Bristol Community Church

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bristol Community Church
Formation	1984
Official languages	English
Elder	John Maskell
Website	BCC official website

Bristol Community Church (formerly the Bristol New Covenant Church) is a charismatic church located in Kingswood, Bristol, England.

1 History
2 Elders
3 Youth
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

The Bristol New Covenant Church was set up in 1984 by Dave Jones, a pastor from Bath; before its foundation some people from the area would travel to Bath City Church. The name was changed to Bristol Community Church in the 1990s because confusion around the word "covenant" in its name was leading people to believe that the church was a cult.

The Church met at a number of different venues around the city before moving to its current home, Bourne Chapel in Two Mile Hill Road, Kingswood, a former Primitive Methodist building erected in 1873, which had previously suffered the indignity of becoming part of an underwear factory.

[edit] Elders

The church is led by one or more elders; it believes that elders should be honoured and respected. Dave Jones, the church's founder, was the first elder; he left in 1991 to live in London and was succeeded by John Maskell, who remains a pastor to this day. In 1994 a second elder, Richard Brown, was brought in to work alongside John. John East was a third pastor for a short time, leaving the church in 2003.

[edit] Youth

The BCC youth group "J-Team" was created in the mid 80's and some of the early members (now in their thirties) still remain as adult members of the church. In the mid 90's, James Hennah, the current youth leader, got involved. The name J-Team was changed to "Energy" or "NRG", and a second group "Advance" was created for the older youth.

In 2004 the youth group underwent a dramatic change; the Youth vision changed to B.R.E.A.D (Belong To The Church, Reach the Lost, Engage With God, Activate Our Gifts, and Develop As Disciples). Along with this new vision the youth team introduced a "spiritual ladder" and L.I.F.E. (Living In Faith Everyday) groups, where youth will be split into Boys and Girls and go to different houses around the city. "Advance" was merged into "Energy" again and "engage" was created; this new group has an emphasis on worship.