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From an acorn to an oak tree - Sheffield Chinese Christian Church The English minstry was founded in 1972. It began to meet in Ivy and Raymond Heng's house. The fellowship of believers was called the Sheffield Chinese Christian Fellowship (SCCF). At that time, the fellowship consisted of nurses from the hospital and students from the university, and the ministry was completely in English. There was great support from the Chinese Overseas Christian Mission (COCM) and teams regularly joined the meetings from the Chinese Christian Fellowships in Birmingham and from Manchester (BCCF and MCCF) from the outset. In 1974 a Sunday School was started at the premises of the Sheffield YMCA where members taught Chinese Cantonese to the children of the Chinese Restaurants and Takeaways and English to their parents. After the language classes they learnt about the Bible, followed by a time of refreshments and fellowship. In 1975 the fellowship, numbering about twenty by this time, by the Grace of God bought the SCCF Fellowship Centre at 12 Watson Road through sacrificial giving and with the aid of a bank mortgage. That year recognising the growing importance of the work being done in Sheffield, the first of several COCM staff workers to be stationed in Sheffield was sent. The first North England Easter Conference (NEEC) was started in 1977 at Cliff College and hosted by Sheffield. The aim was to bring together all the northern Chinese Christian Fellowships for consultation, encouragement and fellowship. Previously all these groups travelled long distances to join the one main conference in the south. In 1978 a new Cantonese language Bible study fellowship was started for the newly converted Cantonese-speaking believers from the restaurants and takeaways. In 1979 a separate Fellowship committee was set up for the Cantonese section. The English speaking fellowship was called the Student Fellowship and the Cantonese speaking fellowship was called the Resident Fellowship. Both Fellowships were greatly blessed by God and continued to grow in numbers and began to drift apart. However both also recognised the need to work together if they were to do God's work effectively and in 1987 the Constitution for an overall Church umbrella structure began to be drafted. Finally in 1989 the fellowship of believers were officially registered as the Sheffield Chinese Christian Church. The church continued to grow and in 1991 the church building at Anns Road, Heeley, was purchased for the growing number of church members and increasing activities. The Church also allowed the Bethany Christian School to use the building for their school classes free of all rent. The Church continued to grow and employed its first Church Worker in 1991. At the same time the Church set up a Pastoral Committee to look closely into the pastoral needs of its members. A small Mandarin speaking Bible study group was started in 1992 and this began to grow with the increasing number of believers from Taiwan and Malaysia. The search for a full time minister of the church was eventually followed by the appointment of the first Church Pastor in 1993. At the same time the work amongst the Mandarin believers was greatly aided by the secondment of a COCM pastor couple to Sheffield to work in this area. Looking back at the past thirty years of the Sheffield Chinese Christian Church, God has indeed been faithful. Despite the transient nature of the student population the church numbers continue to grow. Many came to know the Lord in Sheffield and continued to serve the Lord even when they returned to their home countries. God has indeed grown it from an acorn to an oak tree. Pastor of Sheffield Chinese Christian Church |
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