About Our Church

To many people in the 1960s the Church in the UK seemed to be irrelevant and out of touch with society, but God was placing in many Christians’ hearts a new, greater desire for increased reality and effectiveness in their Christian experience. The result was what became known as the Charismatic Renewal with many Christians receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit with a release into the churches of a new power, a new zeal and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Two such people were Lewis and Ruth Staley who had both been brought up in strong, evangelical Methodist families.

In 1971 they opened up their home at Bluestone House Farm, Marwood on Monday evenings for a Bible study/prayer meeting with Christians attending from a number of local churches. Soon, through connection with Jim Wilkinson and Hollybush Christian Fellowship, itinerant preachers from all over the UK and many parts of the world found their way to Bluestone.

For the first 10 years no Sunday meetings were held but by 1980 around a dozen folk began meeting on Sunday evenings on the farm. The call to become a church was clearly evident with the purpose of being a pioneering, prophetic and praying group of people at the forefront of what God was doing in Teesdale.

With more people coming out from Barnard Castle to the meetings it was felt that the time was right to move into the town and so, in October 1999, the move was made into a property in the Commercial Yard, just off the town’s main street, Galgate. The building was named “The Lighthouse” and Barnard Castle Christian Fellowship came into being, having previously been called Bluestone Christian Fellowship.

Four years later the Fellowship moved again when the landlord of the Lighthouse wished to develop the building for housing. The town’s United Reformed Church graciously invited BCCF to share their church building and we have benefited from their kindness since that time.

The Fellowship has never been affiliated with any one denomination but has always sought to interact and be at one with all believers who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ as their own Saviour. Special emphasis has also been placed on the vital importance of the Bible as God’s infallible, inspired, living word with the desire to share this word wherever possible. To date members of BCCF have shared this gospel message in around twenty countries as well as the UK.

Countries visited:
Northern Ireland (Denise)
USA (Denise)
Canada (Denise)
Poland (Hayley)
Philippines (Angela and Rachael)
Thailand (Rachael)
Mexico (Kirsty)
Gambia (Hayley)
Burkino Faso (John and Denise)
Myanmar (Denise)
Romania (Rachael, Adam, Cliff and Kathy)
Albania (Cliff and Kathy)
Iceland (Denise)
Ukraine (Adam and Denise)
Brazil (Adam)
Poland (Hayley)
Slovakia (Jonathan)
Germany (Lewis, Ruth, David and Mary)
Russia (Denise)