A Season of Growth, Faith & Restoration - Mark & Ruth Cuthbert
Thank you so much for your continued support of us as a family as we serve with Betel UK. We’ve been so grateful for God’s provision and equipping so far this year for us as a family and for the charity. This year hasn’t been easy so far, but we’re so encouraged by God’s faithfulness and all that we see him doing around us.
This January past marked 30 years since our now national directors, American missionaries, and their two children moved from Spain to pioneer Betel in the UK. Along with two recovering Spaniards and another missionary couple, they established the first centre in South Birmingham.
Betel has seen more than 15,000 men and women come through the doors of the Betel centres overseen by the UK leadership, receiving help on their journey of recovery, healing and restoration with their families. Many have found new life in Christ, pastors and leaders have been born, and the mission continues into the next generations.
Over the 30 years Betel UK has expanded to six centres around the nation; Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Manchester, Hexham and Motherwell, and with that the number of couples and families continues to grow.
In 2025, we broke ground for the addition of four new, family-sized flats to our residential property in Coventry. This project is targeted as the long-term success of those whom Betel is helping recover from drugs, alcohol and homelessness, with the intent of providing accommodation for more children to be re-united to families. Exciting progress is currently underway on the construction site, with a projected completion time at the end of August 2026. The roof is going on this week. Please believe and pray with us for the outstanding £450k required to complete the project. Families are ready and waiting to move in!
Another area within the ministry that’s continuing to develop and grow is our Infinite Arts team, based in Birmingham. They exist to inspire and unlock the creative potential in the surrounding community and those men and women within our Betel communities, offering creative opportunities for God to work his transformation in people’s lives. In May we hosted our third annual creative arts conference with the theme ‘Declare His Beauty’. We were privileged to have guest speaker and best-selling author of ‘A War of Loves’, Dr. David Bennett, who challenged and encouraged us. The weekend was filled with worship, teaching and practical workshops which equipped attendees to both encounter and reflect the beauty of Jesus.
Please pray for the core team as they seek the Lord for his guidance, inspiration and creative ideas. Pray for protection for their health as they have a number of team members really struggling with reoccurring health issues at the moment.
As we look at our cities around the country, it is clear that the need for help with addictions and homelessness is rife, and yet the stickability to commit to change is so tough for people. The pull back into ‘old life’, the familiar and the known is incredibly strong, and sadly we see many leave prematurely. As a result, at present many of our house leaders are young; in age, in time within Betel and in their faith, so we’re spending time discipling, encouraging and praying that the Lord would inspire them to catch hold of the vision of Betel, and the promises God has for their lives and the lives of those men and women they are supporting. Please pray for their spiritual growth and that they would allow God to continue to transform their lives. That the Lord would grow them into men and women with incredible stickability for him. Please be praying also for us as a leadership team as we support the leaders, disciple and mentor them; that we would be showing them the love, the grace and the hope of God through all we do.