Students

What previous students had to say

I moved to Manchester in 2016 when I got married to Ming, who is a member of Chorlton Evangelical Church. Ming and I are both Malaysians who met while studying in Sheffield, where God led us to hear of the gospel and He began to change our hearts and work in our lives through His saving grace. Being new to Manchester, being newly married, and settling into a new church family posed a steep learning curve for me while being a believer young in faith. I thank God for the sound biblical preaching received each week, the loving support in the fellowship and living testimonies of brother and sisters in Christ. Women in the church have especially been a positive influence to me as I observe their love and service unto God and people around, their boldness in faith with a gentle and quiet spirit, and their Godly submission in humility. It is a blessing to receive students and young graduates at Chorlton Evangelical Church, witnessing and being encouraged by how God is working in their lives, whether they have been a Christian for long, or are seeking to understand the Bible and grow in faith. It reminds me of God’s goodness and grace in drawing me to Him during my student years and have since been pruning me and refining my faith. It is amazing to be growing in a congregation of believers of all age groups and of different nationalities as one family and one body in Christ.

~ Janice Thien ~

I am studying BA Textiles in Practice at Manchester Metropolitan University. Originally from Southampton, I was far from home when starting my degree in September 2011, and knew nobody in this vast and vibrant city. I attended Chorlton Evangelical Church during my 1st year and immediately felt welcome due to the warm and friendly people there. Although the church has a relatively small congregation, there are individuals of all ages and from many different backgrounds, which is a true representation of Gods family. I am very thankful for the church’s generosity and hospitality as they provided lifts to the services and a home to go to on Sundays, with a much appreciated lunch provided! Teaching Gods word is given primary importance, and each week I have been nourished with clear, biblical sermons: these are in-depth yet easy to follow with relevant applications for everyday life. I recently helped at Sonshine Club, the children’s holiday bible club, and was encouraged by the enthusiastic outreach the church was doing in the community.

~ Ruth Murray ~

I came to Manchester in 2002 to do my A levels and didn’t know anyone in the city other than the the pastor who I had met already when he’d visited my home church. The church was the first one I visited and I have stayed ever since. I was treated like another church family member from the start and the hospitality through endless lunches on Sundays was a testimony to their love and care. The Bible teaching has been solid and biblical and it’s good to know you can expect to be fed spiritually each week. It might have been a temptation to attend a larger student populated church if I’d come to Manchester at the start of music college. However I’m glad I did find Chorlton as I’ve been greatly blessed there spiritually and the Lord graciously enabled me to meet my fiancee there recently too!

~ Phil Miles ~

Talk about a fish out of water, an earthling on Mars, an odd bird ? That was my experience when I first came to Manchester in 2009 to start my PhD programme in Conservation Ecology. I quickly learned why a special name was needed for the local spoken English — “Mancunian”. It was because more than 30 years of learning, conversing, and teaching in English wasn’t enough to understand it! But I admit it’s lovely to have doors courteously opened for you, to be called ‘Love’ at the grocery store, train station, bus…everywhere! And to see the glorious colours of Autumn give way to the sparkling grandeur of Winter’s snow ? For someone who just came from the humid jungles of the Philippines studying birds, I wasn’t prepared for the pain of frostbitten ears and hands and the gruesome bloody (literally) nose almost every morning. The weight of the winter blues was almost unbearable, not to mention the weight of clothes I had to put on each morning! Although I didn’t stay in Manchester continuously during the first two years of my graduate programme, all that time it was only by the Lord’s grace that I was able to weather the weather of England! Then like a burst of warm sunshine in spring, the Lord warmed my heart and lifted the blues away by giving me a loving Christian family in Manchester in my third year. The tiny church at the corner of Chorlton Green has more than made up for its size with the immensity of its heart. Since joining in July 2011, the church has been God’s arms embracing when I was lonely and hurting and God’s voice speaking when I was discouraged and faint. Although I have known the Lord for years, I have been enthused to greater faith and obedience to the Lord from the solid teaching of the Word during Wednesday prayer meetings and Sunday worship services. The church has been obedient to the Lord’s command to be kind and even loving towards foreigners. Deuteronomy 10 v 17-19 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. I have seen and tasted of the Lord’s goodness through the community of believers at Chorlton Evangelical Church. Indeed, I’m an odd bird no more ?

~ Carmela Espanola ~

Coming to university was a big step in my life and athough a lot was changing I wanted to keep my relationship with God central to my university experience. For me it was essential that I found a church which taught God’s truth and would help me to grow in my faith, which is exactly what I found at Chorlton Evangelical Church. Having the focus of the services on the teaching from the Word of God was thrilling. Week by week there was more to learn, challenge and encourage me as I sought to grow and persevere as a Christian at university. From my first Sunday there I received a warm welcome and was accepted into the church family. Being away from home for the first time was hard but the fellowship and friendship from the church made it a home from home.

~ Rebecca Keble ~

Sink or swim. That’s what university can be for a young Christian. At 18 I was living away from home for the first time, in a vast city (Manchester) where I knew next to no-one. I was suddenly exposed to many different lifestyles that I had barely imagined, let alone seen, before. I had a firm and clear faith in Jesus, but my faith seemed to go no further than my head. A friend who wasn’t a Christian said within weeks of meeting me, “You say you believe this, yet you do . . .” Was I going to start living out the faith I professed, or would I sink under the pressures of university life and let go of my faith in God? Praise God, He did not let go of me! Like a child beginning a growth spurt, I became hungry for God’s word. I wanted a church where I could be fed, week by week, with good solid teaching from the Bible. When I came to Chorlton Evangelical Church, the pastor was preaching through Ephesians 4. 17-32: six “don’ts and do’s” of Christian living. I needed to hear, and start to live out, every one of them! The church welcomed me, and I was no longer a stranger in a big dark city. I was at home with my new spiritual family. I’m now into my thirties, and the pressures of essay deadlines have been replaced by the demands of being a wife and mother. But when I look back at the huge change in my life that university was for me, I am thankful to God that He kept me, that He drew me closer to Him, and that He provided a church for me in which I could learn and grow as a Christian, and in which I still want to serve Him.

~ Rebecca Clark ~

When I went to University in Manchester in 1995, I wouldn’t have said I was a Christian. I was on a four-year course and that all that seemed to matter. I became good friends with one of the chaps on my course, who on most Sundays went along to Chorlton Evangelical Church. I knew that he helped with the Youth group and that he just went to be part of the church. In an unthreatening way a couple of times, he asked if I wanted to come with him and, over the three years of my course, I went to the church more than a number of times. One of the best things I remember about Chorlton was the welcome I received, each time I went in. Even if a few people were there, I always received a warm welcome, with an expectation of giving nothing back. Best of all, was the free lunch that helped to line my stomach on more than one occasion! The lunches were strange to me at first but are something I still remember even today. On leaving the church one time too, the preacher said to me on the steps at the front of the church, “where are you with God?”. Some five years later, these words came back to speak to me again and Jesus found me out.

~ Adrian Allman ~

I was converted during my second year at Manchester Metropolitan University and spent the first two years of my Christian life attending charismatic churches. Confused and discouraged, I wandered into CEC one Sunday morning. It was like a glass of cool water on a hot day. Reverent worship, engaging expository preaching and a committed body of believers seeking faithfully to live out God’s Word in their daily lives. A couple of weeks later Walter came to visit me in my student bedsit and spent an hour talking with me over a cup tea while sitting on a bean bag! I was impressed. I began to attend CEC regularly and was eventually baptized and added into membership. After that I had three very happy years at Chorlton and continued to profit greatly from the faithful ministry of the Word and the warm family atmosphere of the fellowship. Eventually a work opportunity caused me to move away south, but I continue to thank God for His faithful shepherding in leading me to the ‘still waters’ and ‘green pastures’ of CEC.

~ Mark Raines ~

I moved to Manchester from Wolverhampton to start a teacher training course at university in September 1996, with a list of churches to try from people back home. It was important to me to attend a church every Sunday that had similar doctrines to my home church. I visited a few, but none of them really felt right for me for one reason or another. Eventually a friend told me about the church she was attending – Chorlton Evangelical – so I decided to go with her. I found the people friendly and most importantly knew from that first sermon that it was a sound church with God’s word central to everything. I began to attend Chorlton regularly, and was made to feel comfortable and welcome, which was lovely, especially being away from home. I was fed each week not only with God’s word but also with invites to peoples homes for Sunday lunch, which as a student is a real treat! Even now after nine years I still feel a fondness when I think of my time at Chorlton or when I receive any news. I thank God for leading me there and for the work that continues.

~ Leah Keen ~

I was at university in Manchester from 1993 to 1996. (Can it really be that long ago?!) One of the highlights of my time that was being involved in Chorlton Evangelical Church. I found a warm welcome and good Biblical preaching. I also enjoyed the Bible studies and of course the meals in members’ homes after church on Sundays! I know its not exactly in the centre of the student area, but it was well worth the trek/bike ride. God has given us the church to help us grow as Christians, and so if you want to grow as a Christian while at university it is important that you are part of a church there. In a church you get leaders who will watch over our souls in a way you just don’t get in the CU, not to mention the fellowship you can enjoy with Christians of all ages. Since my time in Manchester, I have worked in churches in Scotland, Northern Ireland and America and am now pastor of a church in Donegal, Ireland. If you are looking for a spiritual home from home, I recommend you give these folks a visit.

~ Steve Wright ~

I am Japanese, but Manchester is special for me because I was born again while I was a student at UMIST. I came to know the Lord through many good friends in both Chorlton Church and UMIST. The main reason I started to go to the church is that the Pastor (Walter) played football with other church members. Playing football with them was open-eyed experience for me because I had known only a self-centered manner. I learned from them being a Christian is more important than being a skillful football player. Not only football, I also enjoyed Sunday services at Chorlton. It was a whole day programme; having lunch together, tea and chatting and then going back to the church for evening service. It was a moment that I really felt I was a member of God’s family.

~ Hiroshi ~

When we came to the UK from Brazil, we weren’t Christians. I was a ‘non-practising’ Catholic, and Isolda was ‘more Catholic’ then me. The gospel was explained to us by a Brazilian couple whom we had known before we moved to Manchester. All four of us were good friends but we used to have arguments concerning spiritual things. One day in 1988, Isolda accepted Christ after a long conversation with these friends in their home. The following week they took us to Chorlton Evangelical Church where we could see the love of God in the hearts of those brethren. One week after that, Carlos accepted Christ as well. After we returned to Brazil, the Lord has always been with us, and although we have had a few problems, He has given us countless victories. We now belong to a Baptist Church where we’re involved with discipleship, evangelism and teaching. We thank the Lord for His guidance in all our steps and for helping us out in every situation.

~ Carlos and Isolda ~

We would like to share with you about our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is amazing to look back and see how Jesus has looked after us and patiently led us in our spiritual growth. During our stay in England, we learned about the Lord’s faithfulness and ever-present love. We also experienced true church fellowship and were fed sound teaching of His word. On our return to Brazil we found a place to worship and work for the Lord in a local church. We thank all the members of Chorlton Evangelical Church for the love and kindness still ever-present in our lives.

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Chorlton Evangelical Church, Manchester