CR spoke with Phil Barber from the Potter's House

Phil Barber

The Potter's House was planted in 1992 in Stoke-on-Trent and has grown every year since it began. A 21st century church of 500 people with 50% under 30, it's founder and current Senior Pastor Phil Barber has recently released Fisher's Of Men, the story of his journey of being called to plant a church and all he's learned over the last 20 years; tackling common issues including church planting, empowering others and succession leadership. Heather Bellamy caught up with him to find out more.

Heather: Is Fishers of Men the culmination of your life's work?

Phil: Certainly the last 24 years, yes.

Heather: Please could you tell us what it's about?

Phil: It's the story of God's call to plant a church in 1988, through the creation of the church, it's subsequent growth, reinvention in 2006 as a 21st century church, creation of the Bridge Centre to the present day. It also contains a distillation of ideas about church planting, calling, positioning, vision casting, leadership, relevance, cultural language, empowering others and evangelism.

Heather: Why have you written the book?

Phil: Mainly because it is a story that was on my heart and I just had to get it out. I want it to be a resource for the many new people who come to our church and know little of our history. Also I wanted to help other leaders to glean ideas about how to grow the Kingdom and build church by making it relevant especially to the younger generation.

Heather: Can you read us a little excerpt from it? Give us a little taster of the wisdom or your stories that are in there?

Phil: Yes, ok, I'll just read you the very first page which is all about the call that I had in 1988. "He said: 'I will make you a fisher of men.' That was it. Short and succinct, with no preamble or explanation. It came right of the blue, having nothing to do with the theme of the epilogue, nor with my train of thought at the time. It was not an audible voice like a whisper in my ear, nor was it merely an idea that popped into my head. Rather it was a voice that spoke deep within my being, somehow inside me. It was unmistakably God's voice. It's desperately difficult to describe this experience to people, but I remain convinced that it was not imagined, partly because subsequent events bear witness to the fact, and partly because at the time I was acutely aware of the Holy Spirit's presence.

The voice of God was completely arresting and the words: 'I will make you a fisher of men' repeated over and over on my mind like a ringing bell. They still do."

Heather: So what began as that word from God, what does it look like now? Please could you describe what the Potters House is today?

Phil: Well, we grew from 17 people to over 500 people now. We meet in the Bridge Centre, which the church created, which is now an independent charitable trust, but it is a huge former school that we purchased. We do conferencing and all sorts of community activities on a very large scale there and we offer units for people and start up businesses and it's a very busy place and obviously we do a lot of church work there as well. It's become a huge enterprise really from that tiny, little seed.

Heather: If people came into the church what would they encounter?

Phil: A very friendly welcome; worship that is culturally relevant. They would find activities to support the faith journey of all ages and friendship in small groups. It's a non-churchy environment. Practical help and support with life's difficulties.