| History |
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It was the eve of a new decade, a time of change, as Great Britain made history by electing its first woman Prime Minister.
The year was 1979, and while Margaret Thatcher, a great woman of power began her pursuit for a more prosperous United Kingdom, another Margaret, a great woman of prayer, began her pursuit to further God's Kingdom in the town of Halesowen. Margaret Hill, a steadfast, faithful and determined follower of God believed that Halesowen, with its population of 57,000, needed another church in its town centre that would meet the spiritual needs of the area.
She prayed earnestly, and when the time was right she contacted the Elim Pentecostal Church Headquarters asking for their support. This alliance, combined with the backing of 14 local people resulted in the creation of an impassioned and dedicated church.
Initially they met in various homes, quickly establishing house groups and a weekly prayer meeting. As more people became members they outgrew their homes and met in various venues, including a small Baptist church and the lounge of the local swimming pool. Permanent premises were needed and the old Methodist Chapel on the Stourbridge Road was leased from Mr Emery, a local businessman.
 On the 6th June 1981 Zion Pentecostal Church opened its doors for its official dedication service. The vision was for Little Zion, as it became known, to become a place of salvation, healing and restoration and for the Holy Spirit to be able to freely do His work. The first Sunday morning saw 23 people gather for worship, with Bryan Cole as part-time pastor assisted by his brother Alistair. A Leadership team was soon established which, over the years, included Jonathan Williams, Alastair Conquest, Bernard Jones, Leo Turner and Oliver Raper, with John Hodgetts becoming Assistant Pastor.It was always felt that the church should be family and community orientated and the emphasis was placed on children's work, with the cellar opened up at various times for local schoolchildren to use as a drop in centre. This, along with holiday clubs, Campaigners groups and an annual camp resulted in explosive growth over the next five years.
As Little Zion grew the chapel became too small for its congregation and by Christmas of 1984, it became apparent that they would need a bigger venue for their carol service. As a result they borrowed Cornbow Hall and were reassuringly surprised when over 500 people attended. Over the next fourteen months, they moved in and out of the hall every Sunday. This required transferring all the equipment including stage, chairs and even an electric grand piano, with the whole process taking several hours. This just reinforced the need to find a new site for Zion to put down its roots.
 In 1986, the Webb Ivory building came on the market for £275,000, at a time when the average house cost £40,000. Prayerfully and faithfully, the decision was made to purchase the ex-card warehouse. It was a massive leap of faith, but God confirmed, through scriptures, that Zion was moving in his will and purpose. Prophecies were given including the prophecy of the fruit overhanging the walls, indicating that larger premises were needed and would be filled. The vision was for a multipurpose, Christian Centre that would be open every day, incorporating a large worship area, a day nursery, bookshop, sports facilities, care centre for senior citizens and provision for children and young people. Zion was reaching forward to become an equipping church, always serving and always changing It took a lot of hard work, over many days, to transform the building from a warehouse to a church and as the carpet was laid in the main hall at eleven o'clock on Saturday night the chairs were being placed in position for the next day.
The first service took place on 11th May 1986 with a congregation of about 150, led by Bryan Cole (now full time pastor) and assisted by John Hodgetts who stayed at Zion for the following two years. The main staircase and offices were installed in 1988 and the whole congregation turned their chairs around to face what is now the front of the church.
By April 1989 Bryan felt that he had taken Zion as far as he could, the church plant that he had been involved in had been a wonderful success but now it was time for him to leave. For six months after Bryan's departure, Zion was faithfully led by the elders, until Nigel Tween, arrived to take the helm. He led the church during a very difficult time. Financially the church was struggling, interest rates had gone up and it was soon realised that the church was just holding a building together. Any possible outreach, missions or community work was taking second place. However, the leaders believed that God would provide a way through and felt that the building should be filled up and utilised by others.
 Operation Mobilisation (OM) were the first to show an interest, wanting to take a complete floor as their central training centre (Luke) and consequently offering a payment of £50,000. This was a marvellous start but twice as much was needed. So Zion held a church gift day the generosity of the members was fantastic, people even donated their jewellery.The outcome of all this was that an amazing £57,000 was raised putting the finances back on track and paying for the roof to be mended, proving that it's not just traditional church spires that need help! From this point the whole church priority shifted, the focus came away from the building and back onto God. The principle had been set; God had been asking if Zion was prepared to put everything into His vision and the answer was yes.
In September 1992, Zion received its ˜Trade Centre' prophecy, an important landmark within the church. ˜I saw a caravan of merchants of all nationalities laden with goods going out from a great city, this church. There is super-abundance, the caravan is laden for the sake of the world“ we will send merchants from different nationalities all around the world. We will be a storing and giving fellowship. Zion was to be a church of pioneers not settlers.
 The vision was widening as Leon Evans joined Nigel in October 1992 as an evangelist, youth worker and worship leader. In February 1994 the church received another significant prophecy ˜I believe God is raising you up to be a resource church for this whole area, but I believe it is wider than this immediate area. I believe God wants to give you a voice in the nation. During the nineties the bigger vision began to take shape as Zion continued to get more involved the community and at a wider level with missions.Membership was again increasing as new staff and fresh ministries began to fully utilise the building. In 1997, Zion introduced and implemented the concept of ˜cell church". After a shaky start, the cell groups became an extension of church itself, holding the same principles as those shared on a Sunday. Becoming a safe place for members to meet and share with one another, to pray and to delve deeper into God's word. They have become an effective and significant part of Zion's community.
Under the initial leadership of Neal Stephenson, the Elim church in Blackheath became part of the vision of Zion and is now a thriving church making a difference in its own right. Nigel left in June 2000 and Leon Evans took over as Senior Leader, directing the church, along with a superb staff team.
Steve Miles joined Leon in 2002 for two years, working with the youth and introducing the very successful "Community Plunge". Kevin Sadler joined in 2003 as Leader of Care and Development and Janet Whitehead was appointed as leader of Evangelism and Mission. All these people are led and encouraged by a strong Eldership team.
Zion is seeing its vision through - working with children and aiming to equip them to make a difference in today's world, providing cell groups, sports events, drama and community projects for the youth, arranging Rendezvous meetings for the senior citizens and forming the Barnabas team to give pastoral care and support where it is needed.
 Zion is also passionate about worship and creative arts, giving opportunities for people to use their gifts and talents in a variety of ways. The church is reaching out with it's kingdom partnerships as it forms local, regional and global alliances with organisations who are called to fulfil God's mission in different parts of society and the world.  Thirty years have gone since those early 'pioneering" days and we are now in the infancy of a new century. Zion's membership is over 450 and still growing. We are again in a time of change, a time to pray steadfastly for Zion Christian Church as the fruit continues to overhang the walls and the doors of this church are opened wide. |