Elders
Our Elders are responsible for the oversight of BFC.
Craig Gale
Lead Elder
Craig is married to Karen and they have two sons and a dog. They've been part of BFC since 2011, Craig's been an elder since 2017 and lead elder since 2018. He has specific responsibility for vision, preaching, running the leadership team and safeguarding. He is also a trustee.
Neil Gatland
Elder
Neil is married to Sue and they have two adult children. They were part of the original church plant in 2001 and Neil has been an Elder since 2009. He has specific responsibility for overseeing our home groups. He works part-time as an IT consultant for a technology company.
Staff
We employ a small team of staff to run the Church office day to day
Wisia
Administrator
Wisia is a member of BFC. Wisia is responsible for the day to day administrative running of BFC including our foodbank outreach centre.
Sue Gatland
Treasurer
Sue is responsible for keeping our finances in order.
Core Leadership Team
Our leadership team support the Elders in leading the Church
Rachel Brown
Chair of Trustees and homegroup coordinator
Rachel is part of our homegroup coordinators team and leads our trustee team.
Julian Westbrook
Sunday mornings
Julian is responsible for our Sunday morning church experience, helping guests feel welcomed and for how we run practically.
Chris Doney
Alpha
Chris has responsibility for running our Alpha courses.
Safeguarding
We take safeguarding seriously. Below are the team responsible for safeguarding. If you have any safeguarding concerns or questions, please contact one of our officers directly.
Sue Gatland
Head Safeguarding Officer
Sue is our safeguarding officer and is responsible for the safeguarding team at BFC.
Rachel Brown
Deputy Safeguarding Officer
Rachel is one of our deputy safeguarding officers and she also takes the lead role for safeguarding on the board of trustees.
Our History
2001 - Call...
Steve and Jo Petch came to believe that God had called them to plant a church in Billingshurst out of The King's Church Horsham. The new church began meeting in October 2001 in Steve and Jo's living room in their new house in Billingshurst and was called Billingshurst Family Church (BFC)
2002 - More space...
BFC needed more space and moved to the Stanley Room at the village hall.
2004 - Again, more space needed...
BFC needed more space and moved to a new home at the local primary school.
2005 - New call and new leadership...
Steve and Jo felt God leading them to plant a new church in Chichester (Grace Church) so Ben and Louise Martin moved from East Grinstead to lead BFC.
2009 - Elders...
Our first team of elders was appointed; Ben Martin, Neil Gatland and Jon Feaver were recognised and appointed as elders.
2012 - More space again...
In 2012 we needed more space due to growth so we moved to our current home at Billingshurst Community Centre.
2015 - Sending...
Jon and Sam Feaver moved to Midhurst to support a new site from Grace Church
2017 - Appointing and sending...
Craig Gale was appointed as an elder to bring our eldership team back up to three. Ben was asked by apostolic oversight to go and lead a church in Dorchester from 2018. BFC needed a new lead elder...
2018 - Appointing, again...
Craig stepped into the role of Lead Elder to lead BFC in a new season.
Who we are
BFC is a part of the Commission family of churches.
Commission is an international family of churches united by a shared passion for Jesus and His mission, and a clear vision to see thousands of lives transformed through hundreds of churches in tens of nations.
We achieve this by seeking to build and plant local churches that are subject to God’s word and responsive to His Spirit.
- Churches where grace is not only preached but is experienced and demonstrated.
- Churches where the gifts of the Spirit are fully expressed and where relationships are genuine and deep.
- Churches that serve their local communities but are also engaged in God’s global mission.
Commission is led by Guy Miller with teams of leaders and is enthusiastically part of the wider Newfrontiers family of churches. Check out the Commission website here
