On March 23, Wem Baptist Church (WBC) in North Shropshire opened its partnership church, called The Cellar Church (TCC), in Ellesmere, a rural town of 3,500 people about 10 miles away from Wem.
TCC meets – yes, you have guessed it – in a cellar. The cellar is underneath the old town hall in the centre of town and provides a fantastic venue at the heart of the community. Don’t imagine dirty and miserable – quite the opposite – think more of ‘The Cavern’.
Push/pull resources
This is being seen as a partnership church; one church in two locations. It has many advantages over the traditional ‘church plant’, which WBC did ten years ago. They have two co-pastors. Phil Wright can take the lead role on Sunday mornings at TCC, leaving Al Simms to continue in Wem on Sunday mornings, with a meeting together in the evening. The partnership will offer all the advantages of push/pull resources, provide the new church fellowship with an identity and a great way of sharing the gospel in the new community.
Café style setting
The feedback from the town has been amazing, with loads of support and promises to come along and try it out. The first visitors joined a group of nearly 40 people meeting in an informal café-style setting to worship, pray and study the Bible.
