We originally began with a group of people who had come together
to pray weekly for Southwell and the UK, approximately 27 years
ago
We started meeting on a Sunday with just 13 people in the WI Hall,
and moved to various other locations over the years, including
Lowes Wong Junior School, the Horological Museum in Upton, then
leasing our own Centre above Gascoignes on Church Street for
several years. When that became too expensive, we then moved to
the Minster Centre across the road, followed by Thurgarton Village
Hall for many years. The fellowship grew with many people joining
us from a radius of approximately 25 miles. Our pastors were
Warren and Jolene Young from New Zealand and the USA and they
stayed for a number of years before returning to the States, when
Michael and Barb Martin became our leaders. After a few years we
began to meet in homes and currently meet at Michael and
Barbara’s.
Our main focus was, and still is, Worship and Intercession and our
vision was to become a hub which reached out to small groups in
the surrounding villages. Two other pillars of our Constitution are
Israel and Evangelism. For many years we held a weekly prayer
meeting called “7:14”, taken from 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people
who are called by My Name will humble themselves and pray and
seek My face…”. This was held in the Methodist Church Upper room
and all the churches in the town were invited and regularly updated.
7:14 Prayer still takes place every Thursday morning at Michael and
Barbara’s, followed by Bible Study.
We also held a monthly meeting called “Shofar” which focussed on
teaching Christians more about God’s love of Israel and His eternal
promises to them and the Church. Again, all Southwell churches
were invited but mostly people from far and wide across 3 counties
attended for many years. We have now passed this ministry over to
CMJ UK, (The Churches Ministry Amongst the Jewish People), based
in Farns?eld, and it has now become a successful quarterly Zoom
meeting with a variety of excellent speakers.
Pat (Jamie) was a part of SCC for many years, particularly with her
involvement with the Fair Trade Movement. She set up the
Turnaround Charity shop, funded by Sherwood Forest Christian
Centre in Blidworth, and recruited many volunteers from all the
Southwell churches, and installed Traidcraft crafts and wholefoods in
the shop. She worked together with many others to help Southwell
become a Fair Trade Town.
Michael and Barbara were involved with the setting up and running
of Newark and Southwell Street Pastors and were out patrolling the
streets/parks on Friday and Saturday evenings until things
quietened down considerably in both towns and the Street Pastors
were no longer needed.