Page 24 - News Spring-Summer 2025

THE WALL

REMOVED THE

BOUNDARIES

Pastor Zac Zachariah grew up in the
Muslim nation of Oman. Part of the
Christian minority, he loved the stories
of James Hudson-Taylor, a 19th century
Christian missionary from Barnsley. After
coming to England for Bible training, Zac
found himself Pastor at Solid Rock Church
in Havercroft, Wakefield some 20 years
ago. It wasn’t all straightforward, but Zac
wasn’t expecting answers from a chance
meeting while sitting on a wall.

“Our church met in a DIY building from the 1960s
and we had 1.3 acres of land with it, all of which
was empty, and used by gangs and for drug taking.
Each time we held a service, they used to come and
provoke us, throw stones on the windows, open the
doors and swear. They were the most chaotic church
services I ever had in my life.
There were break-ins at the church almost every
week; we had multi-coloured tiles on the church roof,
which some people thought looked lovely. Then I
would explain we had to put new tiles on each time
we got broken into. We called our church a holy
church, not because of the Bible but because there
were holes all over it. The doors were kicked in. We
used to cover it up with posters just to make it look
good. We had much persecution in our church.

GOD GAVE US A NEW
BUILDING FOR FREE

Here I was, the new Pastor, sitting on the church
boundary wall, knowing I had to trust the Lord.
I knew very few people apart from those at church.
I couldn’t help thinking, “Lord why did you take me
to this church? What's happening here? Why did you
call me to this place?”

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