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.