About us
Father’s House Leadership Team…
Are a dedicated group of people from the Shaftesbury and surrounding areas community who are passionate about nurturing personal relationships with God. They each serve the community in different ways from supporting some of the most vulnerable members of our community to giving their time and skills to the running of the church. Each person has their own unique skills to share, as well as a deep love for the community. Most of all, every church leader has a strong and abiding love for Jesus, and believes in His healing and miracles to change lives and heal today!
Meet the Team
-
Nina and Dean
-
Andrew and Helen Baddeley
Helen and Andrew are our Senior leaders. They are supported by a wider team.
-
Dan and Millie
-
Clare and Phil Williams
-
Bron and John
We are a city on a hill, a beacon of light and hope to host revival in our nation.
Our History
The origins of Father’s House Shaftesbury church began in the mid 70’s when people from many different backgrounds, looking for a richer, deeper experience of God, found each other and began to seek together. We were not disappointed, and as a consequence more and more people came to know God as a caring and loving Father, and Jesus as the way to Him. We also experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
As a result of reading the words of Jesus, we became convinced that those who believed in Him should be baptised by immersion; that you didn’t have to be an ordained minister before administering breaking of bread – but that any believer could do it, even in their own home. These along with other insights were important, so to live them out without causing unnecessary conflict, it was considered best to form New Covenant Church. This was in 1978 (it was then called ‘Maranatha’ a syriac word meaning ‘Our Lord Jesus will come’.)
From 1978 – 1986 we were rather nomadic, meeting in schools and halls. As we grew in size it became evident that we needed our own premises to cater for the various needs of the church. In 1987 we purchased our present building (a former egg packing factory), and converted it into a meeting place. We called the building ‘Shaftesbury Christian Centre’ to avoid people thinking of the building as the Church.
On 2nd April 2012, Shaftesbury Christian Centre changed its name. We are now called Father’s House Shaftesbury (that is the building and the people who meet here).
We have done this because we feel Father’s House is more reflective of who we are as a people and is in line with our increasing experience of knowing Him as our heavenly Father. Jesus said: ‘My Father’s House shall be called a House of Prayer’; we want it to be a place of worship and prayer, and somewhere people encounter Him as Father.
…