Bristol Community Church (formerly the Bristol New Covenant Church) is a charismatic

Charismatic movement

The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...

 church located in Kingswood

Kingswood, South Gloucestershire

Kingswood is an urban area in South Gloucestershire, England, bordering the City of Bristol to the west. It is located on both sides of the A420 road, which connects Bristol and Chippenham and which forms the high street through the principal retail zone...

, Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

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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

New Covenant

The New Covenant is a concept originally derived from the Hebrew Bible. The term "New Covenant" is used in the Bible to refer to an epochal relationship of restoration and peace following a period of trial and judgment...

" in its name was leading people to believe that the church was a cult

Cult

The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

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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.

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.The current leadership (2007) consists of John Maskell, James Hennah and Neil Bright.

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.

External links

• BCC official website
• Primitive Methodist & Bible Christian Churches, Bristol includes external and internal pictures of Bourne Chapel