A cycle of church planting

Church Planting, Handing over, Newfrontiers, News, Terry Virgo
For twenty months my wife and I have been meeting in a home with a group of believers in Bath, UK, now called The Gospel Collective. Last Sunday afternoon (Sept 11th) we met for the first time in a public setting – The Beechen Cliff School hall. It is exciting to be caught up in pioneering again! On the same day The Kings Church (mid-Sussex), that was first planted out of our home 40 years ago, celebrated their anniversary – a fascinating coincidence of events on the same day! That church was the first one Terry Virgo planted before the thought of a church family, which became Newfrontiers, even existed. Some of us who were part of that first church met in Terry and Wendy’s home recently to reflect on the early…
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Join the blessing of Bible Weeks and Weekends

Andrew Wilson, Bible Weeks, New Ground, Newday, Newfrontiers, News, Terry Virgo, Westpoint
The last few weeks have seen Bible Weekends and Festivals up and down the country in the UK. This coming together for teaching, envisioning and fellowship is now a very important and widely attended activity for Christians. What a contrast to a few decades ago when such things did not happen at all. In those days people looked at you aghast to think that anyone would choose to camp in a field and attend meetings in marquees for a whole week of their annual holiday. Over the years enormous blessing has flowed from these initiatives. I love to meet church leaders who tell me they became Christians or were baptised in the Holy Spirit at one of the Bible Weeks organised within the family of Newfrontiers churches – Downs or…
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Happy 40th Birthday TKC

Church Planting, Kenya, Newfrontiers, News, Terry Virgo
Terry Virgo's first church plant On August 21st 1977 sixty-five of us met in the Bar Lounge of Clair Hall, Haywards Heath, at the launch meeting of the Mid Sussex Christian Fellowship, the first church that Terry Virgo planted. House groups had been meeting in five locations around Sussex for the previous few years. These started in Janita’s and my home in Scaynes Hill in May 1973 (photo). Others soon followed in David and Margaret Coak’s home in Balcombe, John and Joan Salmon’s in Uckfield, Ken and Audrey Dalgleish’s in Burgess Hill and Phil and Agnes Ball’s in Henfield. (Sadly John died recently, Joan having died several years ago.) So, in a few days the re-named Kings Church (Mid-Sussex) – there have been several other names en route - celebrates its 40th birthday.…
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The roots of Newfrontiers – a personal reflection pt 6. A Team is born

Baptism of the Spirit, Coastlands, David Holden, Downs Bible Week, Newfrontiers, News, Team, Terry Virgo
Wise counsel One of our speakers at the first two Downs Bible Weeks in 1979 and 1980 was Bryn Jones, visionary and apostolic leader of Harvestime, later to become Covenant Ministries International (CMI). He had pioneered much through the ’70s and had taken a lot of ‘flack’ for his stance on the baptism of the Spirit, teaching about the five-fold ministries of Ephesians 4 being relevant for today, and so on. To some extent we were caught up in his slipstream.   During Downs 80 Bryn told Terry how he had been observing his ministry and was concerned on two fronts: first that he was in danger of ‘burning out’ and second that he needed complementary gifting around him to share the burden of ministry. He advised him to follow what…
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The roots of Newfrontiers – a personal reflection pt 3. Black and White to Colour

Newfrontiers, News, Terry Virgo
Body Life The weekend after Terry visited out home and prayed successfully for people to be healed we were to attend a Stewards Trust conference for people at a similar stage of life to ourselves. What a turning point that proved to be. The speaker, Barney Coombs from Sarum Hill Baptist Church in Basingstoke, and founder of the Salt and Light stream of churches, oozed love and a knowledge of the scriptures we had not previously encountered as he ministered on body life, and on the importance of exercising the gifts of the spirit to bless and edify other believers. He also introduced us to scriptures set to music as a vehicle for worship. At that stage our worship experience included singing many of the fine old hymns, and we greatly…
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The roots of Newfrontiers – a personal reflection pt 1. We meet Terry Virgo

Newfrontiers, News, Terry Virgo
Increasingly people are joining churches related to Newfrontiers through other apostolic spheres and have no awareness of how it all started. Several have recently asked me for the early history so over the next few weeks I will share my personal story of those early days since I was privileged to be in from the start – indeed, from before the start. A letter One day, on return from our family holiday, I found a letter awaiting me. “Will you be my administrator? I don’t know what an administrator does but I know I need one”. I picked up the phone. “I also don’t know what an administrator does” was my reply, “but yes!” On that somewhat precarious basis a special friendship turned into an employed relationship with Terry Virgo. The continuing deep…
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