On March 23, Wem Baptist Church (WBC) in North Shropshire opened its partnership church, called The Cellar Church (TCC), in Ellesmere, a rural town of 3,500 people about 10 miles away from Wem.
TCC meets – yes, you have guessed it – in a cellar. The cellar is underneath the old town hall in the centre of town and provides a fantastic venue at the heart of the community. Don’t imagine dirty and miserable – quite the opposite – think more of ‘The Cavern’.
Push/pull resources
This is being seen as a partnership church; one church in two locations. It has many advantages over the traditional ‘church plant’, which WBC did ten years ago. They have two co-pastors. Phil Wright can take the lead role on Sunday mornings at TCC, leaving Al Simms to continue in Wem on Sunday mornings, with a meeting together in the evening. The partnership will offer all the advantages of push/pull resources, provide the new church fellowship with an identity and a great way of sharing the gospel in the new community.
