mill towns around Manchester that grew because of the cotton trade in the industrial revolution. However, because of the collapse of that industry, the town now scores highly on deprivation measures and has the social problems that often come in that context. Rochdale also has a large settled population of people of South Asian heritage who would largely identify as Muslim, as well as a much more transient population of asylum seekers and others who have come to the UK from a variety of places.