Ministry Partner: Leon Coates

Dewsbury, United Kingdom

Ministry

At Dewsbury Evangelical Church (DEC), we want our lives, including our life together as a church, to be about giving Him honour and praise. He has rescued us from the punishment we deserve for our wrongdoing, and He has done it through His death for us and His glorious resurrection from the dead. So we seek to live our lives for Him. For us as a church, this means the following things.

1. We believe that God’s honour matters more than anything else in life.
2. We believe the gospel, the good news about Jesus.
3. We learn from the Bible, which is God’s Word.
4. We pray to God frequently.
5. We love to meet together.
6. We care for one another and for people outside of the church.
7. We enjoy our unity and diversity.
8. We are fixed in our beliefs and flexible in the way we do things.
9. We seek always to be mission-minded as a church.

Biography

Leon grew up in Yorkshire, England, and is married to Nataly, originally from Colombia. They settled in the UK and have been blessed with two daughters—Sophie (born in 2011) and Emily (born in 2013).

Leon was an employment and child protection consultant, primarily with Christian youth work organizations in the UK, before receiving the call to ministry. The Coates family came to The Master’s Seminary and Grace Community Church in January 2015, through which the whole family grew in grace as Leon trained for ministry. Receiving a B.Th. in 2018, Leon and the family left TMS to join Dewsbury Evangelical Church in September 2018.

Ministry Goals

As the Assistant Pastor at DEC, Leon’s aim is to be able to say with Paul, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Colossians 1:28–29).

Leon’s responsibilities include preaching, prayer, pastoral care, and leadership.