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| A Brief History of Medway Family Church |
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Medway Family Church officially began on Sunday, January 3rd 1993, although we actually began informal meetings from September 1992, when we started Thursday evening fellowship meetings, and a meeting on alternate Sunday evenings, to allow people to ‘look us over’ and get to know each other. We had intended to begin officially in the autumn of 1993 but it became increasingly clear by the end of 1992 that people were ready to begin sooner.
Previously people had travelled from Medway to Newfrontiers churches in Maidstone and Canterbury and it had always been intended to ‘plant’ them back into the Medway area to form a new church. During 1992, Zion Baptist Church realised that that because of their diminishing numbers, they would have to close. This made them contact the Medway group and Newfrontiers to see if there was any way the groups could join up to form a new church. This was the push that brought hopes and prayers of the past into reality, which resulted in the Medway Family Church being born.
At the same time, John and Mollie Oldfield were just finishing a period helping with a church plant in India, and they were asked by Newfrontiers if they would move to Medway on their return to lead the church. They agreed and asked a few people from their former church, Dartford Christian Fellowship (also Newfrontiers), to move with them and help in the start.
In 1998 we lost the use of the Zion Baptist building due to structural decay and damage; it is now a Blockbuster Video shop in Chatham! Since then we moved to two different buildings before arriving where we are now in Jasper Avenue late in 2002.
In 2001 John Oldfield was asked by Newfrontiers to move to the Middle East in order to be involved with work there. John along with the rest of the leadership at that time felt that this was right and so leadership of M.F.C. was handed over to Adam Voke in August 2002 when John moved abroad. John and Mollie moved back to the U.K. in 2006 where they work part time as Pastoral and Community workers.
Over the years there have been many changes and we are currently a very different church to that which existed 10 years ago, there have been changes in venue, leadership and people. Most of these things are new! One word that was given to the church a few years ago was that God was building ‘a new church in the same place’. This prophetic word has become more and more of a reality in M.F.C.
In 2005 M.F.C. were generously given the Jasper Centre by the owners at that time. They felt that we were able to continue the original intent for the building as a place of Christian worship. We are currently in the middle of a building project which aims to expand and rebuild the centre in various ways.
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