Our History

The New Testament Church of God (NTCG) in England held its first public service at the YMCA Centre, Stafford Street, Wolverhampton, the morning of Sunday 20th September 1953 under the direction of Bishop Oliver A. Lyseight and Bishop Herman D. Brown. It is reported that on the evening of the same day, Bishop G. A. Johnson, Revd Enos Gordon and other believers began a fellowship in Handsworth, Birmingham. Contact was made between the two groups and the Handsworth fellowship was visited by Bishop Lyseight.

Almost two years on, after joining over 30,000 attendees from 34 countries at the Pentecostal World Conference in Stockholm, Sweden (13th – 20th June 1955), the then Executive Secretary of World Missions, Revd Paul H. Walker visited England and established the Wolverhampton (25 members) and Handsworth (40 members) churches as the first two NTCG congregations in the UK on Saturday 18th June 1955.

Saturday 18th June 1955 – Revd Paul H. Walker with some of the founding members of the New Testament Church of God UK. (Left to right: Deacon Beresford Bucknor, Deacon Lambert George Garwood, Bishop Jeremiah McIntyre, Bishop John Bryan, Bishop Herman Darius Brown, Revd Paul H. Walker, Revd Leonard Wesley Monfries, Bishop Oliver Augustus Lyseight, Revd Gilbert S. Peddie, Brother Cyprian Dundas)

Our National Offices

Overstone Hall and grounds in Overstone Park, Northamptonshire, was purchased in 1979 under the leadership of Dr Jeremiah McIntyre. This was purchased for a Bible College and convalescent home for members of the Church of God. It became the home of the Administrative Office of NTCG England & Wales, Overstone Theological College and part-leased to Abbeyfield Dorcas Residential Care Homes for the elderly.

On 16 April 2001, there was an arson attack on the building resulting in two-thirds of the building being destroyed. Despite this setback NTCG continued to use the remainder of the building for national operations until 2008. In 2006, the church purchased Cheyne Walk, our present site, and then spent two years renovating it to the building it is today. The NTCG Heritage Centre and Roswith Gerloff Library were relocated to Cheyne Walk in 2014.

Overstone Hall

Cheyne Walk

Pioneers of the Faith

Throughout history extraordinary sacrifices have been made for the advancement of the faith by ordinary human beings who after accepting the call from God to go and serve have done so humbly and without concern for their own personal circumstances. It is with honour that we recognise these giants in the faith who helped to pave the way for the others to come and build upon. We humbly salute and pay tribute to them in this article we call Pioneers of the Faith.