The situation of the gnomes was different from that of the ark continent. The entire Ark continent had been moved into the Ark's space. The civilization on the ark continent had not been damaged at all. It had been preserved completely.
However, the goblins were different. In the past, the goblins had a strong foundation in magic and machinery. They might have been much stronger than the ones on the ark continent. However, it was useless now. Their civilization had been wiped out and there were no more gnomes who could read. Under such circumstances, it was almost impossible for Zhao Hai to make them learn too many things or help him with difficult tasks.
The reason why Zhao Hai created the church and even got the gnomes to exchange their items was to let the gnomes understand that bringing them to the realm was not like bringing them to heaven. They still needed to work in order to get what they wanted.